Global Change Data Encyclopedia

Aleutian Islands

Liu, C.1*  Yang, A. Q.2  Hu, W. Y.1  Liu, R. G.1  Shi, R. X.1

1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;

2. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth£¬Chinese Academy of Sciences£¬Beijing100101£¬China

 

Keywords:Aleutian Islands; Fox Islands; Four Mountains Islands; Andreanof Islands; Rat Islands; Near Islands; Kommandor Islands; Unimak Island; USA; Russia; data encyclopedia

Figure 1  Dataset of Aleutian Islands in .kmz format

 

Figure 2  Dataset of Aleutian Islands in .shp format

The Aleutian Islands extends latitude from 51°12′35″N to 55°22′14″N and

longitude about 32 degrees from 165°45′10″E to 162°21′10″W, it is a chain volcanic islands belonging to both the United States and Russia[1–3] (Figure 1, 2). The islands are formed in the northern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. They form part of the Aleutian Arc in the Northern Pacific Ocean, extending about 1,900 km westward from the Alaska Peninsula toward the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and mark a dividing line between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The islands comprise 6 groups of islands (east to west): the Fox Islands[4–5], islands of Four Mountains[6–7], Andreanof Islands[8–9], Rat Islands[10–11], Near Islands[12–13] and Kommandor Islands[14–15]. The first 5 islands belong to the United States, and the extreme western end, the small, geologically related Kommandor Islands belong to Russia. The Aleutian Islands occupy a total area of 17,653.73 km2 and the total coastline is 8,605.12 km. There are total 2,030 islands, including 49 islands with area great than 10 km2 and 24 island with area great than 100 km2. The largest islands in the Aleutians are Attu (the furthest from the mainland), and Unalaska, Umnak, and Unimak in the Fox Islands. The largest of those is Unimak Island, with an area of 4,077.93 km2, followed by Unalaska Island with an area of 2,724.71 km2 and the longest coastline 1,063.46 km. Aleutian Islands are composed by 6 islands, i.e., Fox Islands, Islands of Four Mountains, Andreanof Islands, Rat Islands Near Islands, and Kommandor Islands. The geo-location, area, coastline of these main islands of Aleutian Islands are shown in Table 1.

Table 1  Main islands of Aleutian Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Fox Islands

52°46′0″N-55°3′9″N, 162°21′10″W-169°15′7″W

9,559.52

3,138.67

Islands of Four Mountains

52°26′40″N-53°5′1″N, 169°39′40″W-171°18′56″W

  548.92

 349.78

Andreanof Islands

52°12′35″N-52°25′12″N, 172°17′45″W-179°8′60″W

3,991.47

3,097.89

Rat Islands

51°20′54″N-52°8′10″N, 177°11′52″E-179°46′24″E

 974.14

 873.69

Near Islands

52°20′5″N-53°0′42″N, 172°27′45″E-175°58′29″E

1,166.78

 615.89

Kommandor Islands

54°29′45″N-55°22′14″N, 165°45′10″E-168°6′9″E

1,412.71

 526.95

Total

 

17,653.73

8,605.12

 

Table 2  Main islands of Fox Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Unimak Island

