Office of Coast Surv

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey (OCS) maintains the 

nation’s nautical charts and publications for U.S. 

coasts and the Great Lakes. OCS creates and 

maintains over a thousand charts covering 95,000 

miles of shoreline and 3.4 million square nautical 

miles of water. OCS supports the 1.3 billion metric 

tons of cargo valued at $1.8 trillion that comes in 

and out of U.S. ports every year. In addition, OCS 

conducts hydrographic surveys to collect depth 

measurements for nautical charts, and to aid in 

navigation, provides regional navigation support, 

develops models for storm surge and hurricane 

prediction, and develops and tests new technologies 

to improve mapping efficiencies. Below are five 

highlighted scientific projects by OCS researchers 

and their partners.

Precision Marine Navigation Dissemination

OCS is creating new online 

navigation services that will 

enable mariners to access 

critical marine navigation 

data in one convenient 

place. The Data Processing 

and Dissemination System 

uses cloud technology to 

enable machine-to-machine 

dissemination of integrated 

datasets, allowing mariners 

to make decisions 

efficiently when planning, 

transiting, and approaching 

ports. This new system was

developed and deployed on 

Amazon Web Services 

(AWS) using open source 

software. It allows mariners’ 

existing navigation software 

to automatically discover if 

NOAA has made new data available and ingest the data directly into their system. NOAA is working closely 

with industry partners to ensure that the service NOAA develops effectively disseminates navigation data. In 

September 2020, NOAA hosted a workshop with navigation equipment and navigation system manufacturers, 

pilots, and other federal agencies to collect feedback on the new online services. In July 2020, NOAA NOS 

released a new reformatted data service for surface water current forecasts. These data are now available for 

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Integrated multi-source information available through the OCS-developed 

Precision Marine Navigation System. Image credit: NOAA OCS. 
companies to test using different types of navigation software. The S-100 compliant NOAA datasets will be 

made available to manufacturers of Portable Pilot Units and Electronic Charting Systems to integrate these 

datasets into their navigational systems. The integrated datasets will reduce the number of websites a mariner 

visits when planning, transiting, and approaching a port, allowing them to make decisions efficiently. 

FY20 Accomplishment(s): NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey targeted a beta release of the dissemination 

system in July 2020 with a goal for initial operations by late 2020.

Project URL: 

https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/learn/precision-navigation.html

OCS Expands the Extratropical Surge and Tide Operational 

Forecast Systems 

OCS is transitioning a 

global version of the 

Extratropical Surge and 

Tide Operational Forecast 

System (ESTOFS) into 

operations in fiscal year 

2020-2021. Global ESTOFS 

will replace the existing 

regional ESTOFS-Atlantic, 

ESTOFS-Pacific, and 

ESTOFS-Micronesia 

systems and add 

enhancements to ESTOFS

capabilities. Expected 

benefits include extending 

the system to cover all 

OCONUS (outside 

contiguous United States) 

territories, providing boundary and initial conditions for nearshore wave models, and improving spatial 

resolution for the U.S. coastal regions. Global ESTOFS will improve NOAA capabilities in coastal inundation 

prediction and open the doors for new applications, including precision navigation, risk assessment analysis, 

and on-demand coastal inundation prediction systems on a global scale.

FY20 Accomplishment(s): Global ESTOFS is anticipated to be transitioned to operations in FY20 and 

will unify existing regional ESTOFS systems into a unified model with enhanced resolution.

Project URLs:

https://ocean.weather.gov/estofs/estofs_surge_info.php

https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/model-upgrade-extratropical-surge-tide-operational-forecast-systemestofs-is-now-global/

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An example of maximum forecast water levels (m MSL) from a forecast cycle of 

Global ESTOFS. Image credit: NOAA OCS. 
National Bathymetric Source project

The National 

Bathymetric Source 

(NBS) project creates 

and maintains highresolution bathymetry 

composed of the best 

available data. This 

project enables the 

creation of nextgeneration nautical charts 

while also providing 

support for modeling, 

industry, science, 

regulation, and public 

curiosity. Primary 

sources of bathymetry

include NOAA and U.S. 

