{"id":362,"date":"2012-08-31T11:47:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T15:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noaacoastsurvey.wordpress.com\/?p=362"},"modified":"2022-03-18T16:55:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T16:55:16","slug":"noaa-navigation-response-team-has-a-harrowing-start-to-a-successful-afternoon-of-surveying-at-port-fourchon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/noaa-navigation-response-team-has-a-harrowing-start-to-a-successful-afternoon-of-surveying-at-port-fourchon\/","title":{"rendered":"NOAA navigation response team has a harrowing start to a successful afternoon of surveying at Port Fourchon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coast Survey navigation response teams know the meaning of “rapid” in Rapid Maritime Response<\/a>, as their ongoing response following Hurricane Isaac demonstrates.
\nAs we explained in yesterday’s post (NOAA looks for dangers to navigation at Port Fourchon<\/a>), getting a navigation response team<\/a>\u00a0(NRT) into the water at the port, to search for underwater debris and shoaling \u2012 ASAP<\/em> \u2012 was Coast Survey’s highest priority. It was also a priority for port authorities, who know more than anyone how important it is to resume maritime operations quickly at “The Gulf’s Energy Connection.”
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\nThe 3-person survey team (team lead Nick Forfinski, with Luke Pavilonis and David McIntire), with navigation managers Tim Osborn and Alan Bunn, first had to move the boat (complete with state-of-the-art multibeam sonar and side scan sonar equipment) 163 miles from Lafayette to Port Fourchon<\/a>. The team was the first group to drive down closed Highway 1, only preceded by a harbor police officer who wanted to make sure roads weren’t washed out. To travel the last segment of the storm-savaged highway, which was covered in places by nearly two feet of sideways-moving water, averting downed utility poles with hanging wires, the small Coast Survey caravan received a police escort by Port Fourchon Harbor Police.
\n

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The Coast Survey caravan, taking NRT4 to Port Fourchon on Thursday morning, had to drive through sections of Hwy 1 that were covered with up to two feet of moving water. \u00a0The caravan was escorted by the Port Fourchon Harbor Police.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
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The \u00a0caravan had to skirt downed utility lines and hanging wires on closed Highway 1, north of Galliano, as they traveled from Lafayette to Port Fourchon on Thursday morning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAs anyone who has ever driven through bad conditions can imagine, the team arrived at Port Fourchon tensed and tired. But that didn’t stop them. After consulting with port authorities, NRT4 launched their 28′ Sea Ark, put the side scan sonar<\/a> in the water, switched on the multibeam<\/a>, calibrated equipment, and started searching for dangers to navigation in the deserted waters around the docks. They also did a quick reconnaissance of Belle Pass (see NOAA chart 11346<\/a>), where conditions were such that they weren’t able to continue operations. (They are returning to Belle Pass today.)
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NRT4 used the multibeam echo sounder and the side scan sonar (pictured here) as they searched for underwater hazards at Port Fourchon on Aug 30.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nPort officials need the data \u2012 quickly \u2012 from the hydrographic surveys, so NRT4 survey technicians worked until the early morning hours, processing the depth measurements and images they acquired yesterday afternoon.
\nToday, NRT4 will intensify their search for underwater debris and shoaling, to make sure that ships and mariners can navigate safely \u2012 without damage to lives, equipment, or the environment \u2012 when ships start returning after the Coast Guard Captain of the Port lifts port restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coast Survey navigation response teams know the meaning of “rapid” in Rapid Maritime Response, as their ongoing response following Hurricane Isaac demonstrates. As we explained in yesterday’s post (NOAA looks for dangers to navigation at Port Fourchon), getting a navigation response team\u00a0(NRT) into the water at the port, to search for underwater debris and shoaling … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “NOAA navigation response team has a harrowing start to a successful afternoon of surveying at Port Fourchon”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,11,47],"tags":[134,135],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-federal-state-cooperation","category-navigation-response-teams","category-rapid-maritime-response","tag-isaac","tag-port-fourchon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182457,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions\/182457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}