NOAA Coast Survey

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239 years ago, French explorers surveyed Lituya Bay, in what is now Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park. This summer, NOAA Ship RAINIER did the same. “It was a pretty unique situation,” said Chief Hydrographic Survey Technician Jim Jacobson. “The entire head of the Bay had filled in—on the chart, it showed depths of up to 129 meters, but in reality, it was walkable land.” This dramatic change is due to shearing rockslides believed to be the result of recent landslides and the natural glacial sediment load funneled through the valley. The data collected by RAINIER and her crew directly ensures the safety and utility of the nation’s marine highway infrastructure, as well as the over 700,000 annual visitors to the national park–the majority of which travel by water. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eXZMq8Ay

Welcome Rear Admiral (select) van Westendorp! Coast Survey’s incoming director will steer the continued transformation of the nation's ocean mapping and charting programs: advancing the use of uncrewed survey vessels, bringing the next generation of products and services into the hands of mariners, and working with the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations to launch our two new state-of-the-art hydrographic ships. Rear Adm. (sel) van Westendorp brings a wealth of experience in hydrography and Coast Survey’s mission, including as the chief of our Navigation Services Division. And while in command of the NOAA ship Thomas Jefferson, Rear Adm. (sel) van Westendorp led an unprecedented range of missions—from demonstrating the capabilities of uncrewed small craft to conducting emergency response surveys in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricane Maria. Read the full announcement, linked below!

A grey and dreary day–perfect survey conditions! Our contractor DEA’s survey boats are headed out to survey the Columbia River Bar. It’s an area of shoals at the mouth of the river, where the river’s current discharges into the Pacific Ocean, often creating large standing waves. This bar crossing is one of the most dangerous in the world, and the updated bathymetric data we collect will inform wave forecast models used by the Columbia River Bar Pilots as they embark on vessels transiting the area to call upon the Ports of Portland, OR, and Vancouver, WA.    This comprehensive survey of the Columbia River includes not only full coverage of the River itself, but also vessel-based laser scanning of bridges and other overhead and shoreline features. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to survey well into the fall.

The Yukon River in Alaska freezes each winter, limiting the time marine traffic can safely navigate to the communities along the river to deliver critical supplies. Each time the river thaws, mariners find the channels have shifted and must navigate through potential groundings. While their vessels are built to “go dry,” each unintentional grounding causes delays and less time to complete a season’s work before the weather turns. Tug companies that operate on Alaskan rivers have been working with NOAA to develop solutions for these complex rivers. This shipping season, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey fast-tracked an automated shoreline extraction from satellite imagery, and Coast Survey’s cartographers developed a workflow to rapidly ingest the changes and update the Electronic Nautical Charts, or ENCs. National Geodetic Survey and Coast Survey’s cartographers will continue this workflow annually, ensuring updated shoreline data and ENCs are released before each shipping season commences. Read more on the science behind the update here: https://lnkd.in/eH9wPnna 

Swift currents, shifting sandbars – Alaska’s Kuskokwim River demands constant attention to navigate it safely. The U.S. Coast Guard maintains over 50 aids to navigation along the river. River conditions can change daily, so the position of each aid to navigation is the difference between safe travel and dangerous groundings. The Coast Guard's Arctic District asked Coast Survey to support its latest deployment by providing real-time, precise seafloor mapping data. How did we do it? With our mobile surveying kit, installing the high-resolution survey equipment right on one of the Coast Guard Cutter Aspen's small boats. Watch a timelapse of the installation below, and read more about the mission here: https://lnkd.in/eUzNMu-Q

Thanks to the Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund, NOAA and the City of Valdez, Alaska are mapping local waters right now to assess tsunami and underwater landslide risk in Port Valdez, as well as Valdez Glacier Lake to better understand and predict ice calving events. “Partnering with NOAA gives us a clearer picture of how Port Valdez is changing over time,” said Aaron Baczuk, Emergency Manager for the City of Valdez. “This updated data not only helps us plan for safety and resilience after events like earthquakes but also strengthens our role as Alaska’s northernmost ice-free port — a vital connection point for communities across the state.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gnDJeKny And see below for more info on how to apply for the next round of funding:

NOAA is now hiring professional mariners for our research ships! To execute Coast Survey's missions, we need hydrographic survey technicians onboard to map our waters and operate uncrewed systems; engineers to run the power plant; folks on the deck to operate equipment and drive small boats; electronic technicians to keep our tech working; chefs to keep our crew fed; and more. Interested? Follow the link below.

Congrats to the National Geodetic Survey for releasing preliminary versions of the first four foundational products of the National Spatial Reference System, or NSRS, modernization! 🎉 The NSRS is the consistent coordinate system that defines latitude, longitude, height, scale, gravity, and orientation throughout the United States. This is a beta release, meaning the office is testing and iterating on the final product with its users, which is critical to ensuring a successful final product. The NSRS is the foundational framework on which the $1 trillion geospatial industry (construction, transportation, and precision agriculture, to name a few) is based—and everyone will benefit from the more precise, real-time geospatial measurements like the height, angles, and distances between locations. This 18-years-in-the-making modernization effort incorporates updated land motion data, new gravity models, and more. It is the first major update since the advent of the Global Positioning System, bringing new levels of accuracy and precision to geospatial data and products. Coast Survey will be part of this transformation! Once the NSRS modernization is finalized and officially released, our hydrographic survey data, nautical charts, oceanographic models, and more will be updated to the new reference system—resulting in more accurate and precise positions and heights for mariners and all users of our products and data. More details below:

Happy #WorldHydrographyDay! Learn more about how Coast Survey is commemorating this year's theme, "Enabling Ocean Action", here: https://lnkd.in/ggBcy7A