54º23′20″N-55º3′9″N, 164º56′48″W-163º2′35″W

4,077.93

517.36

Unalaska Island

53º13′58″N-54º1′9″N, 167º51′14″W-166º12′21″W

2,724.71

1,063.46

Umnak Island

52º49′11″N-53º34′1″N, 169º7′1″W-167º47′6″W

1,786.40

452.48

Akutan Island

54º1′59″N-54º13′37″N, 166º6′59″W-165º39′28″W

332.35

132.43

Akun Island

54º6′20″N-54º17′54″N, 165º41′15″W-165º23′6″W

162.60

121.81

Sanak Island

54º22′10″N-54º29′29″N, 162º50′11″W-162º31′57″W

121.84

96.81

Sedanka Island

53º42′22″N-53º51′23″N, 166º18′38″W-166º5′9″W

101.85

92.45

Tigalda Island

54º3′49″N-54º8′15″N, 165º13′13″W-164º55′9″W

95.09

97.55

Avatanak Island

54º2′17″N-54º5′56″N, 165º28′59″W-165º14′1″W

36.74

49.10

Unalga Island

51º34′6″N-51º35′23″N, 179º3′49″W-179º1′57″W

26.89

28.84

Caton Island

54º22′2″N-54º25′8″N, 162º28′56″W-162º21′11″W

18.57

28.19

Rootok Island

54º1′25″N-54º4′1″N, 165º34′26″W-165º28′57″W

13.16

19.22

Ugamak Island

54º11′26″N-54º13′48″N, 164º53′5″W-164º45′45″W

11.22

31.18

Amaknak Island

53º51′58″N-53º55′35″N, 166º34′00″W-166º30′9″W

8.77

29.70

Long Island

54º23′8″N-54º26′7″N, 162º51′43″W-162º47′24″W

6.65

23.22

Samalga Island

52º46′2″N-52º48′13″N, 169º14′51″W-169º9′32″W

3.90

15.39

Ogangen Island

53º25′39″N-53º27′44″N, 166º53′11″W-166º51′52″W

3.17

10.28

Elma Island

54º21′41″N-54º22′33″N, 162º31′7″W-162º27′2″W

2.95

10.90

Vsevidof Island

52º58′32″N-52º59′31″N, 168º29′12″W-168º26′52″W

2.19

12.44

Clifford Island

54º22′20″N-54º23′35″N, 162º47′24″W-162º45′43″W

1.73

8.80

Aiktak Island

54º10′42″N-54º11′23″N, 164º50′53″W-164º48′55″W

1.51

10.28

Anangula Island

52º59′39″N-53º0′47″N, 168º55′23″W-168º53′45″W

1.43

7.49

Egg Island

53º51′21″N-53º52′9″N, 166º3′41″W-166º2′18″W

1.30

6.52

 

The Fox Islands are the eastern islands in the Aleutian Islands chain in Alaska, east of the Samalga Pass and islands of Four Mountains. The larger islands of the Fox Islands from west to east are Umnak, Unaraska, Amaknak, Akutan, Akun, Unimak and Sanak (Table 2). The largest area of Unimak is 4,077.93 km2, and the longest coastline is 1,063.46 km of Unaraska. Fox Islands have a total of 23 islands more than 1 km2, 7 more than 100 km2. The Fox Islands have a total area of 9,559.52 km2 and a total coastline of 3,138.67 km.

The islands of Four Mountains are an archipelago in southwest Alaska and part of the Aleutian Islands. The islands of Four Mountains are bounded by the Fox Islands to the east and the Andreea Islands to the west, between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. There are mainly 8 islands in the Four mountain Islands, from west to east are Amukta Island, Chagulak Island, Yunaska Island, Chuginadak Island, Uliaga Island, Gagamil Island (Table 3). The largest area of the Island is Yunaska, 172.18 km2 and the smallest area is Chagulak Island, 8.6 km2. The longest coastline of Island is Chuginadak, 98.95 km.

The total area of the islands of Four Mountains is 548.92 km2, and the total length of the coastline is 349.78 km.

Table 3  Main islands of islands of Four Mountains

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Yunaska Island

52º32′35″N-52º42′5″N, 170º50′45″W-170º33′23″W

172.18

74.80

Chuginadak Island

52º46′20″N-52º53′40″N, 170º0′49″W-169º40′2″W

170.06

98.93

Herbert Island

52º43′1″N-52º47′29″N, 170º11′13″W-170º3′5″W

 54.19

36.57

Amukta Island

52º26′54″N-52º31′51″N, 171º18′56″W-171º11′44″W

 50.05

41.84

Carlisle Island

52º51′26″N-52º55′29″N, 170º7′29″W-169º59′36″W

 42.22

30.57

Gagamil Island

52º56′46″N-53º2′8″N, 169º45′52″W-169º39′40″W

 42.13

32.46

Uliaga Island

53º2′46″N-53º5′1″N, 169º47′59″W-169º44′24″W

  9.38

15.32

Chagulak Island

52º33′27″N-52º35′11″N, 171º10′38″W-171º6′55″W

  8.61

14.03

 