Army Corps of 

Engineers hydrographic 

surveys and topographic 

bathymetric (topo-bathy) 

lidar (light detection and ranging) data. Data submitted through the NOAA Office of Coast Survey’s external 

source data process are also included, with gaps in deep water filled through Global Multi-Resolution 

Topography, a merged model of bathymetry. While there are other models of bathymetry for the United States, 

the NBS effort is unique because of the techniques used to combine the various sources into one nationwide 

model of the seafloor. These techniques are designed specifically to serve maritime navigation, but they are 

equally valuable to other oceanographic modelling and scientific endeavors. As new source data becomes 

available, OCS updates the national bathymetry for that immediate region. Automated processes all enable 

efficient inclusion of these new sources. With the completion of the New York region, OCS is expanding the 

national bathymetry throughout New England first. The NBS project also supports node selection for the Coast 

Survey modeling team as well as Precision Navigation efforts in major ports like Los Angeles and Long Beach, 

California. Overall, the resulting bathymetry directly supports the transition from product to data-driven 

workflows by increasing quality, accessibility, and timeliness of source data.

FY20 Accomplishment(s): A bathymetric buildout of the New England Region.

Project URL:

https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/updates/building-the-national-bathymetry/

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A preliminary build of the bathymetry for the New England region. Image Credit: NOAA 

OCS. 
Updated VDatum for the Coastal Waters of Texas and Western 

Louisiana: Modeled Tidal Datums and their Associated 

Spatially Varying Uncertainties 

This work by OCS updates the tide model and modeled tidal datums in Texas and western Louisiana coastal 

regions by using the most currently available shoreline, bathymetry, and tide station data and by using a twodimensional depth-integrated barotropic version of the ADvanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) hydrodynamic 

model (version 51.52.34, released in January 2016). Several techniques were used to reduce the errors in the 

modeled tidal datums for improving model performance. A Spatially Varying Uncertainty (SVU) statistical 

interpolation method was implemented for correcting the ADCIRC modeled tidal datums and computing 

associated uncertainties, and the existing non-tidal polygons in the coastal regions were upgraded by 

incorporating the modeled tidal datums for improving the quality of tidal datum marine grid population. 

FY20 Accomplishment(s): A technical memorandum on updating the tide model and modeled tidal 

datums in Texas and western Louisiana coastal regions was successfully completed. 

Technical Memorandum: Wu et al. 2020 NOAA Tech Memo NOS CS 43

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/24752

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(a) The updated triangular model mesh grids for the TX and western LA coastal waters. Blue line denotes the model’s 

open ocean boundary, brown line denotes land boundary, and green lines denote island boundaries. (b) The grid 

spacing in the model domain. Adapted from Wu et al. 2020, NOAA OCS.
Upgrade of NOS Lake Michigan and Lake Huron Operational 

Forecast Systems to FVCOM: Model Development and 

Hindcast Skill Assessment

NOAA GLERL and NOS have collaborated to upgrade the NOS Lake Michigan and Lake Huron Operational 

Forecast Systems to improve forecast guidance of water temperature, water levels, and currents by migrating to 

FVCOM and using a single model grid domain covering both lakes. Hindcasts from the new Lake Michigan and 

Huron Operational Forecast System were conducted for 2015, 2016, and 2017 and compared to observations 

from U.S. and Canadian observing networks using NOS skill assessment procedures. The results of the skill 

assessment of water level and surface water temperature hindcasts for 2015 and 2016 and evaluation of 

subsurface water temperature hindcasts for 2014-2017 were published in a NOS Technical Report.

FY20 Accomplishment(s): An evaluation of water levels and water temperature hindcasts for 2015, 2016 and 

2017 from NOS' new Lake Michigan and Huron Operational Forecast System was completed and the results 

published in a NOS Technical Report.

Technical Memorandum URL: Kelley et al. 2020 NOAA Tech Memo CS 42:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/23891

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Time series plots of hourly hindcasts and operational nowcasts of water level (red) vs. observations (black) at CO-OPS 

National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) gauges (1. Port Inland, MI, 2. Mackinaw City, MI, 3. 

Menominee, MI, 4. Sturgeon Bay Canal, WI, 5. Green Bay, WI, and 6. Kewaunee, WI) at northern Lake Michiganduring 

2015. Mean Absolute Error (MAE; meters) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE; meters) at each station are shown 

individually on each panel.