Coastline and Shoreline

Criteria Employed in Measuring the Coastline

The Canadian Hydrographic Service has measured the coastlines and islands of Canada, using the National Topographic System at a scale of 1:250 000. To differentiate between the coastline and the shoreline at the mouths of rivers and streams, the mouths were closed off with arbitrary closing lines. The length of the closing lines were not included in coastline measurements. For rivers such as the Mackenzie River and Fraser River having deltas at their mouths, closing lines joined the seaward points of the outermost islands of the delta.

Bodies of water contained by bays, fiords, inlets, sounds or straits were considered part of the open sea, and the adjacent coastlines were included in the total length of coastline.

In northern regions, glacier edges, as depicted on the maps, were assumed to be coincidental with the mean sea level contour and the seaward edges of glaciers were included in coastline measurements.