The Andreanof islands are islands in southwest Alaska and is part of the Aleutian Islands. The Andreanof Islands are bounded by the islands of Four Mountains to the east and the Rat Islands to the west. They are generally located in the middle of the Aleutian Islands between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. There are 577 islands larger than 100 m2 in the Andreea. Among them, one island with an area greater than 1,000 km2 and 37 islands with an area larger than 1 km2 (Table 4). The total area of the island is 3,991.47 km2 and the total coastline is 3,098.02 km2 long. The largest island is Atka Island, with an area of 1,055.43 km2.

The other main islands of the Andreanof Islands are Adak Island, Anaga Island, Amulia Island, Kanaga Island, Seguam Island, Great Sitkin Island, Kagalaska Island, Little Tanaga Island, Gareloi Island, Umak Island, Amatignak Island, Ulak Island, Igitkin Island, Chugul Island, Kavalga Island, Tagalak Island, Ogliuga Island, Bobrof Island, Kasatochi Island, Skagul Island, Tanaklak Island, Kanu Island, Elf Island, Unalga Island, Tagadak Island, Ilak Island, Ringgold Island, Asuksak Island, Sadatanak Island, Solt Island, Dora Island, Asiak Island, Koniuji Island.

The Lat Islands are volcanic islands belonging to the Aleutian Islands, southwest of Alaska, the Near Islands to its west, and the Andreanof Islands to the east. The larger islands from west to east are Kiska Island, Little Kiska Island, Segula Island, Khvostof Island, Davidof Island, Little Sitkin Island, Amchitka Islan, Semisopochuoi Island (Table 5). The largest island is Amchitka (319.87 km2) and the island has a longest coastline of 304.12 km. The island has a total area of 974.18 km2 and a total coastline of 873.7 km.

Table 4  Main islands of Andreanof Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Atka Island

