“Like it or not, they’re going to build 

these ships bigger and bigger. It’s like 

squeezing ten pounds of ship into a fi vepound channel. We’ve got to get better 

systems in place to do this safely. That’s 

my job, and I can’t do it without the 

technology that’s out there. The problem 

is we’re not getting the funding to get 

this thing going. We’re not getting the 

charting, not getting the observation 

systems, and it’s because it’s not coming 

out of NOAA. We want the ounce of 

prevention instead of the pound of cure, 

and we’re not getting that.”

Capt. Andrew McGovern, 

Sandy Hook Pilot

Credit: Captain Andrew McGovern
HSRP MOST WANTED 

HYDROGRAPHIC SERVICES IMPROVEMENTS 

Hydrographic Services Review Panel 

Federal Advisory Committee 

Special Report 2007
The Hydrographic Services Review Panel extends its 

appreciation for the support and cooperation provided by 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

(NOAA) National Ocean Service (NOS) and the NOS Program 

Offi ces: Offi ce of Coast Survey, Center for Operational 

Oceanographic Products and Services, National Geodetic 

Survey, Offi ce of Response and Restoration, and NOAA’s 

Offi ce of Marine and Aviation Operations. The Panel 

specifi cally thanks Ms. Ashley Chappell, Ms. Barbara Hess, 

Ms. Ann Boese, Ms. Kristen Crossett, Ms. Emily Crum, and 

Ms. Mandy June Stinson for their dedicated and professional 

support throughout the process of writing, editing, and 

publishing this Special Report, and NOS Special Projects for 

facilitating this report. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NOAA Ship Rainier

Credit: NOAA
 

ABOUT THE HSRP AND PANEL MEMBERS 

 

STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR 

 

HSRP SPECIAL REPORT 

 

HSRP MOST WANTED HYDROGRAPHIC SERVICES

IMPROVEMENTS 

AGGRESSIVELY MAP THE NATION’S SHORELINES AND

NAVIGATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT WATERS 

 

INTEGRATE COASTAL MAPPING EFFORTS AND ENSURE

FEDERALLY MAINTAINED CHANNELS, APPROACHES, 

AND ANCHORAGES ARE SURVEYED TO THE HIGHEST

STANDARD

 

MODERNIZE HEIGHTS AND IMPLEMENT REAL-TIME WATER

LEVEL AND CURRENT OBSERVING SYSTEMS IN ALL

MAJOR COMMERCIAL PORTS 

 

STRENGTHEN NOAA’S NAVIGATION SERVICES

EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY CAPABILITIES 

 

DISSEMINATE NOAA’S HYDROGRAPHIC SERVICES DATA

AND PRODUCTS TO ACHIEVE GREATEST PUBLIC BENEFIT

 

For more information, please visit: 

http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/ocs/hsrp/hsrp.htm.

CONTENTS

1

2

3

5

7

12

17

22

25

Ships are growing ever larger and sailing closer to the 

bottom of channels. Credit: Illustration by Lili Robins
1 HSRP Special Report 2007

Federal Representatives

Mr. John H. Dunnigan, Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service, NOAA

HSRP Decision Maker

Captain Steven R. Barnum, NOAA, Director, Offi ce of Coast Survey, NOAA

HSRP Designated Federal Offi cer

Captain Andrew Armstrong, NOAA (Ret.), 

NOAA/University of New Hampshire Joint Hydrographic Center

Non-Voting Member

Mr. Mike Szabados, Director, 

Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, NOAA

Non-Voting Member

Mr. David Zilkoski, Director, National Geodetic Survey, NOAA

Non-Voting Member

Past Representative: Captain Roger L. Parsons, NOAA (Ret.) 

Hydrographic Services Review Panel Members

J. Scott Rainey, Chair

Tom Skinner, Vice Chair

Jonathan Dasler - David Evans and Associates, Inc. 

Elaine Dickinson - Boat Owners Association of the U.S. (BoatU.S.) 

William Gray - Gray Maritime Company, Maritime Advisor to INTERTANKO 

Richard W. Harkins - Consultant 

Captain Sherri Hickman - Houston Pilots Association 

Dr. Lewis Lapine - South Carolina Geodetic Survey 

Admiral Richard Larrabee - The Port Authority of NY and NJ 

R. Adam McBride - Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District 

Captain Andrew McGovern - Sandy Hook Pilots Association 

Captain Minas Myrtidis - Norwegian Cruise Line 

John Oswald - John Oswald and Associates, LLC 

J. Scott Rainey - Principal, Rainey Harbor Group 

Tom Skinner - Durand & Anastas Environmental Strategies, Inc. 

Admiral Richard West - Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education 

Larry Whiting - TerraSond LLC

Past Member: Helen A. Brohl - Great Lakes Shipping Association

ABOUT HSRP
2

March 21, 2007

This Special Report of the Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP) Federal Advisory 

Committee outlines actions the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must 

take to provide critical hydrographic services for the nation. The Special Report highlights the 

HSRP’s most signifi cant recommendations in the context of the bigger picture, juxtaposing NOAA’s 

insuffi cient capacity to deliver navigation products and services with the growing requirements of 

the U.S. Marine Transportation System and our economic and national security. 

These recommendations, referred to in the Special Report as the “HSRP Most Wanted 

Hydrographic Improvements List,” represent the Panel’s best advice to NOAA, the Administration, 

and Congress regarding near-term priorities and direction. This Special Report is timely, as NOAA 

marks the 200th Anniversary of the Survey of the Coast, as the Administration establishes its 

agenda for its new cabinet-level Committee on the Marine Transportation System, and as Congress 

considers the re-authorization of the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act, an Act supporting 

Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping, and a NOAA Organic Act.

The HSRP strongly recommends that NOAA:

• Aggressively Map the Nation’s Shorelines and Navigationally Signifi cant Waters; 

• Integrate Coastal Mapping Efforts and Ensure Federally Maintained Channels, Approaches, and 

Anchorages Are Surveyed to the Highest Standard;

• Modernize Heights and Implement Real-time Water Level and Current Observing Systems in 

All Major Commercial Ports; 

• Strengthen NOAA’s Navigation Services Emergency Response and Recovery Capabilities; and

• Disseminate NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Data and Products to Achieve the Greatest Public 

Benefi t.

The Panel urges NOAA to include the HSRP recommendations in its annual requirements-based 

resource assessment to achieve the agency’s strategic goals, particularly with respect to supporting 

the nation’s commerce with information to facilitate marine transportation. Because today’s vessels 

carry more cargo and hazardous materials through United States waters than to any other country’s 

waters, their safe, effi cient movement relates directly to economic profi t and loss and environmental 

protection in U.S. waterways.

 

 J. Scott Rainey, Chairman

 Hydrographic Services Review Panel

STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR

HSRP Special Report 
3 HSRP Special Report 2007

HSRP SPECIAL REPORT

The Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP), the Federal 

Advisory Committee established by Congress to advise NOAA 

on carrying out its Navigation Services mission, hereby offers 

to NOAA its top priority fi ndings and recommendations after a 

three-year assessment of NOAA Navigation Services programs. 

The HSRP’s objective is to spur effective NOAA planning 

and budgeting to meet the nation’s most immediate needs for 

hydrographic services for the U.S. Marine Transportation System 

(MTS) in support of commercial and recreational mariners, and 

also to benefi t NOAA’s stewardship of the nation’s coastal and 

ocean resources.

The MTS has been acknowledged for years as the U.S. gateway 

to the world’s commerce, but investments to maintain and 

improve the system are insuffi cient and not comprehensive. 

Following on 1998 listening sessions with MTS stakeholders, 

the Department of Transportation submitted the 1999 Report 

to Congress: An Assessment of the U.S. Marine Transportation System, 

noting the great extent to which the U.S. relies on an effi cient 

and effective MTS to maintain its role as a global power and 

to gain competitive access to suppliers and markets in an 

increasingly global economy. The 1999 Report to Congress advised 

establishing two committees — the MTS National Advisory 

Council and the Interagency Committee on the MTS (ICMTS) 

— to drive coordinated enhancements to the system, among 

other recommendations. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 

picked up this thread in 2004, arguing for a codifi ed ICMTS and 

a new national freight transportation strategy to direct national 

transportation funds toward signifi cant intermodal projects. The 

Administration responded to the Commission Report with the 

Ocean Action Plan in late 2004, establishing ocean governance 

committees, elevating the ICMTS to cabinet level (now the 

Committee on MTS), and supporting the national freight agenda. 

Now eight years later, the CMTS is crafting an action plan 

that reiterates the same defi ciencies noted in the 1999 Report to 

Congress, and improvements to the MTS have primarily focused 

on land-side enhancements to freight movement. 

For nearly a decade, individual HSRP members have participated 

in the listening sessions, conferences, and discourse on the state 

of the MTS and what to do about it, without seeing signifi cant 

change in the approach to this critical component of the U.S. 

transportation infrastructure. Now in 2007, the HSRP believes 

Marine Transportation System

Vital Statistics

The MTS includes:

• 1,000 harbor channels

• 326 ports

• over 3,700 terminals

• 238 lock chambers

• about 100,000 aids to navigation

• 25,000 miles of inland, intracoastal, and 

coastal waterways

The MTS links:

• 174,000 miles of rail

• 460,000 miles of pipeline

• 45,000 miles of interstate highways

Each year the MTS:

• Moves over 95% of the volume of 

overseas trade

• Transports 134 million ferry passengers, 

5 million cruise ship passengers, and 70 

million recreational boaters

• Contributes more than $742 billion to 

the U.S. GDP and employs more than 13 

million people

• Moves 720.2 million short tons of 

commodities on lakewise and internal 

waterways.

