The Unified Forecast System (UFS) is a proposed community-based earth modeling system that is designed to incorporate oceanographic forecast model core(s) into a simplified NOAA modeling suite. This simplification is intended to reduce the footprint of the number of NOAA models and thus reduce development, operations, and maintenance.
Continue reading “NOAA-NSF collaboration – evaluating coastal models utilizing Texas Advanced Computing Center services”Ocean and coastal mapping matching fund opportunity
The Office of Coast Survey invites non-federal entities to partner with NOAA National Ocean Service’s ocean and coastal mapping programs on jointly funded projects of mutual interest using NOAA’s geospatial contracting vehicles. Known as the Brennan Matching Fund, the opportunity relies on NOAA’s mapping, charting, and geodesy expertise, appropriated funds, and its authority to receive and expend matching funds contributed by partners to conduct surveying and mapping activities. Partners benefit from this opportunity by leveraging NOAA’s contracting expertise, including its pool of pre-qualified technical experts in surveying and mapping as well as data management to ensure that the mapping data are fit for purpose and are usable for a broad set of purposes, including, for example, safe navigation, integrated ocean and coastal mapping, coastal zone management, renewable energy development, coastal and ocean science, climate preparedness, infrastructure investments, and other activities.
Continue reading “Ocean and coastal mapping matching fund opportunity”Conducting survey operations with Coast Survey’s navigation response teams
Strategically placed around the country, NOAA’s navigation response teams―30-foot survey vessels with a three-person survey team―maintain emergency readiness while checking chart accuracy in changing ports and harbors. Navigation response teams work day-to-day in ports and harbors, collecting data to update the nation’s nautical charts. They measure depths, locate obstructions, report dangers to navigation, and update features for safe navigation. Whether there is a need to investigate wrecks, check for suspected shoals, conduct surveys for coastal management, or work with other federal agencies to support homeland security, Coast Survey’s navigation response teams have the expertise to get the job done safely and efficiently.
Continue reading “Conducting survey operations with Coast Survey’s navigation response teams”NOAA ocean mapping and reef surveys in the Mariana Islands
On March 26, NOAA Ship Rainier set sail from Honolulu, Hawaii on a 3,307-nautical mile expedition to the Western Pacific. Originally planned for 2020, this will be the ship’s first multidisciplinary expedition to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. This collaborative mission between NOAA’s National Ocean Service and National Marine Fisheries Service will deliver high‐quality data, data products, and tools to the region including a seamless map linking hilltops to underwater depths and integrated data on the surrounding coral reef ecosystems. These data can provide information for countless users to make critical management decisions within disciplines such as habitat management and restoration, tsunami modeling, monitoring, and marine resource management.
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NOAA releases 2022 hydrographic survey season plans
NOAA hydrographic survey ships and contractors are preparing for the 2022 hydrographic survey season in U.S. coastal waters and beyond. The ships collect bathymetric data (i.e. map the seafloor) to support nautical charting, modeling, and research, but also collect other environmental data to support a variety of ecosystem sciences. NOAA considers hydrographic survey requests from stakeholders such as marine pilots, local port authorities, the Coast Guard, and the boating community, and also considers other hydrographic and NOAA science priorities in determining where to survey and when. Visit our “living” story map to find out more about our mapping projects and if a hydrographic vessel will be in your area this year!
Continue reading “NOAA releases 2022 hydrographic survey season plans”New hydrographic surveying matching fund announced
Update (2/19/21) – Notes and slides from the January 28, 2021, webinar on the NOAA Coast Survey Matching Fund Opportunity are now available.
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey recently announced a new pilot program for a Hydrographic Surveying Matching Fund opportunity through a Federal Register Notice. The purpose of this notice is to encourage non-federal entities to partner with NOAA on jointly-funded hydrographic surveying, mapping, and related activities of mutual interest. The pilot program relates directly to Coast Survey’s Ocean Mapping Plan and a goal to expand U.S. EEZ mapping by also expanding use of Coast Survey’s hydrographic services contract vehicle.
Continue reading “New hydrographic surveying matching fund announced”Introducing the Inland-Coastal Flooding Operational Guidance System (ICOGS)
Where the river meets the sea can be both a turbulent and vulnerable space, particularly during strong storms when heavy precipitation and storm surge intersect. This intersection is known as “compound inland-coastal flooding,” and until now, had not been carefully studied and implemented in forecasting centers for public guidance due to its inherent complexity. NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science recently developed the Inland-Coastal Flooding Operational Guidance System (ICOGS), the world’s first three-dimensional integrated compound inland-coastal flooding guidance system.
Continue reading “Introducing the Inland-Coastal Flooding Operational Guidance System (ICOGS)”Autonomous vessel operations in the Arctic: Lessons learned from the Summer 2020 Mapping Mission
On May 28, 2020, four uncrewed vessels departed Alameda, California, to begin their transit across the Pacific Ocean, through Unimak Pass, across the Bering Sea, and into the Arctic. These small, uncrewed vessels, powered only by wind and sun, arrived at Point Hope, Alaska, in early August to start an ambitious project acquiring new depth data along the 20 and 50 meter depth contours from Point Hope to the Canadian border. This was the start of a challenging Arctic project that would contend with weather, sea ice, and equipment failures, all while avoiding potential conflicts with indigenous subsistence hunting.
Continue reading “Autonomous vessel operations in the Arctic: Lessons learned from the Summer 2020 Mapping Mission”NOAA wants to hear from you on ocean and coastal mapping topics
There are three opportunities in the coming month to provide input to NOAA on its navigation services and the future implementation of national ocean and coastal mapping strategies, development of standard ocean mapping protocols, and precision marine navigation.
Continue reading “NOAA wants to hear from you on ocean and coastal mapping topics”NOAA bathymetric data helps scientists more accurately model tsunami risk within Barry Arm
In May of 2020, local geologists identified a steep, unstable slope that has the potential to become a tsunami-generating landslide in Barry Arm, a glacial fjord 60 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska. With documented cases of tsunami-generating landslides in Alaska including Lituya Bay in 1958 and Taan Fjord in 2015, this new hazard immediately caught the attention of state and federal partners who quickly joined forces to quantify the risk to those living and boating in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, specifically the communities of Whittier, Valdez, Cordova, Tatitlek, and Chenega.
Continue reading “NOAA bathymetric data helps scientists more accurately model tsunami risk within Barry Arm”