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1. Home
2. About
3. NOS Fiscal Year 2022: Year in Review
4. Office of Coast Survey

**Office of Coast Survey** NOS Fiscal Year 2022 Year in Review *The Office of Coast Survey (OCS) provides navigation products and services that ensure safe and efficient maritime commerce on America’s ocean and coastal waters and in the Great Lakes.*  NOAA Adds 3D to Surge and Tide Operational  Forecast System **SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITY:**  NEW BLUE ECONOMY | COASTAL RESILIENCE A graphic from the forecast system shows the East Coast of the U.S. with water depths represented by different colors. *The Global 3D Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System coverage in the Atlantic domain illustrates water depths with different colors.*
 NOS’s  Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System (STOFS) became operational in late  2022. This upgrade enhances the system’s performance, resolution, and coverage  for the global depth-averaged (STOFS-2D-Global) model in the western Atlantic  Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea, especially along the East and West coasts, Gulf  of Mexico, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. This enhancement will improve  water level forecast guidance, which can go out to 7.5 days at an updated rate  of four times per day. As part of this upgrade, a new 3D (layered) modeling  component (STOFS-3D-Atlantic) has been included into STOFS. This addition will  support coastal flooding forecasting for the Atlantic basin (East Coast, Gulf  of Mexico, and Puerto Rico). The system will use input from the National Water  Model to include inland hydrology and extreme precipitation effects on coastal  flooding, and will also provide surface current information to support marine  navigation. NOS is working closely with the National Weather Service, providing  technical and model output to support total water level implementation in the  National Water Model. Future planned upgrades include improved spatial  resolution and 3D coverage for the West Coast and Alaska.  NOAA Launches Prototype S-102 Navigation Data **SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITY:** NEW BLUE ECONOMY | COASTAL RESILIENCE In August 2022, NOAA  released prototype high-resolution data for use by  navigation systems in the ports of New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles/Long  Beach. The prototype data leverages the International Hydrographic  Organization’s S-102 Bathymetric Surface Product Specification. This  specification is optimized for use in navigation systems and displays the bathymetric surface on a separate layer,  providing a greater level of detail than a regular nautical chart, and using  colors and shading to show depths in between contour lines. The S-102 standard  is a critical component of the suite of Precision  Marine Navigation products and services.  In addition to creating product files, the data sets also maintain compliant  discovery metadata that allows for machine-to-machine discovery and  dissemination. Discovery metadata accompanies each data product and contains  all relevant information, including boundaries and latest edition. The S-102  prototype data for these two ports was generated from OCS’s National Bathymetric Source (NBS), a  continuously updated compilation of the best available bathymetry. As NBS  continues to expand its operational area, NOAA will release additional S-102  prototype data for ports within that region.  An image showing a screenshot of a navigation system with S-102 data.*S-102 data, visible in this screenshot from a navigation system, provides higher resolution and a greater level of detail than a traditional nautical chart.*  Progress on U.S. Mapping Data and Data Licensing Policy **SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITY:**  NEW BLUE ECONOMY | CONSERVE, RESTORE, AND CONNECT The third annual Progress Report on  Unmapped U.S. Waters shows that 52% of U.S. waters  remain unmapped as of January 2022 — a decrease of 1% since January 2021.  Data on the depth, shape, and composition of the seafloor is critical to  exploration, sustainable development, conservation, and managing coastal and  offshore ocean resources. This progress report, compiled by NOS and released by  the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping, shows that roughly  58,000 square nautical miles of new bathymetric data have been published at  NOAA since the last analysis. The 2020 National Strategy  for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic  Zone and the global Seabed 2030 initiative make  comprehensive ocean mapping a priority for the coming decade. NOAA signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022  formalizing U.S. participation in Seabed 2030 and supporting NOAA's many  mission areas reliant on bathymetry. In addition, OCS’s Data Licensing Policy is officially in place  and aligns OCS with the NOAA Data Strategy and federal policies that require  government data to be as free, open, and accessible as possible to spur and  encourage exploration and innovation throughout the industry. This policy also  requires that licensing be applied to external data contributions from the  ocean mapping community.  Graphic showing unmapped areas within U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters.*NOAA works to collect and map data on the depth, shape, and composition of the seafloor in coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes waters in the United States.