Statistics available at http://www.cmts.gov.

Ships in the Houston Ship 

Channel. Credit: Jim Wark, 

Airphoto North America
4

the time has come to take real action, particularly on the 

water side of the MTS, and particularly in the area of 

HSRP purview: NOAA’s Navigation Services programs. 

Largely unnoticed by policy-makers and the general public 

unless something goes wrong – a devastating oil spill 

like the Exxon Valdez in 1989, a tragic marine accident 

like the 1980 ship strike of the Tampa Sunshine Skyway 

Bridge, or a costly vessel grounding like the Selendang 

Ayu in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in 2004 – the information 

services NOAA provides to mariners and other users 

are critical to safe, effi cient, and environmentally sound 

navigation throughout the MTS. The 21st century mariner 

– commercial or recreational – increasingly depends on 

NOAA’s digital Electronic Navigational Charts, realtime water levels and currents, accurate positioning 

data, and emergency preparedness and response to get 

people and goods safely where they need to go. Not only 

does NOAA improve a mariner’s situational awareness, 

improving safety and reducing costly delays, but NOAA 

navigation data also support national and economic 

security, emergency planning, coastal zone management, 

scientifi c research, engineering and infrastructure building, 

delineation of boundary and property lines, and a host of 

other non-navigation uses.

Distressingly, the budget trend for NOAA Navigation 

Services programs is far below what is required to fully 

address the MTS issues within NOAA’s scope. The HSRP 

is concerned that the commerce and transportation 

request for FY 2008 has the smallest percentage increase 

of all the NOAA strategic goals. Additionally, the 

disparity in recent years between the President’s budget 

requests and enacted amounts, compounds the problem 

of accomplishing NOAA’s hydrographic services 

priorities. The continuing resolution for 2007, and the 

ensuing year-long holding pattern it causes, increases 

the risks to the MTS. It is the HSRP’s hope that this 

Special Report will prompt Congress to fully support the 

2008 President’s Budget in order to make progress in 

Navigation Services and to look harder at the unfunded 

MTS requirements. It is also our intent that this Special 

Report encourage the Administration to increase the 

2009 Navigation Services budget request in areas that 

benefi t the MTS. NOAA needs adequate resources to 

deliver its essential services to the nation, and the nation 

needs NOAA’s services to keep commerce moving 

safely and effi ciently on U.S. waters. The HSRP’s top 

recommendations for additional investment and attention 

follow. Examples of NOAA Navigation Data Users

Credit: Captain Andrew McGovern

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

U.S. Navy

Pilots

Port Authorities

Commercial Shippers

Ferry Operators

Fishing Industry

Recreational Boaters

Scientists working in the coastal zone

HAZMAT Responders

Universities

Climatologists

Land Surveyors

Coastal Managers

Emergency Planners

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

HSRP Special Report 
5 HSRP Special Report 2007

NOAA SWATH Coastal Mapping 

Vessel, currently under construction.

Credit: NOAA

Conducting shoreline verifi cation 

with the suitcase computer in 

Alaska. Credit: NOAA

Multibeam and side scan sonar 

technology reveal the entire seafl oor. 

Credit: NOAA

NOAA Cessna Citation II 

acquires remote sensing imagery. 

Credit: NOAA

NOAA SWATH

Credit: NOAA

HSRP MOST WANTED HYDROGRAPHIC 

SERVICES IMPROVEMENTS March 21, 2007

Finding 1:

NOAA is unable to meet the nation’s need for updated marine 

navigation information, primarily because NOAA resources to deliver 

Navigation Services have not kept pace with U.S Marine Transportation 

System (MTS) growth.

Recommendation 1:

The HSRP recommends that NOAA aggressively survey and map the 

500,000 square nautical miles (SNM) of navigationally signifi cant areas 

and 95,000 miles of shoreline by:

• Expanding NOAA’s in-house and contract survey capabilities to 

acquire and process more hydrographic and shoreline mapping data;

• Developing and implementing more effi cient surveying, mapping, 

and processing techniques and technologies; and

• Replacing aging single-purpose hydrographic ships with modern, 

multi-purpose vessels to further maximize the use and reach of 

NOAA resources.

Finding 2: 

NOAA is not alone in its requirements for accurate hydrographic and 

shoreline data. Numerous federal and state agencies collect similar or 

related datasets to perform their own mission-critical functions. The 

lack of data integration, inconsistent standards, and the use of different 

vertical datums cause confusion among users. Federal agencies must 

accelerate efforts to integrate data in order to conserve resources, 

minimize duplication and inconsistency, and maximize taxpayer 

investments. 

Recommendation 2:

The HSRP recommends that NOAA take a larger role in improving 

partnerships with other federal and state agencies and other nongovernmental entities to:

• Integrate coastal mapping efforts with coordinated mapping plans 

and tools such as VDatum; and

• Ensure that the nation’s federally maintained channels, approaches, 

and anchorages are surveyed with full-bottom coverage technologies.

Aggressively Map the Nation’s Shorelines and Navigationally 

Signifi cant Waters 

Integrate Coastal Mapping Efforts and Ensure Federally Maintained 

Channels, Approaches, and Anchorages Are Surveyed to the 

Highest Standard
6

Survey vehicle and GPS fi eld 

crew surveying evacuation routes 

in Louisiana. Credit: NOAA

Finding 5: 

The more timely and widespread NOAA’s navigation data delivery, the 

more benefi t it can provide to safe navigation and other uses. 

Recommendation 5:

The HSRP recommends that NOAA expand efforts to deliver its 

navigation products and services more quickly, and increase outreach to 

make navigation and non-navigation users more aware of the NOAA 

mapping and data resources available to them. 

HSRP Most Wanted

Finding 3: 

NOAA’s Navigation Services are a critical component of the federal 

effort to build an Integrated Ocean Observing System, delivering realtime data to a multitude of navigation and non-navigation users.

Recommendation 3:

The HSRP recommends that NOAA expand and fully fund real-time 

water level and current observations, such as Physical Oceanographic 

Real Time Systems, or PORTS®, in commercial ports, and improve 

positioning for heights nationwide as critical components of the 

Integrated Ocean Observing System. 

Finding 4: 

NOAA’s Navigation Services support emergency response to incidents 

such as hurricanes and oil spills and are important contributors to 

Homeland Security and Maritime Domain Awareness. NOAA’s role is 

crucial but under-resourced. 

Recommendation 4:

The HSRP recommends that NOAA strengthen its Navigation Services 

emergency response and recovery capabilities by seeking adequate 

recognition and funding for its essential support functions within the 

federal response to all-hazard crises. 

Credit: BoatU.S.

Modernize Heights and Implement Real-time Water Level and 

Current Observing Systems in All Major Commercial Ports 

Strengthen NOAA’s Navigation Services Emergency Response 

and Recovery Capabilities

Disseminate NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Data and 

Products to Achieve Greatest Public Benefi t

2005 Gulf Coast hurricane 

response activities. Credit: NOAA
7 HSRP Special Report 2007

AGGRESSIVELY MAP the Nation’s 

Shorelines and Navigationally Signifi cant 

Waters

Finding 1: 

NOAA is unable to meet the nation’s need 

for updated marine navigation information, 

primarily because NOAA resources to deliver 

Navigation Services have not kept pace with 

U.S. Marine Transportation System (MTS) growth.

Since 1970 when NOAA was established, the number 

of commercial, military, and recreational vessels sailing 

in U.S. waters has increased signifi cantly. More than 

95% of U.S. foreign trade by weight moves by sea, 

and 2 billion tons of cargo moves each year through 

U.S. ports. Since 1955, maritime trade has doubled 

and the nation’s volume of international trade has 

nearly quadrupled. By the year 2020, container traffi c 

coming to the U.S. is expected to at least double 

again. As the world’s leading trading nation, the 

United States’ future depends on the quality of our 

port infrastructure and our ability to deliver goods 

effi ciently, safely, and cost-effectively. Signifi cantly, 

the Department of Transportation’s 1999 Report to 

Congress: An Assessment of the U.S. Marine Transportation 

System noted, “The greatest safety concern voiced at 

the Regional Listening Sessions and the November 

MTS National Conference related to the availability of 

timely, accurate, and reliable navigation information.” 

Credit: Illustration by Lili Robins

Ironically, NOAA’s in-house hydrographic survey 

capacity decreased 64% in the 1990s, from a highwater mark of 11 NOAA hydrographic ships 

operating in the 3.4 million square nautical miles 

(SNM) of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

Today NOAA operates four hydrographic surveying 

ships, three of which are approaching 40 years of 

age. Contract support has replaced some of this 

lost capacity. But the scope of NOAA’s surveying 

responsibility is extremely vast. With four ships plus 

complementary contract efforts, NOAA will require 

years to update the areas of U.S. waters currently 

charted by obsolete methods with modern sonar 

technology. In fact, U.S. coastal waters have never been 

completely surveyed, and for the areas that have been 

surveyed, approximately 50% of the sounding data 

shown on NOAA nautical charts is pre-1940, collected 

by antiquated leadline soundings and wire drags.

