bathymetry Archives - Page 9 of 13 - Office of Coast Survey

August 27, 2019October 13, 2023

Hawaiian island surveys will update nautical charts and support habitat mapping efforts

Three of Rainier’s hydrographic survey launches moored in Kahului Harbor, Maui.

By Ens. Lyle I. Robbins

For more than 50 years, NOAA Ship Rainier and its hydrographic survey launches have surveyed the Pacific seafloor. During this time, Rainier sailed thousands of miles, including the entire U.S. west coast, Alaska, and Hawaii. This year, Rainier expands on its traditional role of hydrographic survey and is supporting dive operations in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. While Rainier is sailing these remote coral atolls, the survey launches — that are usually in its davits and deployed directly from the ship — are tasked to their own surveys around the islands of Maui, Moloka’i, and O’ahu.

August 16, 2019October 13, 2023

NOAA Ship Rainier successfully field tests autonomous hydrographic survey launch

By Lt. j.g. Airlie Picket

NOAA Ship Rainier field tested a new hydrographic survey platform this season. Last winter, one of the ship’s hydrographic survey launches was converted into a semi-autonomous vessel, allowing it to be operated remotely. Hydrographic surveying is, by nature, dangerous. Autonomous systems have the potential to augment traditional surveying methods, improving efficiency and decreasing (or eliminating) risk to the surveyors themselves. As such, this technology is an exciting step toward fully-autonomous hydrographic survey systems.

August 2, 2019October 13, 2023

Saildrone launched with seafloor mapping capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico shows promise for remote Arctic mapping

Rear Adm. Shep Smith, Richard Jenkins, and Brian Connon in front of a Saildrone.

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), and Saildrone accomplished a key milestone in the research and testing of unmanned technology that can lead to enhanced seafloor mapping capabilities with the launch of the first Saildrone — a wind-driven and solar-powered unmanned surface vehicle (USV) — equipped with multibeam echo sounder technology in the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA anticipates the success of this mission and technical achievement will lead to mapping projects in the Arctic.

July 29, 2019October 13, 2023

NOAA completes hydrographic surveys following Hurricane Barry

Lt. j.g. Patrick Lawler and Lt. j.g. Michelle Levano remove the side scan sonar from the water.

By Lt. j.g. Michelle Levano

Seven tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean have been named Barry, with the first storm making landfall in 1983. In 2019, Hurricane Barry reached Category 1 status on July 13, becoming the first hurricane of the 2019 season.

On July 11, Office of Coast Survey’s Gulf Coast Navigation Manager, Tim Osborn, received requests from U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and local ports for resources to confirm navigational depths in Louisiana waters. Once a navigation manager receives requests for hydrographic surveys, Coast Survey formulates logistics to complete these requests. In the case of Hurricane Barry, Coast Survey’s navigation response team (NRT)- Stennis mobilized to respond to Port Fourchon, Louisiana’s southernmost port. Port Fourchon supports significant petroleum industry traffic coming in from the Gulf of Mexico, furnishing about 18% of the U.S. oil supply.

May 22, 2019October 13, 2023

NOAA releases 2019 hydrographic survey plans

NOAA Hydrographic Survey Projects 2019 story map cover

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey is the nation’s nautical chartmaker, and maintains a suite of more than a thousand nautical charts. Coast Survey is responsible for charting U.S. waters and Great Lakes covering 3.4 million square nautical miles (SNM) of water and 95,000 miles of coastline.

NOAA’s hydrographic survey ships along with hydrographic contractor vessels, recently kicked off the 2019 hydrographic survey season. These surveys not only update the suite of nautical charts, but also help to maintain the safety of maritime commerce, recreational boaters, natural ecosystems, and much more. Operations are scheduled for maritime priority areas around the country and are outlined in Coast Survey’s “living” story map. Here is a list of where they are headed this year:

April 4, 2019

Coast Survey spotlight: Meet Tim Wilkinson

As a navigation response team member, Tim conducts hydrographic surveys on one of several small survey vessels to help make our coastlines safer for navigation. His normal area of operation is Washington and Oregon but will be called to assist with emergency response all across the country.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a member of the NOAA Coast Survey team? We use the Coast Survey spotlight blog series as a way to periodically share the experiences of Coast Survey employees as they discuss their work, background, and advice.

Tim Wilkinson, navigation response team member

“Our nation’s waterways are constantly changing and the technology we’re using to chart them is becoming increasingly more accurate. My position and my counterparts on the other teams are integral to developing accurate charts to ensure safer navigation. We also act as emergency responders to situations such as hurricanes and ship groundings.”

Continue reading “Coast Survey spotlight: Meet Tim Wilkinson”

December 4, 2018

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson tests drone use for shoreline mapping

By, Lt. j.g. Matt Sharr, NOAA, and Lt. Charles Wisotzkey, NOAA

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) recently conducted operational tests of small unmanned aerial systems — or drones — on board NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson in support of survey operations conducted along the south coast of Puerto Rico. The tests show the potential of imagery from low-cost off-the-shelf drones to meet NOAA survey specifications for near-shore and shoreline feature mapping. This could replace traditional shoreline verification and mapping techniques used by NOAA hydrographic survey field units. Potential benefits of using drones for shoreline mapping include: improved data collection efficiency compared to data collection from small skiffs; more accurate feature investigation than traditional techniques; and, most importantly, removal of personnel from potentially dangerous situations (i.e. survey in close proximity to features being mapped). Continue reading “NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson tests drone use for shoreline mapping”

October 24, 2018

Seismic inter-agency collaborations on NOAA Ship Rainier

Rainier crew practice deploying the Edgetech Sub-bottom 512 Chirp profiler

By Ensign Airlie Pickett, NOAA

NOAA Ship Rainier spent September completing a multi-leg, joint collaboration project investigating deep offshore areas of the southern California coast. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) partnered with NOAA to support a month-long mission to collect geophysical data along the outer continental shelf of California where the area in question features a number of different geologic structures and processes. Continue reading “Seismic inter-agency collaborations on NOAA Ship Rainier”

October 22, 2018

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson successfully tests new wireless system that aids remote vessel operation

By Lt. Charles Wisotzkey, NOAA

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson successfully tested a new wireless networking system while working in the Approaches to Houston/Galveston and around Puerto Rico during the 2018 field season. This new system connects the ship and its two hydrographic survey launches, providing a level of wireless connectivity previously unobtainable with traditional wireless communications systems. NOAA anticipates this will increase unmanned system productivity while conducting hydrographic surveys. Continue reading “NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson successfully tests new wireless system that aids remote vessel operation”

October 16, 2018

NOAA detects navigation hazards following Hurricane Michael

sunken vessel with navigation response team vessel in foreground

After quickly gaining the strength of a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Michael reached the panhandle of Florida on Wednesday, October 10. With maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and storm surge reaching 15 feet, this storm wiped out coastal communities and closed ports to all traffic in the area. Dangerous winds and storm surge can shift sands and pull large objects beneath the waves, creating hazards to navigation. Before ports can reopen and safely resume vessel traffic, the U.S. Coast Guard must be aware of any underwater dangers so they can either be properly charted or removed. Continue reading “NOAA detects navigation hazards following Hurricane Michael”