Almost Alternating Diagrams and Fibered Links in S3

Let R be a Seifert surface obtained by applying Seifert's algorithmto a connected diagram D for a link L. In this paper, lettingD be almost alternating, we give a practical algorithm to determinewhether L is a fibered link and R is a fiber surface. We furthershow that L is a fibered link and R is a fiber surface for Lif and only if R is a Hopf plumbing, that is, a successive plumbingof a finite number of Hopf bands. It has been known for sometime that this is true if D is alternating, and we show thatit is not always true if D is 2-almost alternating. In the appendix,we partially answer C. Adams's open question concerning almostalternating diagrams. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification:57M25.