It is NOAA’s hydrographic surveys that form the 

basis of the navigation data on offi cial nautical charts 

required on vessels greater than 1600 gross tons. It 

is NOAA’s full-bottom coverage surveys that alert 

mariners to the depths, rocks, wrecks, and other 

obstructions they must avoid to reduce 

risk of accident and damage to life, 

property, and the environment. But 

against the backdrop of even NOAA’s 

priority surveying focus — the 500,000 

SNM of navigationally signifi cant 

EEZ waters deemed most in need of 

survey — NOAA has resources to 

accomplish roughly only 3000 SNM 

a year between contract and in-house 

vessels. This equates to less than 1% of 

navigationally signifi cant area surveyed 

each year. At this rate, it will take 166 

years to survey just the areas routinely 

transited by commercial shipping, 

ferries, cruise ships, Navy and Coast 

Guard vessels, and other ships whose 
8

contributions to the economy and defense 

are so critical. Furthermore, each year 

additional areas are identifi ed for resurvey 

due to natural shifts in sea bottoms and 

water depths caused by such phenomena 

as currents, hurricanes, glacier melts, and 

earthquakes. NOAA’s current goal, one that 

the HSRP supports fully, is to achieve the 

capacity to survey and process 10,000 SNM 

annually, which would put the navigationally 

signifi cant areas on a 50-year resurvey cycle 

– arguably still an inadequate schedule from 

the commercial shipping perspective, but an 

objective the HSRP believes achievable with 

current technologies and suffi cient resources. 

The HSRP recognizes that NOAA needs funding 

to correct the fundamental problem of the agency’s 

aging fl eet of survey vessels. NOAA’s current 18 ships 

support a wide range of operational and research 

missions, from fi sheries services to oceanography, 

and atmospheric research programs to hydrographic 

surveying, but each platform is essentially singlepurpose. These ships, along with available commercial 

charters and contracts, meet less than 40% of NOAA’s 

total platform-dependent data collection requirements. 

These 18 ships are also the only platforms NOAA 

has to train personnel, build expertise, and test new 

technologies for effi ciency and capacity gains. In 

addition, they are often pressed into duty to respond 

to emergency events and Homeland Security support. 

Over the next 16 years, 10 of NOAA’s ships will reach 

or exceed their 30-year service lives; three of NOAA’s 

four hydrographic ships fall into this category. NOAA, 

the Administration, and Congress have yet to approve 

a replacement strategy for these vessels. 

Aggressively Map

Credit: Illustration by Lili Robins

NOAA Ship Projected End of Service Without Designated Replacements

Ship Delivery 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Year

JOHN N COBB 1950 60 YRS

RAINIER 1968 41 YRS 

HI’IALAKAI 1984 30 YRS

MC ARTHUR II 1985 30 YRS 

KA’IMIMOANA 1989 30 YRS 

FAIRWEATHER 1968 51 YRS 

GORDON GUNTER 1990 30 YRS

NANCY FOSTER 1991 30 YRS

THOMAS JEFFERSON 1992 30 YRS

OKEANOS EXPLORER 1989 34 YRS

Primary Mission Area:

 Fisheries Research

 Hydrography

 Climate

 Coastal Ocean Science NOAA Ship Rude is scheduled to come offl ine in 2008 and has a designated replacement.
9 HSRP Special Report 2007

Figure 1. Credit: NOAA

State of the National Shoreline

Maintaining hydrographic expertise is a primary HSRP 

concern. The HSRP believes it is in the public interest 

for NOAA to maintain a robust core capability in 

hydrographic surveying. Hands-on experience aboard 

NOAA ships builds a seasoned staff of hydrographers 

competent not only to conduct surveys, but also to 

provide oversight of contract surveys, evaluate new 

equipment, and provide international leadership. 

In the HSRP’s view, this necessarily includes a fl eet 

of modern hydrographic survey vessels. NOAA 

must replace its aging hydrographic survey ships 

on schedule to sustain current capability and avoid 

diminishing critical expertise in a function so key 

to U.S. economic security. The HSRP recommends 

that NOAA conduct a fl eet recapitalization study to 

chart the course for a sustainable solution to NOAA’s 

hydrographic survey fl eet requirements.

NOAA should also look internally for effi ciencies, 

such as fully equipping its entire fl eet with bathymetric 

surveying capability, overhauling its vessel operational 

and staffi ng models for maximum effi ciency, and 

replacing its aging single-purpose vessels with new 

multi-mission platforms to increase productivity 

and minimize redundant efforts. Mobilization to a 

project area is often the single largest cost borne by 

a program, so the more missions that can be served 

by one project, the greater the value per dollar spent. 

Modern survey platforms equipped with an array 

of modern sensors will not only effi ciently obtain 

detailed bathymetric data for updating nautical charts, 

but provide data for many other uses and reduce 

the redundancy of data collection efforts by other 

agencies. From the HSRP’s perspective, enabling more 

NOAA platforms to function as hydrographic survey 

vessels expands the reach and capacity of NOAA to 

map U.S. waters, even if only on transits to and from 

distant research destinations. 

Equally important, NOAA must increase its capacity 

to contract for hydrographic surveys. There is simply 

no way to achieve 10,000 SNM a year without contract 

support. The HSRP has scrutinized NOAA’s policy on 

contracting for hydrographic surveying and applauds 

NOAA’s commitment to leverage its own surveying 

capabilities through contracting. Since 1994, NOAA’s 

funding for survey contracts has risen from $0 to 

$30 million per year, roughly half of its budget for 

hydrographic data collection. Despite this impressive 

progress, NOAA needs to continue to aggressively 

pursue effi ciencies in its contracting process to 

increase its capability to expeditiously contract for 

hydrographic services.

Similarly, NOAA’s shoreline mapping effort is also 

falling short due to the scarcity of funding. The 

HSRP recognizes that shoreline and hydrographic 

surveys are closely linked. Shoreline data is integral to 

NOAA’s Electronic Navigational Chart requirements 

for digital data — ensuring the accuracy of this 

electronic product — as well as for innumerable 

uses in Geographic Information Systems. Outdated 

shoreline information depicted on nautical charts 

poses signifi cant hazards to the nation’s commerce, 

transportation, and recreational boating sectors 

navigating along the coast. One of NOAA’s critical 

missions is to survey the 95,000 miles of U.S. 

coastline and to provide the nation with an accurate, 

consistent, up-to-date national shoreline. The national 

shoreline provides the baseline data for demarcating 

U.S. marine territorial limits, including the EEZ, 

and the geographic reference and detail needed to 

manage coastal resources, respond to emergencies, 

and perform damage assessments, along with many 

other uses, not the least of which is marine navigation. 

NOAA’s shoreline data are considered authoritative 

when determining the offi cial boundaries for the 

United States.
10

Figure 2: This 2003 Ikonos satellite image of Alameda, 

California, shows signifi cant change since the shoreline 

was last charted by NOAA (overlay in red). Credit: 

Space Imaging, LLC

Figure 3: Sarigan Island is located in the Northern Mariana Islands, between 

Hawaii and the Philippines. This map shows the shoreline derived using modern 

photogrammetric techniques (in red) as compared with the original mapped 

shoreline positioned on an astronomical datum. The correct, photogrammetric 

shoreline is 1.5 nautical miles outside the mapped shoreline. Credit: NOAA

Despite the growing need for accurate shoreline across 

many disciplines, NOAA’s Shoreline Mapping budget 

has remained relatively static for many years. NOAA’s 

ability to collect hydrographic data has outstripped its 

capacity to collect shoreline data, but both datasets are 

required to update the same nautical charting products. 

Currently NOAA and its contractors can evaluate 

and remap only 12% of priority port area shoreline 

annually, falling well short of NOAA’s program target 

of 20% each year. The bulk of the 95,000 miles of U.S. 

coast is open shoreline, which NOAA can currently 

map at a rate of only 3% a year. Some U.S. shoreline, 

primarily in Alaska, has never been mapped to modern 

standards (see Figure 1). There are also many charted 

areas that have changed signifi cantly since they were 

last mapped (see Figures 2 and 3). The HSRP strongly 

supports NOAA’s stated goal of mapping major port 

areas every 5 years, with open shoreline surveyed on a 

10-year cycle. 

The HSRP also notes that NOAA’s future success in 

nautical charting depends on its ability to both collect 

and rapidly process more data. NOAA must accelerate 

its data fl ow “pipeline” to reduce the time it takes to 

get information charted and disseminated in a timely 

manner. The most costly and labor-intensive elements 

of a nautical chart are hydrographic and shoreline 

data. However, technology advances in data acquisition 

have created a situation wherein, given its current 

allocation of resources, NOAA collects data much 

faster than it can process and compile into navigation 

products. For example, modern multibeam sonar 

Aggressively Map

surveys obtain millions of soundings per hour, but it 

takes NOAA on average 16 months to fully package 

and disseminate the data to the mariner. Although 

NOAA forwards dangers to navigation to the mariner 

in short order, the delay in delivering the full data set 

is unacceptable. NOAA must take steps to remedy the 

situation. Implementing technology improvements to 

the data fl ow supply chain now will help eliminate the 

processing backlog and reduce the risk of accident 

due to outdated navigation information. To this 

end, HSRP supports NOAA’s efforts to increase 

partnerships with qualifi ed private contractors and 

A NOAA cartographer updates a NOAA Electronic Navigational Chart. 

Credit: NOAA
11 HSRP Special Report 2007

Recent NOAA Research and 

Development Technology/Process 

Improvements in Collaboration with the 

Public/Private Sector 

collaborations with the private sector and academia, 

such as the NOAA/University of New Hampshire 

Joint Hydrographic Center on technology research and 

development, to achieve its goals. 

