Lakebed 2030 – Office of Coast Survey

March 30, 2026March 30, 2026

U.S. continues to close mapping gaps on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters

In 2025, the ocean and coastal mapping community added 70,700 square nautical miles (snm) of new bathymetric data coverage to national repositories. With an ultimate goal of fully mapped U.S. waters by 2040, these additions brought the total down to 44% unmapped.

Progress was made on a number of fronts, but most notably in areas where regional efforts are underway to boost collaborative data acquisition activities and data sharing, in accordance with the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration and Characterization, or NOMEC, Strategy goals.

April 2, 2024March 26, 2025

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

An image of high resolution bathymetry using various colors to represent seafloor elevation.

The federal Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping recently released the fifth annual report on progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters. Knowledge of the depth, shape, and composition of the seafloor has far-reaching benefits, including safer navigation, hazard mitigation for coastal resilience, preservation of marine habitats and heritage, and a deeper understanding of natural resources for sustainable ocean economies. 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.

June 14, 2023June 15, 2023

NOAA helps develop undergraduate course in lakebed mapping

Grand Traverse Light aerial of Northport Michigan.

As the New Blue Economy grows along with demands for a climate-ready workforce, NOAA is connecting the dots between climate resilience and the need for a workforce skilled in science and technology supporting ocean and coastal mapping. Exposure to key disciplines, from geodesy, oceanography, and science data management to modeling, hydrography and GIS-based cartography, is critical to building robust interest, opportunities and expertise in the government and industry geospatial careers supporting climate resilience. NOAA works with a variety of partners to advance workforce development in these foundational geospatial areas. In particular, hydrography – measuring water depths, locating hazards, and describing the seafloor – is a challenging but exciting field dependent on skilled technicians, surveyors, and scientists to acquire mapping data using state-of-the-art technologies. With only 50% of U.S. coastal, ocean and Great Lakes waters mapped, there is a lot of work to do! Read on to learn about a hydrographic surveying project NOAA is supporting with Northwestern Michigan College in the Great Lakes.