NOAA Center of Excellence

NOAA Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping

NOAA's Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping, located on the campus of the University of New Hampshire will work across NOAA to support and grow the nation's deep water, shallow water, and coastal mapping capabilities and data holdings, in partnership with the private sector. NOAA established the Center with designated funding from Congress to address the agency's required and treaty-based hydrographic mapping responsibilities.

The Center will support the full range of NOAA's ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes mapping projects and requirements, including the goals of the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization strategy (NOMEC), Seabed 2030, the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act, and the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act. This will benefit not only traditional users of mapping data such as nautical charting and ocean exploration, but also emerging users such as habitat mapping, marine modeling, and marine geospatial infrastructure.

Vision

The Center serves as NOAA's unified approach to applying advancements in the field, transitioning research into operations, training NOAA mapping workforce, and supporting operators in the field to implement. In particular, the Center is:

• A focal point for activities transitioning developments in mapping platforms, sensors, and concepts of operations into operations
• A focal point for applied training for mapping and surveying operations across NOAA programs
• An agency-wide capability to provide technical support for ocean mapping technologies to operators in the field on an increasingly diverse set of platforms
• A strong mechanism to leverage public-private partnerships in advancing the nation's ocean and Great Lakes mapping goals

Technical Support

The Center provides technical expertise and systems support for NOAA's ocean and lake mapping operations on an increasingly diverse set of platforms, including new ships and uncrewed survey vessels. The Center will serve as a bridge between NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), Ocean Exploration and Research, and Office of Coast Survey, streamlining resources and leveraging expertise to support hydrographic survey assets and serve as a liaison with private industry representatives who provide training and system support for NOAA ocean and lake mapping missions. The Center continues to build a cohort of ocean mapping system support experts across NOAA programs, identifying what technical support the ships need and how to best provide those services to the NOAA fleet. The Center is:

• A repository and/or clearinghouse for existing best practices and standard operating procedure documents, such as Standard Ocean Mapping Protocols, NOAA OER Deepwater Exploration Mapping Procedures Manual, Ocean Mapping Community Wiki, in addition to internal NOAA resources.
• Working with NOAA subject matter experts to compile and disseminate advanced protocols for the acquisition of ocean and Great Lakes mapping data, evaluation of sonar systems, and authoring technical reports. This group will work to represent the unified voice of NOAA's mapping interests and technical expertise, to liaise with industry, as well as academic and commercial partners, such as the National Science Foundation-funded Multibeam Advisory Committee, in ocean/lake mapping.
• In collaboration with Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) and Office of Coast Survey (OCS), provide a cadre of technical support liaisons for hydrographic survey vessels and multi-mission platforms, and uncrewed systems.

The Center of Excellence will also develop high-bandwidth connectivity and cloud based data infrastructure to receive and interact with ocean mapping systems at sea and data from field units and other mapping platforms.

As such The Center will:

• Serve as a collating and forwarding center for inter-Line Office data stewardship and data transfer.
• Allow technical staff ashore to remotely access operational ocean/lake mapping systems and provide effective advice and technical support to operators on an increasingly diverse set of platforms.
• Enable data processing by survey personnel ashore during regular field operations, and final transmission for quality assessment and archive via cloud services.

Training

The Center of Excellence is creating a NOAA ocean, coastal, and lake mapping competency structure to describe and build core competencies across NOAA offices and platforms. This will complement the International Federation of Surveyors, International Hydrographic Organization, and International Cartographic Association education and training standards, as reflected in International Hydrographic Organization Publications S-5A/S-5B, S-8A/S-8B, and The Hydrographic Society of America certification requirements. Competency certification is a key element in assuring that personnel are qualified to perform the complex tasks associated with producing authoritative hydrographic surveys and ocean/lake mapping products. The Center will:

• Develop, define, and/or maintain competence standards, qualifications, and certifications for hydrographers and ocean mappers.
• Identify and develop micro credentials for intermediate tiers of ocean/lake mapping qualifications for government and private sector career personnel.
• In partnership with academia and the private sector, provide professional development resources and guidelines to NOAA ocean and lake mapping personnel.

The Center of Excellence is developing a strategic progression of basic, intermediate, and advanced ocean mapping training, focusing on equipment and software, underwater acoustic theory, and geospatial and other topical training courses. This progressive instruction, coupled with field experience, will allow employees and practitioners to grow in technical competence for career advancement. The Center will:

• Develop and deliver hydrographic and ocean/lake mapping instruction.
• Provide government- and private sector-delivered training opportunities for field survey personnel on shore rotation.
• Provide ongoing opportunities for advanced instruction, including industry-led training.
• Provide hands-on access to survey vessels for practical underway training opportunities
• Support nautical cartographic training and education.