*  NOAA Helps Empower Women in Hydrography **SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITY:** DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, JUSTICE, AND ACCESSIBILITY OCS hosted three  women from around the world aboard NOAA ships during the 2022 survey season as  part of the International Hydrographic Organization's Empowering  Women in Hydrography project. The project seeks to combat gender  inequity in the field of hydrography by raising awareness about career  opportunities and enabling women to assume leadership roles within the  hydrographic community. Sub-Lt. Mercy Modupe Ogungbamila from the Nigerian  Navy, the first participant, served aboard NOAA Ship *Rainier* in the Mariana Islands, surveying from Guam  to Saipan. Chiaki Okada, from the Japan Coast Guard’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic  Department, the second participant, spent time aboard NOAA Ship *Thomas Jefferson* in the Great Lakes. Firosa Tomohamat from  Suriname’s Maritime Authority, the third participant, also joined NOAA Ship *Thomas Jefferson* in the Great Lakes. NOAA plans to support  three women each year over the four-year lifespan of the project.  Five female officers in uniform in front of a NOAA ship.*Sub-Lt. Mercy Ogungbamila joins the four female officer hydrographers of NOAA Ship Rainier. From left to right: Cdr. Nicola Verplank, Ensign Bonnie Vierra, Ensign Caroline Jahn, Ensign Alice Beittel, and (far right) Sub-Lt. Mercy Ogungbamila.*  NOAA Ships Spearhead Two Exceptional Survey Seasons in the Great Lakes and Western Pacific **SUPPORTS NOS PRIORITY:** DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, JUSTICE, AND ACCESSIBILITY NOS scientists  conducted multiple hydrographic mapping missions during the 2022 field season  aboard NOAA Ship *Thomas Jefferson* in  the Great Lakes and NOAA Ship *Rainier* in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The crew aboard *Thomas Jefferson*, along with OCS’s navigation response team and private sector partners,  supported critical updates to marine navigation products and services and  provided modern data to the scientific and benthic mapping communities. The  data will provide the foundation for habitat maps and related products in  cooperation with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences and other partners. The data also supports updated hydrodynamic models to  improve the Great Lakes Operational Forecast System developed by OCS and Great Lakes  Environmental Research Laboratory. This new high-quality NOAA data  supports the management of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the Wisconsin  Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. It is an example of the  type of data that will be collected to support the proposed Lake Ontario  National Marine Sanctuary. The project also included operational testing of an  uncrewed surface vehicle. This was a major step toward full integration of  crewed and uncrewed survey platforms into OCS operations, amplifying existing  capabilities and increasing productivity, efficiency, and safety, especially in  remote or extreme environments. NOAA Ship *Rainier’s* RICHARD (Rainier Integrates  Charting Hydrography And Reef Demographics) project combined three independent  missions to one vessel, taking advantage of the ship transiting to the remote  islands in the western Pacific. OCS collaborated with the National Geodetic  Survey, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and Coral Reef  Conservation Program to collect high-resolution bathymetric data.  NOAA will use this data and topo-bathymetric lidar data to create a seamless  map linking the hilltops to underwater depths, which will be used to update  nautical charting products, promote maritime safety, and support coral reef and  coastal management. The team also collected reef assessment data — habitat  characterization, sea surface level measurements, and water-column data —  helping to inform multiple users across a variety of disciplines. In the end,  this project acquired over 5,000 square nautical miles of high-resolution  bathymetric data and conducted over 1,850 scuba dives. Many areas in the region  had not been mapped in decades or had never been mapped to modern standards.  : Two images of NOAA hydrographic ships.*NOAA Ships Thomas Jefferson (top) and Rainier (bottom) during their 2022 field seasons. Thomas Jefferson is in the Great Lakes and Rainier is docked alongside Ford Island, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.*
 OCS **Highlights** NOAA Adds 3D to Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System NOAA Launches Prototype S-102 Navigation Data Progress on U.S. Mapping Data and Data Licensing Policy NOAA Helps Empower Women in Hydrography NOAA Ships Spearhead Two Exceptional Survey Seasons in the Great Lakes and Western Pacific
  NOS **Accomplishments** NOS by the Numbers 2022  Browse by Office: Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Coral Reef Conservation Program U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science National Geodetic Survey NOS Management and Budget NOS Information Management Office for Coastal Management Office of Coast Survey Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Office of Response and Restoration   **Search** Our facts    Get **Social** Social
  **Last updated:** 01/20/23 **Author:** NOAA How to cite this article Contact Us


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