Hydrographic surveys – Office of Coast Survey

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026

NOAA announces plans to survey Delaware Bay and solicits proposals for FY2028 funding opportunity

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is pleased to announce a partnership with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Geological Survey for a hydrographic surveying project in southwestern Delaware Bay.

While bathymetry has been updated for major shipping lanes in the center of the bay, additional data is needed for shallower areas between 2 and 10 meters depth that have not been surveyed since the 1970s. This project will provide modern, high-resolution bathymetry, backscatter, and side scan survey data over approximately 16.5 square nautical miles of estuary following its selection for the 2027 solicitation of the Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund.

February 26, 2026

Charting the Arctic: NOAA Ship Fairweather’s 2025 Survey off of Alaska’s Coast

A large white NOAA research vessel (NOAA S 220) docked at a pier, decorated with colorful maritime signal flags. Large grey rocks form a breakwater in the foreground against green ocean water.

By ENS Cullen Hauck

NOAA Ship Fairweather went farther north than ever before for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Port Access Route Study, a multi-year effort to establish new maritime traffic routes, safety zones, and use areas in the U.S. Arctic waters.

February 19, 2026February 19, 2026

Office of Coast Survey: 2025 Year in Review

Since 1807, Coast Survey has endured to keep mariners safe and maritime commerce flowing, under the leadership of now 32 superintendents and directors. 2025 was Coast Survey’s last under Rear Admiral (lower half) Benjamin K. Evans, who was relieved as Director in early 2026 by Rear Admiral (lower half) Christiaan van Westendorp.

Coast Survey is excited for what’s to come under RDML van Westendorp’s leadership–the continued evolution of the National Bathymetric Source program, two new hydrographic ships built from the keel-up to incorporate uncrewed systems, more S-100 rollouts, and more–but wanted to first look back on everything the office accomplished in 2025 to build a strong foundation for a safer, more efficient marine economy.

September 30, 2025November 18, 2025

The latest expedition in Lituya Bay: NOAA and National Park Service collaborate to update nautical charts

NOAA Ship Rainier charts volatile, glacially active waters in Glacier Bay National Park

By ENS P. Giamportone and ENS N. Greenlaw

In August 2025, NOAA Ship Rainier pulled into Lituya (lih-TOO-yuh) Bay, an inlet tucked within the outer edge of Glacier Bay National Park. The name is of Tlingit origin, meaning “lake within the point,” and the Bay has long been a source of sustenance and shelter. The entrance is narrow and turbulent, and the glacial walls make it vulnerable to rockslides and their following waves.

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025

NOAA releases Long Island Sound survey data to support electric power cable planning

We are pleased to announce the availability of new seafloor mapping data to support energy infrastructure planning in the Long Island Sound!

This survey is the result of a Coast Survey partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) through NOAA’s Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund opportunity, a program that allows non-federal organizations to co-fund projects of mutual interest utilizing NOAA’s contracting and data management expertise. NOAA selected this project in the FY2024 round of the matching fund opportunity.

March 28, 2025

The Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping announces progress on mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters

The federal Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping recently released the sixth annual report on progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters. To safeguard our national security and economic prosperity, ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization is foundational to maritime commerce, domestic energy and seafood production, tourism and recreation, and understanding of our natural resources, among other interests. The 2020 National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (NOMEC) makes comprehensive ocean mapping a priority for the coming decade. The Unmapped U.S. Waters report tracks progress toward these important goals.

March 24, 2025March 31, 2025

Ancient river systems, glacial grooves, and steep cliffs discovered near Cape Fear, North Carolina

An image of NOAA Ship Ferdinand R. Hassler.

A View into the History of the Cape Fear Region–Tens of Thousands of Years into the Past

By Cmdr. William Winner

Over the spring and summer of 2024, NOAA Ship Ferdinand R. Hassler surveyed an area southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. This area is unique to the East Coast of the United States—whereas most of the East Coast’s seabed is sandy and has large areas of sand waves, this area does not have as much deep sand cover and instead features exposed underlying bedrock.

February 11, 2025

NOAA’s 2025 hydrographic survey season is gearing up and will be underway soon

An image showing a red uncrewed surface vessel and NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson on Lake Erie in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio

The winter months represent an end to NOAA’s active survey season. During this period, hydrographic survey ships, navigation response team survey vessels, and contractor teams and vessels undergo maintenance and repair in anticipation of the upcoming survey season. NOAA’s 2025 survey season will begin soon as planned survey projects go through the planning and development process and begin to filter to the forefront of each field party’s focus. The ships and survey vessels 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” ArcGIS StoryMap to find out more about our mapping projects and if a hydrographic vessel will be in your area this year!

February 6, 2025June 12, 2025

Office of Coast Survey 2024 Year in Review

A group of images showing various activities undertaken by the Office of Coast Survey throughout the course of 2024.

As we look ahead to continued progress in 2025, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey is proud to share some highlights of the past year with you. We mounted successful emergency responses to reopen ports quickly and safely after hurricanes and a bridge collapse; completed a five-year process to transition to fully electronic navigational chart production; provided hands-on learning experiences for students aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster; and much more, all in service of delivering authoritative ocean and lakebed mapping information as the nation’s chartmaker.

November 13, 2024

Interagency science team collects ocean and weather data in the Arctic aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy

An image showing the side of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy looking towards her stern as she break a path through icy waters with the sun setting in the background.

In October through early November 2024, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, the University of New Hampshire, U.S. National Science Foundation, and U.S. Coast Guard partnered to complete a coordinated mapping mission along the north slope of Alaska aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy. Advancing the 2020 National Strategy on Ocean Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, the mission acquired depth data in uncharted waters along the Coast Guard-proposed Arctic shipping route, deployed a series of oceanographic buoys, and provided at sea training on interdisciplinary scientific expeditions for junior scientists. The mission capitalized on a rare opportunity to maximize data observations within a data-starved region in support of Seascape Alaska, a regional mapping campaign.

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