51º59′59″N-52º25′12″N, 175º20′31″W-173º59′16″W

1055.39

651.62

Adak Island

51º35′22″N-52º0′7″N, 176º59′43″W-176º25′6″W

720.48

454.25

Tanaga Island

51º35′42″N-51º55′13″N, 178º13′46″W-177º36′58″W

517.21

240.31

Amulia Island

52º1′15″N-52º9′35″N, 174º3′17″W-172º57′13″W

458.90

309.57

Kanaga Island

51º39′9″N-51º56′37″N, 177º42′33″W-177º2′52″W

368.70

259.42

Seguam Island

52º14′49″N-52º23′33″N, 172º38′00″W-172º17′45″W

207.35

88.40

Great Sitkin Island

51º58′1″N-52º7′3″N, 176º12′46″W-175º58′19″W

154.21

78.24

Kagalaska Island

51º43′36″N-51º52′21″N, 176º25′34″W-176º15′54″W

118.60

106.95

Little Tanaga

Island

51º46′9″N-51º53′2″N, 176º14′10″W-175º59′45″W

 71.39

 97.18

Gareloi Island

51º44′44″N-51º50′18″N, 178º52′26″W-178º44′1″W

 67.63

 34.04

Umak Island

51º50′46″N-51º54′48″N, 176º7′7″W-175º57′2″W

 37.91

 52.55

Amatignak Island

51º12′51″N-51º18′10″N, 179º9′00″W-179º3′27″W

35.59

39.27

Ulak Island

51º18′20″N-51º24′11″N, 179º0′16″W-178º54′21″W

31.53

45.70

Igitkin Island

51º57′50″N-51º51′59″N, 175º57′48″W-175º48′25″W

19.26

35.10

Chugul Island

51º54′52″N-51º57′39″N, 175º52′40″W-175º45′34″W

17.88

33.12

Kavalga Island

51º32′21″N-51º34′43″N, 178º51′49″W-178º44′1″W

15.53

40.23

Tagalak Island

51º55′55″N-51º58′33″N, 175º44′50″W-175º38′53″W

14.70

26.80

Ogliuga Island

51º35′6″N-51º36′56″N, 178º41′16″W-178º36′37″W

10.49

27.09

Bobrof Island

51º53′16″N-51º55′38″N, 177º28′11″W-177º25′3″W

 7.76

14.79

Kasatochi Island

52º9′18″N-52º11′10″N, 175º31′51″W-175º29′24″W

 7.03

11.08

Skagul Island

51º34′50″N-51º36′29″N, 178º36′36″W-178º33′43″W

 5.20

21.84

Tanaklak Island

51º56′51″N-51º57′50″N, 176º8′17″W-176º5′19″W

 3.82

10.77

Kanu Island

51º55′44″N-51º57′20″N, 176º3′25″W-176º1′34″W

 3.73

11.50

Elf Island

51º41′57″N-51º43′56″N, 176º32′39″W-176º30′58″W

 3.10

17.28

Unalga Island

53º57′8″N-53º59′57″N, 165º12′00″W-166º4′29″W

 2.65

14.43

Sagchudak Island

52º0′32″N-52º2′1″N, 174º30′1″W-174º28′35″W

 2.37

10.70

Tagadak Island

51º56′41″N-51º57′50″N, 176º1′12″W-175º59′31″W

 2.29

 7.05

Oglodak Island

51º58′37″N-51º59′26″N, 175º28′13″W-175º25′53″W

 1.82

10.36

Ilak Island

51º28′20″N-51º29′1″N, 178º18′14″W-178º16′25″W

 1.54

 6.20

Ringgold Island

51º47′48″N-51º48′30″N, 176º50′31″W-176º48′20″W

 1.49

 7.39

Asuksak Island

51º55′44″N-51º56′30″N, 176º6′53″W-176º5′37″W

 1.34

 5.27

Sadatanak Island

52º1′36″N-52º2′21″N, 174º26′31″W-174º24′42″W

 1.32

 7.47

Solt Island

52º9′56″N-52º10′51″N, 174º39′20″W-174º37′34″W

 1.27

 8.46

Dora Island

51º48′27″N-51º49′14″N, 176º48′26″W-176º46′39″W

 1.27

 9.59

Asiak Island

51º56′43″N-51º57′25″N, 176º10′14″W-176º8′39″W

 1.26

 7.67

Koniuji Island

52º12′53″N-52º13′39″N, 175º8′30″W-175º7′25″W

 1.06

 5.27

 

The Near Islands are the westernmost islands of Aleutian Islands, the Commander Islands of the Russian Aleutian Islands to the west, the American Rat Islands to the east, and the north-south between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Attu and Agattu are the two largest islands. In addition to some of the reefs between Attu Island and Agatu Island, the other larger island is Semichi Island, including Alaid Island, Nizki Island and Shemya Island. Buldir Island is located at the easternmost tip of Near Islands. There are 6 islands with an area of more than 1 km2 in the Near Islands (Table 6). The largest island is Attu with an area of 887.97 km2. It is also the island with longest coastline, 317.37 km.

The total area of Near Islands is 1,166.83 km2 and a total coastline, 616.05 km.

Table 5  Main islands of Lat Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Amchitka Island

