Aids to Navigation - Team Kodiak
The city of Kodiak is located on Kodiak Island, approximately 150 miles southwest of Anchorage. The combined population of Kodiak, Coast Guard Base Kodiak, and nearby villages is roughly 13,900 residents. Kodiak Island covers approximately 3,588 square miles. To learn more about Kodiak and its surrounding communities, visit kodiak.org.
Our Mission
Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) Kodiak services lighted and unlighted beacons across much of Alaska. Most beacon servicing is completed with support from Air Station Kodiak using the HH-60J model helicopter. ANT Kodiak is currently responsible for the proper operation of 110 aids to navigation throughout the region. Forty of these aids are serviced between May and July during the annual North Slope trip.
The U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation System
The waters of the United States and its territories are marked to assist mariners through the U.S. Aids to Navigation System. This system uses colors, shapes, numbers, and light characteristics to mark navigable channels, waterways, hazards, and obstructions.
Aids to Navigation serve mariners much like road signs and traffic control markings serve drivers. They may include lighted structures, beacons, day markers, range lights, fog signals, floating buoys, or prominent landmarks. Each has a unique purpose and supports safe transit, location identification, and hazard avoidance.
The Aids to Navigation System is designed to be used in coordination with nautical charts. Charts are an essential planning tool, providing information on coastline shape, depths, hazards, buoy placement, land features, and other details critical for safe boating. This type of information is not available on road maps or standard atlases.
The primary components of the U.S. Aids to Navigation System are beacons and buoys.
Beacons are permanently fixed aids to navigation located on land or in the water. They range from lighthouses to small single-pile structures. Lighted beacons are called lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons. A daymark visually identifies a beacon during daylight, serving the same function as the light or reflector at night.
Buoys are floating aids anchored to the seabed using concrete sinkers and mooring gear. Their size, shape, color, and audible or visible characteristics communicate navigational information, warnings, or special conditions.
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