To conclude, NOAA should take a more aggressive 

approach to shoreline and hydrographic data 

collection and processing. The HSRP recognizes 

that resources are scarce government-wide, but the 

cost of adequately funding NOAA to do its job 

pales beside the costs of incident response, clean-up, 

environmental damage, litigation, and the lost lives, 

property, and revenues that can result if a passenger 

ship, oil tanker or other vessel grounds or strikes 

an obstruction. The HSRP strongly believes that 

the critical and growing national needs for updated 

hydrographic surveys and shoreline maps demand 

an increase in productivity and justify the necessary 

increase in public investment. In an ever-changing 

marine environment, modern and up-to-date 

hydrographic products signifi cantly reduce operational 

risk and improve safety for users of NOAA navigation 

data.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Developed 

with sonar capability to survey to NOAA 

standards and expand hydrographic surveying 

capacity.

Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetric 

Estimator (CUBE): An automated approach 

to multibeam echosounder data processing that 

creates a high-resolution digital bathymetric grid 

model of the sea fl oor and reduces processing 

time signifi cantly.

Navigation Surface: A concept integrating 

CUBE and other grid models into the NOAA 

data management scheme, shifting from 

individual sounding data to bathymetric grids. 

NavSurface also benefi ts non-navigation users 

interested in such areas as benthic habitat, marine 

geology, and sediment transfer.

Tidal Constituent and Residual Interpolation 

(TCARI): A new methodology to streamline 

and replace discrete tidal zoning and the inherent 

errors in this time-consuming process. 

Operational Forecast System model 

standardization: An approach that enables 

NOAA to operate more models with the same 

level of resources than was previously feasible.

Online Positioning User Service, Rapid 

Static (OPUS-RS): A new version of NOAA’s 

OPUS requiring as little as 15 minutes worth of 

GPS data to produce an improved, centimeterlevel GPS position, instead of the 2 to 6 hours 

previously required.

GPS Satellite Orbit Calculations: Model 

upgrades and strategy changes bring a new level 

of accuracy (approaching 1 cm) to NOAA’s GPS 

satellite orbit analysis, ranking NOAA among the 

best of all contributing global analysis centers.

Recommendation 1

The HSRP recommends that NOAA 

aggressively survey and map the 500,000 

square nautical miles of navigationally 

signifi cant areas and 95,000 miles of 

shoreline by:

Expanding NOAA’s in-house and 

contract survey capabilities to acquire 

and process more hydrographic and 

shoreline mapping data;

Implementing more effi cient 

surveying, mapping and processing 

techniques and technologies; and

Replacing aging single-purpose 

hydrographic ships with modern, 

multi-purpose vessels to further 

maximize use and reach of NOAA 

resources.

•

•

•
12

Integrate Coastal Mapping Efforts 

and Ensure Federally Maintained Channels, 

Approaches, and Anchorages Are Surveyed 

to the Highest Standard

Finding 2: 

NOAA is not alone in its requirements for 

accurate hydrographic and shoreline data. 

Numerous federal and state agencies collect 

similar or related datasets to perform their 

own mission-critical functions. The lack of 

data integration, inconsistent standards, and 

the use of different vertical datums cause 

confusion among users. Federal agencies must 

accelerate efforts to integrate data in order to 

conserve resources and minimize duplication 

and inconsistency to maximize taxpayer 

investments. 

Integrating federal efforts to conduct ocean and 

coastal mapping is not a new concept. Circular 

Number A-16, an Offi ce of Management and 

Budget directive on federal geospatial data collection 

and standards integration, dates from 1990. The 

2002 revision to A-16 sets forth improvements in 

coordination and use of spatial data, with focus on 

building the National Spatial Data Infrastructure 

and following Federal Geographic Data Committee 

standards to integrate datasets and share products 

with accurate metadata defi ning methods, processes, 

and intended uses of each dataset. It also directs 

agencies to effi ciently and cost-effectively collect, 

integrate, maintain, disseminate, and preserve spatial 

data, building upon local data wherever possible. 

The impetus for coordination was renewed with 

the 2004 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy report 

recommendation on integrated federal mapping. The 

U.S. Ocean Action Plan echoes this recommendation, 

requiring agencies to be responsive to the coordination 

of federal and federally supported mapping activities 

for the U.S. coastal and marine environments. As 

outlined in the Ocean Action Plan, better coordination 

and accountability on federal agency efforts in existing 

mapping will generate effi ciencies. Congress, too, 

sought an integrated approach to mapping, calling 

for NOAA leadership on federal coastal and ocean 

mapping activities in Senate Bill 364 (109th Congress), 

now recast in Senate Bill 39 in the 110th Congress. A 

nationally coordinated mapping effort also supports 

goals of the Global Earth Observing System of 

Systems and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing 

System (IOOS) for particular observation parameters. 

The HSRP concurs with the intent of the directives 

above, recognizing that no federal agency has 

the capacity to completely address 100% of its 

mapping requirements. But the HSRP wants to 

see demonstrable results from these coordination 

efforts, particularly in hydrographic and shoreline 

data collection and data sharing between NOAA’s 

Navigation Services and agencies such as the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. 

Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS). The stumbling block to integration 

most frequently reported is that NOAA’s data 

standards are of the highest order, requiring greater 

expense and effort on the part of other agencies to 

meet them. The HSRP urges NOAA to increase its 

efforts with other agencies to fi nd ways to leverage 

federal resources to collect and integrate data of 

a predetermined quality standard so that everyone 

– federal, state, academia, and the private sector – can 

seamlessly use the same data, complete with metadata, 

to address their diverse requirements. NOAA’s tidecontrolled, georeferenced, digital data is an asset upon 

which other agencies rely. Integrating their own efforts 

into this standard will help all programs supporting 

the Marine Transportation System (MTS) and coastal 

zone management to meet requirements by combining 

efforts and increasing effi ciency. 

In particular, NOAA and the USACE have a number 

of overlapping data requirements that could be 

better coordinated to serve the nation’s needs. One 

is shoreline mapping. USACE and NOAA both have 

Integrate

NOAA personnel 

operating side scan sonar.
13 HSRP Special Report 2007

Coastal Mapping Programs, though each is attuned 

to the individual agency’s separate requirements. To 

leverage these somewhat duplicative activities, both 

agencies should develop a common standard that will 

meet each agency’s needs. Currently there is some 

coordination of project areas, but the standards to 

which USACE collects its data does not meet those 

required by NOAA for charting applications. There 

have been a few examples of coordination and 

leveraging, but a comprehensive integrated ocean and 

coastal mapping standard should be derived. A joint 

National Survey Plan for shoreline mapping, akin to 

the NOAA Hydrographic Surveys Priorities document, 

should also be developed and implemented in order to 

maximize the internal and contract resources invested 

in data collection and processing. From the HSRP’s 

NOAA’s Hydrographic Survey 

Priorities are updated every year or so, 

refl ecting recommendations made by the 

HSRP and other stakeholders such as the U.S. 

Coast Guard, pilots, and port authorities. The 

criteria for evaluating U.S. EEZ waters are 

available at: 

http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov. 

perspective, this coordination would help to address 

NOAA shoreline mapping and USACE sediment 

transport modeling requirements as well as to support 

IOOS with greater utility and integration of datasets. 

The USGS, FEMA, and state efforts to improve 

the nation’s baseline fl oodplain maps should also be 

incorporated in the plan. Mapping in the coastal zone 

for this purpose should be coordinated with NOAA to 

identify coincident needs and means to address each 

agency’s mission simultaneously.

Another area for collaboration supported by the HSRP 

derives from NOAA’s work on a new vertical datum 

transformation tool (VDatum). VDatum enables any 

user — federal, state, local, and/or individual — to 

integrate bathymetric and topographic coastal data 

from different sources and different reference datums. 

The tool provides tremendous value to the taxpayer 

because it removes the most serious impediments to 

data sharing, resulting in data that can serve more than 

one purpose and thereby save time, money, and effort 

by reducing redundant data collection. VDatum will 

help NOAA acquire hydrographic and shoreline data 

more effi ciently, and improve the accuracy of surveys 

and maps by eliminating the need for time-consuming 

water-level corrections and post-processing. 

Seamless integration of geospatial data has many 

applications, from Homeland Security and natural 

disaster preparedness to tsunami and storm-surge 

inundation models and coastal restoration projects. 

The HSRP acknowledges the Administration’s support 

of VDatum in the FY2008 budget request, and 

encourages Congress to support the tool as well. 

Erik Oppegard performing leveling to tidal bench marks, Striation Island, 

Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, in 2000. Note: In 1950, this 

area was under about 1,000 feet of glacial ice. Credit: LCMF, Inc.

R/V Traveler, tides support vessel. 

Credit, LCMF Inc.
Integrate 14

What We Can’t See Does Hurt Us: NOAA’s Ability to Survey Federally Maintained 

Channels Is Tragically Underutilized 

On November 26, 2004, the 750-foot, single-hull tanker Athos I was 

reported to be leaking oil into the Delaware River en route to its 

terminal at the CITGO asphalt refi nery in Paulsboro, New Jersey. 

As two tugboats were helping the vessel maneuver to its terminal, 

the oil tanker listed eight degrees and lost power. Two punctures in 

the tanker’s hull — 1-by-2 feet and 1-by-6 feet in size — were later 

confi rmed by divers. Home to the fi fth largest port complex in the 

United States in total waterborne commerce, the Delaware River 

and Bay sees 70 million tons of cargo moving through every year. 

It is the second largest oil port in the U.S., handling about 85% of 

the East Coast’s oil imports. The Athos I spilled an estimated 265,000 gallons of oil into the Delaware River, 

impacting about 115 miles of shoreline. The Port of Philadelphia closed for days. Waterfowl, migratory 

birds, and wildlife perished. Ironically, this accident was preventable. 

