The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched its 2015 Arctic hydrographic survey season in Kodiak, Alaska yesterday, in a World Ocean Day ceremony which showcased the deployment of the NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather.
In anticipation of growing vessel traffic in the Arctic, NOAA is increasing its charting activities in the region to help ensure navigation safety. This week, Rainier and Fairweather will depart Kodiak to begin a summer of hydrographic surveying projects in the Arctic. NOAA will use the surveys, which will measure ocean depths and search for dangers to navigation, to update nautical charts for Alaska’s waters.
For this year’s Arctic survey projects, the NOAA ships will collect new charting data for Port Clarence, Kotzebue Sound, and Point Hope. The ships will also survey the seafloor as they transit to and from the project areas, collecting data along a potential Arctic shipping route from Unimak Island to the Chukchi Sea, as proposed in the US Coast Guard’s Port Access Route Study for the region.
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, which manages NOAA’s surveys and creates the nation’s nautical charts, will also manage a survey project conducted by TerraSond under a federal contract. The private company will check the extent of the Prince of Wales shoals, to help vessels transiting to and from points in the Chukchi and Bering Seas.
The Arctic projects are in addition to the NOAA ships’ 2015 non-Arctic Alaskan survey projects for Chatham Strait, Shumagin Islands, Kodiak, and west Prince of Wales Island.
Altogether, NOAA’s hydrographic project areas for Alaska cover 2,800 square nautical miles, plus the 12,000 linear nautical miles for the shipping route project.
Coast Survey will use the data collected by the NOAA ships and TerraSond, as well as depth measurements taken by US Coast Guard Cutter Healy, to update its navigational charts, as laid out in its Arctic Nautical Charting Plan. The marine corridor project will also provide information to help the Coast Guard assess the safety of the proposed USCG port access route.