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HomeAboutNOS Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report

# Office of Coast Survey

## NOS Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report

## The End of Traditional Paper Nautical Charts 

            -  **Supports NOS priority**: coastal intelligence 

NOAA’s Office of Coast  Survey (OCS), which creates and maintains the nation's  suite of 1,000 nautical  charts of U.S. coastal waters, ceased to print traditional  lithographic (paper) nautical charts in FY 14. NOAA will continue to produce  other forms of nautical charts, including the increasingly popular POD  (Print-on-Demand) charts, which are updated paper charts  available from NOAA-certified printers; and the new full-scale PDF (Portable  Digital Format) nautical charts, available for free  download on a trial basis. NOAA electronic navigational charts (NOAA  ENC**®**)  and raster navigational charts (NOAA  RNC**®**),  which are used in a variety of electronic charting systems, will continue to be  updated weekly and made available for free download from the OCS website.

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## Easy Access to Wrecks and Obstructions Data

            -  **Supports NOS priority**: coastal intelligence 

In  FY 14, NOAA’s Office  of Coast Survey improved its Wrecks  and Obstructions Database, giving the public easy access to  nearly 20,000 records of submerged wrecks and other obstructions to navigation within  U.S. maritime boundaries. The new service is an upgrade of a wreck database  first established in 1981: It now includes all of the wrecks that are mapped on  NOAA’s electronic navigational charts, and provides the data in formats that  can be used in GIS software programs, Google Maps, and Google Earth. The data includes the  position of each feature (latitude and longitude) and, when available, a brief  description. While the locations of wrecks and other obstructions have always  been important for safe coastal navigation, people interested in shipwrecks for  other reasons, such as for marine archeology, recreational diving, salvage  operations, and fishing, now have thousands of new records to explore.

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## New Operational Forecast Systems Available to the Public

            -  **Supports NOS priority**: coastal intelligence 

NOAA’s Office of Coast  Survey (OCS) and NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic  Products and Services made two Operational Forecast  Systems (OFS) available to the public in FY 14. The San  Francisco Bay OFS provides users with nowcasts (analyses of near-present  conditions) and forecast guidance out to 48 hours for water levels, currents,  water temperature, and salinity. A similar forecast system was implemented for  the northern Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, OCS, in collaboration with the  National Weather Service’s National Center for Environmental Prediction,  implemented the Extratropical Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System for  the Pacific (ESTOFS Pacific). This OFS covers the U.S. West Coast, the Gulf of  Alaska, and Hawaii. ESTOFS Pacific provides 180-hour forecasts of water levels  caused by storm surge, astronomical tides, and the combined effects of storm  surge and tides. In addition to providing weather forecasters with guidance on  storm surge and tidal water levels, ESTOFS Pacific is also used by NOAA's  WAVEWATCH III wave model for coupling wave and water level predictions.

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## NOAA Issues New Nautical Chart for the Arctic 

            -  **Supports NOS priority**: coastal intelligence 

In FY 14, NOAA’s  Office of Coast Survey issued a new nautical chart for  the Arctic’s Delong Mountain Terminal, a shallow-draft port that services the  Red Dog Mine on Alaska’s northwest coast. New Chart 16145, which fills in  historically sparse depth measurements using recently acquired survey data, is important to the Arctic economy and will  help improve maritime safety and efficiency. Zinc and lead are mined at Red Dog, which is one of the world’s largest  producers of zinc concentrate. The terminal’s shipping season lasts only about  100 days, so shipping efficiency is vital. This is the third new Arctic chart that NOAA has issued in as many years, the others  being for Kotzebue Harbor in 2012 and Bering Strait North in 2013. 

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## Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping Sandy Coordination 

            -  **Supports NOS priority**: place-based conservation 

NOAA’s Office of Coast  Survey developed an online project called Integrated  Ocean and Coastal Mapping Sandy Coordination to foster  collaboration on Post-tropical  Cyclone Sandy data acquisition in FY 14. The goal was  to gather as much information as possible about mapping needs and plans to support  decision-making and restoration in Sandy-impacted coastal areas, while eliminating  overlaps. The site displays federal and state mapping requirements and plans  acquired from external partners. The project is part of SeaSketch,  a user-friendly GIS developed by the McClintock Laboratory at the University of California Santa  Barbara. 

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###### **OCS** Top Five:

            - ** The End of Traditional Paper Nautical Charts 
            - ** Easy Access to Wrecks and Obstructions Data
            - ** New Operational Forecast Systems Available to the Public
            - ** NOAA Issues New Nautical Chart for the Arctic 
            - ** Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping Sandy Coordination 

###### **NOS Accomplishments**

          -  Fiscal Year 2014 Highlights
          - Browse by  Priority :
          -  Coastal Resilience Priority
          -  Coastal Intelligence Priority
          -  Place-Based Conservation Priority
          - Browse by  Office :
          -  Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Integrated Ocean Observing System
 National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
 National Geodetic Survey
 NOS Education
 Office for Coastal Management
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