The Athos I collided with three uncharted and undetected submerged obstructions in the channel and 

anchorage that the pilot and captain had no way of knowing existed. Had the federal government conducted 

a full-bottom coverage hydrographic survey, the objects — later identifi ed as a ship’s anchor, a pump casing, 

and a 64-cubic-foot slab of concrete — would have been located, charted and/or removed from the tanker’s 

path to the refi nery dock. In the case of this spill, the fi nal report from the U.S. Coast Guard clears the 

ship’s crew and pilot of blame. Offi cially, the accident was caused by large metal debris in a governmentmaintained channel and anchorage, which had not been fully surveyed. NOAA has the technology to survey 

the federally maintained waters where the accident occurred. Unfortunately, NOAA is often not called to 

survey within a channel until after an accident occurs. This costs. The Athos I incident alone has cost the 

ship owner and his insurer over $165 million. The true value of wildlife lost and port commerce delayed or 

deferred cannot be calculated. 

Seagirt pipe obstruction in the Baltimore Harbor 

discovered by the NOAA S/V Bay Hydrographer.

Credit: NOAA

An 18,000-pound ship anchor 

punctured the Athos I. Credit: USCG

Side Scan Sonar imagery from NOAA contract 

survey. Credit: David Evans and Associates, Inc.

Digital Terrain Model generated from multibeam sonar 

data, shipwreck Herbert D. Maxwell, Chesapeake Bay. 

Credit: NOAA
15 HSRP Special Report 2007

An area of grave concern to the HSRP is the fact that 

in federally maintained channels – where deep-draft 

commercial ships have to transit and where there is 

minimal underkeel clearance – the federal government 

is not using the most effective technology to detect 

the presence of submerged objects. The USACE, 

responsible for maintaining, dredging, and surveying 

inside the channel, does not use the same technology 

and standards as NOAA to survey areas outside 

the channel. Since 1985, NOAA has conducted 

multibeam and side scan sonar surveys to achieve full 

bottom coverage for depths and obstructions. These 

surveys give mariners and other users a complete 

picture of the bottom. Previously undetected rocks, 

pipes, wrecks, and other marine debris are frequently 

found by NOAA in navigable waters transited by large 

container ships, cruise ships, and tankers. Using this 

technology, NOAA fi nds new hazardous obstructions 

at an average rate of about 2.5 per day (see Table 1). 

However, federally maintained channels, which are the 

responsibility of USACE, do not often receive this 

level of scrutiny because USACE’s survey mission 

centers more on sediment management rather than 

hazard detection.

The HSRP is well aware that the two agencies have 

historically surveyed to address different purposes, 

but fi nds that with channel clearances so tight, the 

status quo is no longer acceptable. The HSRP strongly 

recommends NOAA either be authorized and funded 

to survey all federally maintained channels on a routine 

basis, or both agencies should use the best available 

technology and a single full-bottom coverage standard 

for survey data to prevent accidents and ensure 

navigation safety. Otherwise, the HSRP anticipates 

more environmentally and economically devastating 

incidents such as the Athos I tanker spill, caused by 

an undetected anchor, pump casing, and concrete 

block submerged in the Delaware River channel and 

anchorage. Other examples include the Hai Kang strike 

of the remains of a Burlington Northern Railroad 

bridge pier in the Willamette River, and the Teal Arrow 

rock pinnacle grounding in a deepened Coos Bay 

channel. 

The HSRP fi nds the fact that these channels and 

anchorage were inadequately surveyed by USACE 

to be unacceptable, and worries the nation’s other 

channels may also mask hidden dangers. Our waters 

are much too busy with commercial, military, and 

recreational traffi c to leave so much to chance. 

Homeland Security presents another argument for 

full-bottom coverage surveys in U.S. waterways. Rapid 

military mobilization depends on safe maritime transits 

in the same channels used by commercial mariners 

and recreational boaters. The health of our coastal 

economies and the nation’s success in the global 

market require safe and effi cient marine operations 

conducted in an environment of assured security, with 

special focus on sustaining the rights of safe passage. 

The increasing level of maritime trade poses risks, not 

only in the form of accidents caused either by human 

error or environmental conditions, but also by terrorist 

attacks. Countering this threat requires an improved 

Maritime Domain Awareness to prevent port and 

waterway closures. NOAA, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. 

Coast Guard have partnered in the past on Homeland 

Security surveys to establish a baseline dataset for 

countermine warfare change analysis. NOAA and 

the Department of Defense have worked together 

to enhance unmanned survey capabilities, including 

Year Rock Wreck Obstruction

10/05-10/06 457 166 219

10/04-10/05 128 156 145

10/03-10/04 57 56 50

10/03-10/02 56 67 35

10/02-10/01 88 83 83

10/01-10/00 74 48 41

Table 1: Dangers to navigation detected by NOAA.
16

remotely operated and autonomous 

underwater vehicles to help ensure U.S. 

ports, harbors, and inland waterways are 

clear of underwater explosives and other 

hazards. These efforts should continue in 

a coordinated and routine fashion among 

NOAA, the Navy, USACE, and the Coast 

Guard to ensure the integrity of our 

maritime borders and commercial and 

military transit routes. 

The HSRP recognizes that its 

recommendations for NOAA and its fellow 

agencies to actively pursue integration of 

standards and activities for an improved 

MTS infrastructure is not a simple task. 

Such integration will require considerable 

discussion at the highest levels of the 

agencies and the Administration. The HSRP recommends that NOAA pursue this issue within the cabinet-level 

Committee on the Marine Transportation System to ensure widespread support and awareness of the potential 

partnerships and benefi ts to navigation safety and the integrity of our maritime borders. 

Recommendation 2

The HSRP recommends that NOAA take a larger 

role in improving partnerships with other federal 

and state agencies and non-governmental entities to:

• Integrate coastal mapping efforts with 

coordinated mapping plans and tools 

such as VDatum; and 

• Ensure the nation’s federally maintained 

channels, approaches, and anchorages 

are surveyed with full-bottom coverage 

technologies.

Integrate

Chesapeake City, MD, PORTS®, real 

time tide, current, air gap and meteorological 

observations. Credit: NOAA
17 HSRP Special Report 2007

Modernize Heights and Implement 

Real-time Water Level and Current 

Observing Systems in All Major Commercial 

Ports

Finding 3: 

NOAA’s Navigation Services are a critical 

component of the federal effort to build an 

Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), 

delivering real-time data to a multitude of 

navigation and non-navigation users. The 

U.S. Ocean Commission and the President’s 

Ocean Action Plan reiterate that IOOS should 

provide integrated observations in support of 

seven societal goals, the second of which is 

to support safe navigation (see IOOS Goals 

sidebar). Central to IOOS is the concept that 

measurements and predictions taken and 

made for a particular need can, in many cases, 

serve other national and regional needs.

As the lead agency for IOOS, NOAA has stated that 

the physical observations collected by the Navigation 

Services programs are a critical component of the 

IOOS backbone. The environmental parameters 

(temperature, currents, water levels, hydrography, 

bathymetry, shoreline, and geopositioning) that NOAA 

Navigation Services gathers, integrates, and quality 

controls on behalf of the mariner are also baseline 

datasets for other stakeholders, including coastal zone 

managers, researchers, and fi rst responders. Some 

of these parameters also provide information 

critical to mitigating natural hazards, such as storm 

surge, tsunamis, and other extreme events. Thus 

the HSRP believes support for comprehensive 

expansion of the maritime components and 

building on existing capabilities to link users to 

useful and timely data should be the top priority 

for IOOS, and for NOAA.

From the U.S Marine Transportation System 

(MTS) perspective, the HSRP views NOAA’s 

IOOS contributions to navigation as the means by 

which ships can safely exploit the existing capacity 

within U.S. ports and waterways. And exploit it 

we must; to maintain U.S. position in the global 

marketplace, the current — and future — demands of 

our nation’s commerce, military sealift, and recreational 

uses require us to maximize the throughput of our MTS 

infrastructure. In years past, when vessels like the S.S. 

Normandie transited New York Harbor and other of 

our nation’s waterways, the average steamship was 460 

feet long and 63 feet wide, with a draft of 26 feet. Now 

modern ships are being built over 1400 feet long and 

200 feet wide, with drafts of 60 feet or more — a keel 

depth equivalent to a fi ve-story building plunging below 

the waterline. Today ships routinely transit our ports 

and harbors with 2 feet or less of underkeel clearance, 

risking contact with the seabed or other obstructions. In 

a number of ports, clearance under bridges (known as air 

gap) is also a concern, because bridges fl ex up and down, 

and the tallest ships can gain access only during the lowest 

of tides without hitting the bridge. The potential for 

serious injury to people, property, and the environment 

is compounded by the fact that over half the cargo 

transported by ship in U.S. waters is oil or other hazardous 

material.

IOOS Goals

• Detecting and forecasting oceanic components of 

climate variability

• Facilitating safe and effi cient marine operations

• Ensuring national security

• Managing resources for sustainable use

• Preserving and restoring healthy marine 

ecosystems

• Mitigating natural hazards

• Ensuring public health

Air gap sensor, Long Beach, CA. The air gap 

between a ship and bridge can be minimal.
18

Credit: Illustration by Lili Robins

One of the largest container vessels, Emma Maersk. 

