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Alaska lake depth maps

29 lakes in Alaska have surveyed grids and survey contours in TopoStack. Open one in the studio to make a layered wooden lake map or a flat engraving.

Multibeam surveys from USGS cover Crater Lake, Lake Tahoe and Mono Lake, and reservoir surveys from the Texas Water Development Board and the Bureau of Reclamation cover selected reservoirs. NOAA’s National Bathymetric Source adds measured depths for hundreds of lakes, lagoons and coastal ponds, from Lake Pontchartrain and the St. Johns River lakes to Lake Washington and Lake Pend Oreille; only the surveyed parts are used. NOAA nautical charts add Lake Okeechobee, Lake Champlain, the New York canal lakes and Michigan’s inland and harbour lakes from charted contours and soundings. Minnesota has its own page.

Each lake name below opens the studio framed to that lake’s survey area and generates its terrain. You can also search every surveyed lake or browse other regions.

Largest survey areas

Lakes with surveyed depth data

Nome Census Area

  • Coral Lake Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Imuruk Basin Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Nome Census Area 64.257° N, 161.010° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Nome Census Area 64.621° N, 166.332° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Nome Census Area 64.513° N, 163.359° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

  • Lake McDonald Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Ketchikan Gateway Borough 54.949° N, 130.903° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Ketchikan Gateway Borough 54.990° N, 130.335° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Ketchikan Gateway Borough 55.729° N, 131.574° W About 76% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Ketchikan Gateway Borough 55.591° N, 131.603° W About 81% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.

Kodiak Island Borough

  • Part of Kinak Bay Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Kodiak Island Borough Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.

Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area

  • Sarkar Lake Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 56.636° N, 134.127° W About 97% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 56.127° N, 134.172° W About 66% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 55.968° N, 133.241° W About 73% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 55.221° N, 132.951° W About 52% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area 55.051° N, 132.291° W About 72% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.

Petersburg Borough

  • The Salt Chuck About 92% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Petersburg Borough 57.670° N, 133.141° W About 88% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Petersburg Borough 57.360° N, 133.090° W About 87% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.

Aleutians West Census Area

  • Unnamed lake, Aleutians West Census Area Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.

Bethel Census Area

  • Unnamed lake, Bethel Census Area Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.

Hoonah-Angoon Census Area

  • Unnamed lake, Hoonah-Angoon Census Area About 93% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.

Sitka City and Borough

  • Unnamed lake, Sitka City and Borough 56.529° N, 135.024° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Sitka City and Borough 56.347° N, 134.858° W Interpolated from NOAA nautical chart contours and soundings, which are generalized for navigation. Depths are below the chart sounding datum (MLLW on tidal water), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Sitka City and Borough 57.190° N, 135.529° W About 90% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Sitka City and Borough 57.164° N, 135.578° W About 94% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.
  • Unnamed lake, Sitka City and Borough 57.018° N, 135.216° W About 98% of the lake is surveyed. NOAA National Bathymetric Source survey cells only; modelled fill is removed and uncovered parts use the basin model. Depths are below the surveys’ chart datum (MLLW on tidal water, low-water datum on the Great Lakes), not a live water level.

Make a lake map from this data

  1. Open a lake from the list. The studio frames its survey area, turns on Water depth and generates the terrain. Widen the frame and regenerate if you want more shoreline.
  2. Check the warnings above the preview. The studio warns when survey coverage is partial or depths are estimated; how lake depths work explains why.
  3. Enter your sheet thickness in Terrain layers; the studio works out the layer count. If a deep lake needs more sheets than you want, Fit depth compresses it while keeping the shoreline. The custom lake map guide walks through the whole build.
  4. Turn on paint templates to spray only the water on each layer, and split the map if it is bigger than your laser bed.
  5. Export the SVG layers. The download’s ATTRIBUTION.txt credits the survey used.

Data source

  • NOAA National Bathymetric Source: Alaska lakes: surveyed grid. NOAA Office of Coast Survey National Bathymetric Source; survey sources licensed CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0. Only measured survey cells are used; modelled fill removed by TopoStack. Not for navigation.
  • NOAA nautical charts: Alaska lakes: survey contours. NOAA Office of Coast Survey electronic navigational charts; public domain. Chart contours and soundings interpolated by TopoStack; not for navigation.

Survey dates and water levels vary between lakes, and a listing can cover only part of a lake. See sources and attribution for credits.

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