51º20′54″N-51º40′00″N, 178º36′27″E-179º28′13″E

319.86

304.12

Kiska Island

51º49′32″N-52º8′10″N, 177º11′52″E-177º40′30″E

280.23

214.31

Semisopochuoi Island

51º52′15″N-52º1′38″N, 179º28′18″E-179º46′24″E

223.04

78.03

Little Sitkin Island

51º53′42″N-51º59′42″N, 178º25′26″E-178º35′33″E

68.76

64.89

Segula Island

51º59′12″N-52º3′10″N, 178º5′16″E-178º11′25″E

33.55

35.79

Rat Island

51º45′36″N-51º50′10″N, 178º12′20″E-178º23′13″E

29.78

48.94

Little Kiska Island

51º56′28″N-51º58′23″N, 177º37′10″E-177º42′25″E

7.91

21.48

Davidof

51º56′43″N-51º58′37″N, 178º18′53″E-178º21′58″E

3.75

15.48

Khvostof Island

51º58′6″N-51º59′13″N, 178º15′44″E-178º18′13″E

2.64

9.02

Bird Rock

51º39′17″N-51º40′7″N, 178º37′8″E-178º38′31″E

1.43

9.92

Table 6  Main islands of Near Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Attu Island

52º44′40″N-53º0′42″N, 172º27′45″E-173º25′54″E

887.93

317.25

Agattu Island

52º21′17″N-52º30′48″N, 173º20′59″E-173º46′33″E

227.57

140.63

Buldir Island

52º20′5″N-52º22′33″N, 175º52′6″E-175º58′29″E

19.38

21.60

Shemya Island

52º42′12″N-52º44′31″N, 174º3′7″E-174º9′26″E

15.56

26.75

Nizki Island

52º43′7″N-52º45′10″N, 173º56′36″E-174º1′17″E

8.06

23.70

Alaid Island

52º44′42″N-52º46′30″N, 173º51′35″E-173º56′33″E

6.80

19.44

The Kommandor Islands locate in the westernmost end of Aleutian Islands. They are part of the Bering Islands of Russia and 175 km from the eastern part of Kamchatka Peninsula in the far East of Russia. The Kommandor Islands include Bering, Medey, two largest islands and some small islands and reefs. These small islands, among the reefs, Kamen Toporkov are the largest reef. The area of Bering Island and Medell Island are 1,187.4 and 224.84 km2, and the coastline are 310.84 and 197.79 km, respectively. The area of Kamen Toporkov reef is 0.19 km2 and the coastline is 1.74 km.

The total area of Kommandor Islands is 1,412.71 km2 and a total coastline is 526.95 km.

 

Table 7  Main islands of Kommandor Islands

Name of islands[16]

Geo-location

Area (km2)

Coastline (km)

Bering Island

54º40′42″N-55º22′14″N, 165º45′10″E-166º40′47″E

1,187.41

310.84

Medny Island

54º29′45″N-54º52′10″N, 167º26′12″E-168º6′9″E

224.84

197.79

The Aleutian Islands dataset was developed based on integration among the Google Earth images and related maps and records. The dataset is archived in the .shp and .kmz data formats with the compressed data size of 27.5 MB.

References

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[5]       Wikipedia. Fox Islands [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Islands

[6]       Liu, C., Yang, A. Q., Hu, W. Y., et al. Four Mountains Islands [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2016. DOI: 10.3974/geodb.2016.08.04.V1.

[7]       Wikipedia. Islands of Four Mountains [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_of_Four_Mountains.

[8]       Liu, C., Yang, A. Q., Hu, W. Y., et al. Andreanof Islands [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2016. DOI: 10.3974/geodb.2016.08.03.V1.

[9]       Wikipedia. Andreanof Islands [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreanof_Islands

[10]    Liu, C., Yang, A. Q., Hu, W. Y., et al. Rat Islands [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2016. DOI: 10.3974/geodb.2016.08.09.V1.

[11]    Wikipedia. Rat Islands [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Islands.

[12]    Liu, C., Yang, A. Q., Hu, W. Y., et al. Near Islands [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2016. DOI: 10.3974/geodb.2016.08.07.V1.

[13]    Wikipedia. Near Islands [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Islands.

[14]    Liu, C., Yang, A. Q., Hu, W. Y., et al. Commander Islands [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2016. DOI: 10.3974/geodb.2016.08.11.V1.

[15]    Wikipedia. Commander Islands [Z]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_Islands

[16]    Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey [Z]. Geographical Names Information System (GNIS). https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:2:0::NO:RP::.