Credit: A.P. Moller Maersk Lines

NOAA’s marine observations help to address these 

concerns by enhancing a mariner’s situational 

awareness for effective decision-making. In particular, 

water levels and currents are key parameters to know 

when navigating in tight conditions. NOAA’s National 

Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) 

and Current Observation Programs deliver this 

information through a variety of means, and provide 

the foundation for NOAA’s Physical Oceanographic 

Real Time Systems (PORTS®). A critical component 

of IOOS, PORTS® is a localized sensor suite that 

disseminates observations and predictions of water 

levels, currents, salinity, winds, atmospheric pressure, 

and air and water temperatures for an area every six 

minutes. A recent addition to this suite of sensors 

is the air gap, or bridge clearance sensor, which 

addresses the emerging issue of ever taller vessels 

striking bridges. Each system installation is uniquely 

designed, tailored to the needs of local users. All 

PORTS® observations are quality controlled on a 

24 X 7 basis so that mariners can use them with 

confi dence. In addition to improving navigation safety, 

PORTS® also improves effi ciency. With the benefi t 

of reliable, accurate, and timely information, larger 

ships can load more heavily and time their arrivals and 

departures more effi ciently, all while maintaining a 

high confi dence in navigation safety. This margin of 

safety opens the limited channel depths available in 

most U.S. ports to larger commercial ships, allowing 

port operators to maximize throughput and economic 

gain with less risk to the environment. NOAA also 

develops and implements operational forecast models 

that leverage and extend the benefi ts of real-time data 

by accurately forecasting oceanographic conditions 24 

to 30 hours into the future. These forecasts further 

improve mariner ability to make sound safety and 

effi ciency decisions. 

The HSRP is a strong proponent of PORTS® and 

NOAA’s other observing systems that enhance 

commerce, support marine models and fl ood 

predictions, and provide fast response support to 

natural or manmade hazards (such as storms or 

oil spills) or Homeland Security events. As with 

hydrographic and shoreline mapping, funding gaps 

limit the expansion of these networks, a situation that 

The S.S. Normandie. 

Credit: The Library of Congress

Modernize
19 HSRP Special Report 2007

must be remedied given the benefi ts they provide to 

safety and the economy. NOAA is far from achieving 

adequate coverage of NWLON, with only 200 of 

the 300 water level stations required to meet national 

program targets, and only 13 PORTS® partnerships 

servicing just 39 of the top 175 U.S. seaports. NOAA 

has been able to implement operational forecast 

models at only 3 (Chesapeake Bay, New York/New 

Jersey Harbor, and Houston/Galveston) of the 13 

existing systems. Often in fi nancial jeopardy, the 

PORTS® depend on both NOAA and its port partners 

to obtain their funding shares each year. For example, 

port funding shortfalls forced the Delaware Bay and 

River PORTS® offl ine for 6 months in 2004, and 

the San Francisco Bay PORTS® has barely avoided 

shutdown, with much of its sensor suite no longer 

operating. Although the 2002 Hydrographic Services 

Improvement Act authorized full federal funding 

for these systems to enhance navigation safety and 

effi ciency, regrettably, suffi cient funding has not been 

appropriated to fund even the NOAA portion. 

The HSRP recommends the expansion of the 

PORTS® program to additional major U.S. seaports 

13 OPERATIONAL PORTS®

Narragansett Bay • New Haven, CT • New 

York/New Jersey Harbor • Delaware Bay and 

River • Chesapeake Bay • Tampa Bay • Houston/

Galveston • Los Angeles/Long Beach • San 

Francisco Bay • Lower Columbia River • Tacoma, 

WA • Anchorage • Soo Locks, MI

THE POTOMAC TRADER 

On March 14, 1993, New York Harbor 

experienced an abnormally large tidal range, 

rising 6 feet above predicted, then falling 12 

feet when the wind suddenly changed — all 

within a matter of hours (see graph to the 

right). The Potomac Trader, a 634-foot tanker 

using NOAA’s predicted tides, ran aground in 

Hell Gate. Had a real-time NOAA PORTS®

been in place, this could have been averted. 

The vessel master would have obtained 

real-time environmental data, showing the 

observed tide was over 6 feet less than the 

predicted. Fortunately, the vessel was a 

double-bottom tanker and none of its cargo 

— 7 million gallons of crude oil — spilled 

into the harbor. Otherwise, the disaster could 

have been the mid-Atlantic Coast equivalent 

of the Exxon Valdez.

be made a high priority for future IOOS funding 

appropriated to NOAA, including the ability to 

implement operational forecast models coupled with 

each PORTS®. PORTS® is already a well-developed 

NOAA capability, a demonstrated success with 

documented benefi ts, and has high visibility with 

the user community and Congress. The 2005 Tampa 

Bay economic study and its $7 million in quantifi able 

economic benefi ts demonstrate the potential of 

PORTS®, its relatively low cost, and the benefi ts from 

avoiding accidents and damage to the environment. 

Similarly, a 2007 study of the Houston/Galveston 

PORTS® identifi ed $18 million in benefi ts to the Gulf 

Region.

Credit: NOAA
20

The HSRP also supports NOAA’s management of the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) as a primary 

element of IOOS infrastructure, given that precise positioning information is an essential component of 

all observing systems. The NSRS allows Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to determine positional 

coordinates to centimeter-level accuracy anywhere on the surface of the Earth. Unfortunately, NOAA’s efforts 

to improve the height element in GPS positioning and provide better nationwide access to accurate and reliable 

height information have not been effi cient, as much of the funding available for this function comes from statespecifi c earmarks. Thus far, 11 states 

have received funds in the President’s 

Budget and/or through earmarks to 

begin work on updating their heights. An 

increase in funds for a National Height 

Modernization program would allow 

NOAA more discretion in obtaining 

accurate heights in the most effi cient 

manner. 

The collection of aerial gravity data 

is a very effi cient method to obtain 

elevations for Height Modernization 

efforts. Currently this data is severely 

lacking, especially along the coasts where 

it is perhaps most critical. As a result of 

insuffi cient resources to collect gravity 

data, unreliable elevation data is being 

used for fl oodplain mapping and storm 

surge modeling. The HSRP recommends 

increased resources dedicated to this 

effort, the results of which would also 

assist in improving current predictions, 

VDatum transformations in the coastal 

regions, and various IOOS observations. 

Many states have indicated a strong 

interest in NOAA’s National Height 

Modernization Program to address 

regional or national problems, such 

as coastal and riverine fl ooding in the 

mid-Atlantic and subsidence (sinking) 

along the Gulf of Mexico. Height 

Modernization is critical for the 

calculation of sea level rise and 

climate-change impacts, vessel underkeel 

and bridge clearance measurements, 

safe hurricane evacuation routes 

determination, subsidence and crustal 

motion monitoring, storm surge 

Modernize

Proven Benefi ts: PORTS® Studies Show Savings

Thirty-fi ve lives were lost in 1980, when a vessel lost in 

fog hit the Tampa Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The tragedy 

prompted NOAA to develop PORTS® to supply critical 

navigation information. The system went operational in 

1991, and since then, vessel groundings in Tampa Bay 

have decreased by half. A recent NOAA sponsored study 

also found that the Tampa Bay region derives more than 

$7 million a year in benefi ts as a result of the real-time 

environmental information.

A similar study of the Houston/Galveston PORTS® in 

2007 found that the system generated $18 million in annual 

benefi ts, along with a 50% reduction in groundings when 

the system came online. The benefi ts center mostly on 

avoided costs (increased producer surplus, or profi t) for 

Houston/Galveston commercial shipping, and avoided costs 

(or increased consumer surplus) for recreational users of 

Galveston Bay.

NOAA bathymetry and USGS elevation data for Tampa Bay, FL. 

Credit: NOAA
21 HSRP Special Report 2007

Recommendation 3

The HSRP recommends that NOAA expand 

and fund real-time water-level and current 

observations, such as its Physical Oceanographic 

Real Time Systems, or PORTS®, in commercial 

ports, and improve positioning for heights 

nationwide as critical components of the 

Integrated Ocean Observing System.

modeling, and restoration of coastal habitats. In 

addition to the benefi ts Height Modernization 

provides along the coast, it is also critical to inland 

applications such as precision agriculture, fl ood 

plain mapping, construction, and stream gauge 

monitoring. As with PORTS®, investments in 

improving our ability to obtain accurate heights are 

relatively low in relation to the possible benefi ts and 

return on investment. As cited in a 1998 Report to 

Congress, improved height data from GPS has cost 

benefi ts to the nation of over $9 billion. To fully 

realize the benefi ts of Height Modernization, the 

HSRP believes NOAA needs more resources and 

fl exibility in allocating the Height Modernization 

funds it receives, and greater attention paid to 

collecting aerial gravity data. 

Mariners rely on NOAA’s data to navigate 

coastal waterways. Credit: NOAA
22

Finding 4: 

NOAA’s Navigation Services support 

emergency response to incidents such as 

hurricanes and oil spills. They are an important 

contributor to Homeland Security and Maritime 

Domain Awareness. From hurricanes to oil spills 

and all-hazard crises, NOAA’s role is crucial but 

under-resourced. 

Gathering hydrographic data, surveying coastal 

disaster areas, and monitoring emergency spill 

situations; these activities do not often make frontpage headlines or news video clips. That’s why 

NOAA emergency response efforts remain relatively 

invisible to the public. But the HSRP recognizes how 

signifi cant they are. In fact, the work NOAA does 

— before, during, and after a crisis — provides key 

information other agencies and responders depend 

upon to make decisions and to chart plans of action. 

During Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms, for 

example, NOAA’s real-time water level and survey data 

were fundamental indicators of what was happening 

when and where in the Gulf. NOAA worked in 

concert with other federal and state agencies, but the 

tools it provided — namely hydrographic data and 

response services — are unique to NOAA.

The U.S. economy and national security depend upon 

the reliable movement of waterborne cargo. Even a 

brief disruption in a major port can cause signifi cant 

economic losses. For example, in June of 2006 a 

major oil spill shut down the Calcasieu Ship Channel, 

closing the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana, for nine 

days. Four percent of the nation’s refi ning capability 

and one-third of the nation’s Liquefi ed Natural Gas 

import capacity are located on the channel. The 

strategic petroleum reserve was opened as a result of 

this temporary disruption. According to an economic 

analysis released by the Port, the nine-day closure 

resulted in increases of energy costs to U.S. consumers 

exceeding $1 billion.

Strengthen NOAA’s Navigation 

Services Emergency Response and Recovery 

Capabilities

In 2005, NOAA responded to Hurricane Katrina 

— the most devastating storm in U.S. history, causing 

at least 1300 casualties and damages exceeding 

$80 billion — with NOAA ships, planes, scientifi c 

experts, and specialized response teams. In addition 

to the thousands of homes and businesses that were 

destroyed, and human lives lost and displaced, Katrina 

caused Exxon Valdez-size oil spills in Louisiana. Using 

its unique capabilities, NOAA responded immediately 

and assessed hurricane damage, surveyed to re-open 

ports and waterways to safe transport of commerce 

and relief supplies, conducted environmental 

assessments, and provided critical scientifi c support 

to the U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection 

Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency. In a situation fraught with communication 

challenges, NOAA coordinated its emergency 

response efforts with numerous agencies, giving 

encore performances after Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. 

Even today the agency continues to support the region 

with marine debris surveys to detect hazards left in 

waterways by the hurricanes. 

NOAA gears its response to each emergency. In case 

of hurricanes or maritime accidents, the agency rapidly 

mobilizes to conduct post-event aerial imagery and 

hydrographic surveys to assess damages, obstructions, 

and debris. In advance of a hurricane’s onslaught, 

NOAA delivers storm surge warnings from its realtime systems to support the evacuation of tourists, 

alert residents to coastal fl ooding, and allow the U.S. 

Marine Transportation System (MTS) infrastructure 

time to batten down the hatches. If our waters suffer 

a chemical or oil spill, such as the 3 million gallons 

of oil spilled in 2005 when a tug and barge struck an 

oil rig toppled by Hurricane Rita off the Louisiana 

coast, NOAA scientists track and predict spill 

movements, improving the deployment of response 

teams and protecting sensitive coastal environments. 

Accurate high-resolution bathymetry, tidal current 

Strengthen

2005 Gulf Coast hurricane devastation.
23 HSRP Special Report 2007

measurements, and shoreline maps are critical to oil 

spill models. By working with ports to evaluate their 

development plans, NOAA can also pinpoint likely areas 

of risk and help to establish more disaster-resistant 

ports. 

NOAA manages its emergency preparedness and 

response in concert with other agencies, often in 

advance of an incident. For example, NOAA partners 

with the Coast Guard and other authorities to maintain 

spill preparedness in major U.S. ports, thus helping 

to minimize the impact of oil or chemicals to the 

environment. In matters of Homeland Security, NOAA 

supports the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard with aerial 

imagery, hydrographic survey vessels, and Navigation 

Response Teams. In a function vital to protecting our 

ports, harbors, and coastal borders, NOAA uses its 

state-of-the-art technologies to create highly accurate 

surveys of our nation’s coastal areas and navigation 

routes. 

The HSRP learned from reviewing NOAA’s 

performance in the 2005 hurricane season that NOAA’s 

information and service delivery during emergency 

events is stellar, but the agency lacks the capacity 

to sustain its response broadly and for extended 

periods. This concerns the HSRP, particularly with 

the predictions of increasing catastrophic-level storm 

activity. All of NOAA’s unique emergency response 

capabilities need to be funded and staffed to meet this 

critical national demand. First and foremost, NOAA’s 

suite of Navigation Response Teams (NRT) must be 

expanded from the 6 teams operating on a shoestring 

budget now to a minimum of 10 fully funded and 

staffed teams staged regionally around the country. 

Highly mobile, the NRTs respond on short notice to 

emergency situations requiring hydrographic survey 

support such as vessel groundings and hurricane 

damage to ports 365 days a year throughout U.S. waters. 

Consider that within a few weeks after Katrina and Rita 

made landfall, NOAA surveys enabled the re-opening of 

all 13 major ports and waterways in the region, allowing 

access to over 100 ships awaiting entry with food and 

relief supplies. But to achieve this, NOAA had to pull 

NRTs from California and the Great Lakes to work in 

the Gulf Coast, leaving these areas vulnerable.

The versatile NOAA DeHavilland Twin Otter aircraft 

supports diverse agency missions. Credit: NOAA

Navigation Response Team surveying after 

Hurricane Katrina. Credit: NOAA

NOAA Ship Nancy Foster conducts 

coastal research. Credit: NOAA
24

The utility of NOAA’s NRTs is limited only by their numbers. The six NRTs — two each on the East and 

West Coasts, one on the Gulf Coast and one in the Great Lakes — cannot provide adequate rapid response 

on a national scale. The HRSP believes that NOAA response to customer needs, navigation safety, Homeland 

Security, and economic stability will be dramatically improved when NOAA can provide NRTs for more 

geographically diverse customers. Additional teams and the funding to staff and equip them with the most 

modern survey technologies will also allow the NRTs to complete critical port surveys more quickly. It is 

imperative for our economy and Homeland Security that we are able to re-open our ports and waterways very 

quickly after a signifi cant incident. A dramatic and meaningful improvement to the resiliency of our MTS can be 

achieved by a comparatively small investment in more NRTs. 

Similarly, NOAA’s capacity to respond to oil and chemical spills is stretched thin. Since 2004, the annual 

appropriation for this function has been lower than the President’s Budget Request, cutting into the program’s 

base budget by 18%. The HSRP is alarmed by this reduction, as it signifi cantly diminishes NOAA’s ability to 

execute its core mission responsibilities, including scientifi c support on hazard characterization, environmental 

chemistry, oil slick tracking, pollutant transport modeling, natural resources at risk analysis, information 

management, and assessment of environmental trade-offs related to alternative spill countermeasures and 

cleanup techniques. 

NOAA responds annually to more than 120 incidents, primarily oil spills, but also hazardous materials releases, 

abandoned vessel searches, body searches, and whale strike casualties. One year after Hurricane Katrina, NOAA 

scientists remained on-scene providing scientifi c advice and environmentally based guidance to the Coast Guard 

to support the removal of hazardous containers from wetlands and waterways; and the salvage of abandoned 

and derelict vessels from commercial waterways. Currently, NOAA has the capacity to respond to one major 

incident a year. The HSRP believes it is critical to restore the budget for NOAA’s emergency response to ensure 

that the program can provide its breadth of capabilities for a minimum of two simultaneous incidents. Future 

incidents of national signifi cance — caused by weather, pollution, or threats to Homeland Security — are 

not only foreseeable, they are probable. NOAA must be fully funded and staffed to execute its unique federal 

response and recovery missions for the nation.

NOAA’s Navigation Services also need to be recognized 

and adequately funded as essential support functions in 

the National Response Plan. The HSRP recommends 

that NOAA seek a dedicated source of annual funding 

for emergency training, planning, and coordinating joint 

response strategies with other federal agencies. If this 

is unachievable, NOAA should seek funding through 

FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to reimburse the agency 

for its emergency response activities. NOAA cannot 

sustain acceptable levels of mission performance without 

identifying, seeking, and receiving reimbursement for 

signifi cant unbudgeted expenses incurred by the Navigation 

Services program in response to incidents of national 

signifi cance.

Recommendation 4

The HSRP recommends that 

NOAA strengthen its Navigation 

Services emergency response and 

recovery capabilities by seeking 

adequate recognition and funding 

for its essential support functions 

within the Federal response to allhazards crises.

Strengthen
25 HSRP Special Report 2007

Finding 5: 

The more timely and widespread NOAA’s 

navigation data delivery is, the more benefi t it 

can provide to safe navigation and other uses.

The HSRP fi rmly believes the federal government 

needs to invest its increasingly scarce resources in 

programs that will achieve the greatest return on 

public investment. NOAA’s Navigation Services not 

only support safe, effi cient, and environmentally 

sound navigation, but the same dollar invested in 

hydrographic surveys, Electronic Navigational Charts 

(ENC), water levels, or positioning accuracies yields 

multiple benefi ts to a wide variety of stakeholders. 

The scope and impact of NOAA’s hydrographic 

information on U.S. Marine Transportation System 

(MTS) users is signifi cant. NOAA’s nautical charts, 

shoreline surveys, PORTS® real-time data, sea-fl oor 

images, and other products are absolutely essential 

to the safe movement of vessels transiting U.S. 

waters. What the public may not realize, however, are 

the broader applications of NOAA’s hydrographic 

services. In addition to navigation, these same 

data and services provide the basis for inundation 

modeling, marine habitat mapping, coastal resource 

management, engineering projects, long-term sealevel trends, climate change, and more. They also play 

a critical role in coastal and maritime communities; 

and they infl uence the lives of varied and unexpected 

stakeholders — from farmers in the Midwest to 

schoolchildren in a major city. Whether the issue 

is the timely transportation of goods to market, a 

classroom discussion about hurricanes or oil spills, the 

impacts of port expansion on the environment, or an 

emergency manager’s decision to order a mandatory 

hurricane evacuation, NOAA hydrographic products 

and services are often at the core. 

The HSRP applauds the development of hydrographic 

products and services available to mariners within 

Disseminate NOAA’s Hydrographic

Services Data and Products to Achieve 

Greatest Public Benefi t

NOAA’s suite of navigation services. The digital 

raster charts and ENCs that NOAA makes available 

on the Internet at no charge to the consumer have 

eclipsed traditional paper charts. Printed predicted 

tide tables have been supplanted, in limited areas, by 

six-minute refresh rates on real-time water-level data 

accessible by telephone and Internet. Other userfriendly products — including the NOAA Pocket 

Chart, the chart downloads booklet, small-craft charts, 

and the Coast Pilot® series of navigational books 

— are helping mariners navigate safely and effi ciently 

at sea, in harbors, and in the Great Lakes. However, 

despite NOAA’s impressive record of achievement, 

especially considering its constrained resources, the 

HSRP sees a strategic need for NOAA to accelerate 

the development and dissemination of certain 

hydrographic products and services.

The HSRP is particularly concerned over the pace 

at which NOAA is building its ENC coverage to 

match the area covered by the 1000-paper-chart suite. 

Recognizing that this is both a funding and capacity 

issue – the Administration’s budget requests have 

sought the same $2-million increase for ENCs every 

year since 2004 — the HSRP understands the delay. 

However, it notes that an incomplete suite of ENCs 

directly impacts safety of navigation and Homeland 

Security; without adequate funding, NOAA is falling 

short in its responsibility to provide ENCs coincident 

with the U.S. Coast Guard’s introduction of electronic 

charting system carriage regulations. The HSRP 

hopes that this situation is remedied with the FY2008 

appropriation. Additionally, the HSRP urges NOAA 

to accelerate the rationalization of its separate raster 

chart and ENC production lines into an integrated 

single process. While the HSRP recognizes the shortterm challenges, including the re-training of some 

personnel, NOAA needs to follow through on its 

commitment to complete its ENC portfolio.
26

Why NOAA Needs to Reach Out to Recreational Boaters

NOAA’s outreach efforts tend to target stakeholders tied to commercial activities in the U.S. Marine 

Transportation System. But in 2006 alone, some 70 million recreational boaters traveled the same waters 

in yachts, fi shing boats, sailboats, and everything in between. According to the 2004 Recreational Boating 

Statistical Abstract, maintained by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, “sales growth of 

recreational boats continued to outpace the U.S. economic growth, increasing an average of 8% annually 

since 1997.” Also in 2004, the number of boats in use grew to 17.6 million, an increase of 210,000 from 

2003.

NOAA’s navigation data is quite accessible to the recreational boater. Undoubtedly these user-friendly 

products — including the NOAA Electronic Navigational Chart, the Pocket Chart, small-craft charts, and 

the Coast Pilot® series — have helped many recreational mariners navigate safely. But in many instances 

recreational boaters may be operating with a false sense of security. As the consumer market for marine 

electronics, GPS navigation systems, and chart plotters explodes, boaters presume that the data they 

can zoom in and out on is as accurate as the GPS systems in their cars. This is not necessarily the case. 

The fact is that electronic charts are often only as good as the paper charts upon which they were built. 

Depending on a boater’s location, the NOAA backlog of charting and surveying work can render these 

products slightly to grossly inaccurate. The information could be years, even decades, out of date. While 

the commercial shipping industry navigators may have a professional awareness of NOAA charting 

shortfalls, the average recreational boater probably does not. The tragic results are borne out in the 

statistics. The National Transportation Safety Board reported in September 2006, that recreational boating 

deaths, the largest marine category, jumped from 676 in 2004 to 697 in 2005, while cargo transport 

fatalities dropped from 26 to 12 in the same period. 

Collisions account for 80% of all reportable recreational boating accidents, and 78% of non-reportable 

accidents, totaling an estimated insurance loss of over $450 million a year from nearly 100,000 claims. A 

major cause of claims is “striking a submerged object” and groundings, two scenarios in which accurate 

NOAA surveys and charts can play a major role. NOAA needs to enhance its outreach efforts to 

recreational boaters and educate them on the benefi ts and limitations of electronic charts. In conjunction 

with boater associations such as BoatU.S., the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the U.S. Power Squadrons, 

NOAA outreach would go a long way toward improving recreational boaters’ understanding of the 

uncertain marine environment in which they are operating.

Credit: BoatU.S.

Disseminate

Credit: J. Scott Rainey Credit: BoatU.S.
27 HSRP Special Report 2007

In addition to continuing to improve its navigation 

and geospatial positioning products, the HSRP would 

also like to see NOAA expand the potential that 

navigation data has to offer to non-navigational uses. 

For example, at the same time that ports and shippers 

are under pressure to remain competitive, coastal zone 

managers are juggling responsibilities for effective 

use of coastal resources. NOAA’s decision-support 

tools -– high-accuracy nautical charts, positioning 

information, and real-time water-level and current data 

-– help the mariner maximize use of limited channel 

depths safely, and also help the coastal manager make 

informed decisions on sustainable development and 

protection of coastal and ocean resources. NOAA 

navigation data can also benefi t surveyors, managers, 

planners, engineers, and scientists working in the 

coastal zone. The HSRP recommends that NOAA 

increase its efforts to educate its diverse stakeholders 

— from mariners and navigators to consumers and 

coastal zone managers — on the importance of 

accurate surveys, charts, real-time information, and 

other hydrographic data. NOAA should expand the 

reach of its regional navigation managers, currently 

focused primarily on commercial shipping and port 

issues, to recreational and environmental stakeholders. 

The HSRP fi nds that scientists can also benefi t 

from the ancillary data that NOAA collects with 

its hydrographic surveys. At the 2006 HSRP public 

meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, a fi sh biologist with 

the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division 

of Commercial Fisheries, expressed a desire for more 

NOAA data. “Within the last two or three years we’ve 

been using NOAA’s multibeam bathymetry where 

available for survey planning and for determining 

available habitat,” said Margaret Spahn. “[This] works 

toward stock assessments and fi sheries management.” 

She and other biologists use the NOAA data to help 

them assess numerous Alaska fi sheries, including 

ling cod and rockfi sh, shrimp trawls, scallop, cod, 

black cod, and king crab. Fisheries experts are also 

interested in using the backscatter data collected with 

multibeam surveys to characterize soft sediments 

(an essential fi sh habitat) as well as rocky reef areas. 

Clearly, opportunities exist for NOAA and fi sheries 

scientists to combine resources and jointly map for 

both navigation and fi sh population monitoring. 

Our national marine treasures, including coral reefs, 

also require NOAA mapping attention and expertise. 

For example, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 

Marine National Monument, created in June 2006, is 

inadequately surveyed. The largest marine sanctuary 

in the world, the monument — a 1200-mile-long 

chain of islands, atolls, and coral reefs, is home to 

more than 7000 marine species, about a quarter of 

which are found nowhere else on Earth. This includes 

the rare and endangered monk seal, green sea turtle, 

and millions of breeding seabirds. NOAA should 

completely survey this and other marine sanctuaries 

Pride of Hawaii, Norwegian Cruise Line. 

Credit: Norwegian Cruise Line Credit: NOAA
28

to provide chart updates and scientifi c research data. 

The HSRP supports the expansion of the program to 

include this important work. 

NOAA’s marine transportation services are critical to 

mariners for safe navigation, and just as useful to the 

coastal manager facing the challenges of day-to-day 

coastal decision-making. The HSRP supports 

NOAA’s interest in the relationship between marine 

transportation and the health of coastal ecosystems, 

communities, and economies. Coastal areas have 

intrinsic economic, cultural, and aesthetic value; and 

NOAA’s Navigation Services offer baseline data to 

monitor the health, status, and changes in these areas. 

NOAA nautical charts and hydrographic and geodetic 

surveys play key roles in many non-navigational uses; 

and recently, additional applications related to tides, 

water level, and datum information have emerged as 

well. These new applications — including emergency 

response, wetlands restoration, land-use project 

management, and climate change and sea-level trend 

analyses — help to protect lives, save property, restore 

the environment, and maintain the economic vitality 

of the nation. 

Fort McHenry Wetlands Restoration: 

A Non-navigational Use of NOAA 

Navigation Data 

NOAA’s Navigation Services are helping the 

Baltimore National Aquarium and the Maryland 

Port Administration ensure the success of the Fort 

McHenry Wetlands restoration. The wetlands act 

as nurseries for fi sh and crustaceans and feeding 

grounds for birds; they store pollutants and 

nutrients; and they serve as buffer zones to fl ood 

events and wave action. The United States has lost 

over half its wetlands since the late 18th century. 

Between 1986 and 1997, the nation lost an average 

of 60,000 acres of wetlands each year.

In the case of the Fort McHenry Wetlands 

Restoration, NOAA support includes:

• determining the tidal characteristics;

• establishing a water-level station with local 

benchmarks;

• developing digital elevation models to illustrate 

topography;

• performing water-level analysis; and

• using GPS to reference tidal datums to a 

geodetic benchmark network. 

This information helped coastal managers make 

key decisions, such as where to plant vegetation, 

where to distribute species, and what elevations to 

design.

Recommendation 5

The HSRP recommends that NOAA 

expand efforts to deliver its navigation 

products and services more quickly, and 

increase outreach to make navigation 

and non-navigation users more aware of 

the NOAA mapping and data resources 

available to them. 

Disseminate

Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD. Credit: NOAA
29 HSRP Special Report 2007
30

For additional copies of this report, 

please contact the Offi ce of Coast 

Survey at 301.713.2770. 
31 HSRP Special Report 2007

HSRP Special Report 2007