NOAA certifies San Francisco Bay shipping channel with top survey rating, increasing confidence for deep draft vessel navigation |
There is a risk factor when navigating in and out of our nation’s busiest ports, particularly at the helm of some of the world’s largest deep draft vessels. Mariners rely on tide and water level information, wind and weather data, but perhaps most importantly, they rely on electronic navigational charts and the quality of depth measurements that comprise them. Recently, NOAA certified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrographic surveys for the Pinole Shoal Channel in San Francisco Bay — a critical waterway for bulk carriers and tankers to reach the ports of Sacramento, Stockton, Martinez, and Benicia — the highest possible data quality rating, Category Zone of Confidence (CATZOC) A1, for two years. This is the first USACE federally-maintained channel to receive the highest-level certification. NOAA anticipates the increased CATZOC rating will dramatically increase shipping efficiency. |
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NOAA works with partners to expand Tampa Bay Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System |
NOAA recently expanded the Tampa Bay Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®), working with local partners from the greater Tampa Bay Marine Advisory Council PORTS, Inc. and the University of South Florida. This critical system provides real-time information to mariners about ocean conditions, water levels, currents, and winds. Tampa Bay PORTS has added a new current meter in the main ship channel and a new air gap sensor on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to help mariners combat strong currents in the area and clear the bridge more safely. The Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS) is a successful public-private partnership with one or more local partners to install, maintain, and distribute data from real-time tide, current, meteorological, and air gap sensors in areas in or outside seaports that need this information for navigation safety. There are currently 33 systems in place across the U.S. Next year, the PORTS program will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. |
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Did you know??? Real-time tide predictions and observations for NWLON and PORTS® stations in various seaports are utilized for strict guidance on transit times for deep draft vessels– depending on the tide levels. This data is critical for determining available under keel clearance… a challenge in many seaports. In fact, pilot operating procedure manuals in many areas refer to data and predictions from specific NOAA tide stations, operating in many of our PORTS®. For example, due to ongoing dredging activities in two ranges in the Delaware River, the Pilots’ Association of the Delaware River and Bay issued temporary and restrictive guidelines that specifically utilize short windows tied to the timing of tide predictions and observations at the Philadelphia, PA NWLON and Marcus Hook, PA PORTS® stations. This area sees a large daily tide range and the guidance pertains to arrivals and departures for vessels of a certain draft at various pier facilities in PA, NJ and DE. |
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NOAA announces new progress report on mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters |
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NOAA collects critical data to aid in hurricane resilience |
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Follow along with NOAA’s chart improvements using new web map service |
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NOAA released a new and improved web map service featuring the status of NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts (NOAA ENC®) as they undergo major improvements. The current ENC scheme is based on the extents of the paper nautical charts from which ENCs were originally digitized. Improvements to the ENC suite involve replacing this puzzle-piece layout with a rectangular grid of ENCs (referred to as rescheming), often providing larger scale and more detailed coverage than the existing paper charts. The public can now view ENC project status from the planning and creation stages all the way to completion, keeping them better informed of when these enhanced navigational charts will be available. This process was first announced in the National Charting Plan and explained in more detail in the Transforming the NOAA ENC®. |
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NY Harbor to get updated tidal current predictions |
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NOAA has recently completed a current survey for the New York Harbor area. Many tidal current predictions in this area date back to the middle of last century to as early as 1885. Updated tidal current predictions are imperative for safe marine navigation throughout a waterway. Each year NOAA measures tidal currents at different coastal and estuarine locations by deploying dozens of temporary instruments, this survey included 36 separate locations. Currents are observed at depths throughout the water column and are measured over a period from one to four months. A statistical process called harmonic analysis determines the part of the current caused by the tides. This “tidal current” can then be predicted at that location for many years into the future. Other factors that influence the current such as wind cannot be forecast for more than a few days and are not included in the prediction. The updated information will be available for mariners to use in 2020. All tidal current predictions can be accessed here. |
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Introducing new NOAA liaisons to the navigation community |
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NOAA helps USCG chart capsized cargo ship along Georgia coast using SUE expedited process |
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NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) used the Shoreline Update Expedite (SUE) process to respond quickly to the US Coast Guard’s request to chart an area around the car carrier Golden Ray that overturned September 5 soon after leaving the Port of Brunswick, about 70 miles south of Savannah. The ship’s 24 crew members were all successfully rescued. SUE is a process created by NGS to respond to quickly to a high priority navigation issue. This request was one of 84 requests since SUE’s inception in 2018. This request was received at NGS on January 21, 2020 through Coast Survey’s Nautical Data Branch (NDB) via the Southeast Navigation Manager and was completed by NGS in under two hours. The wreck is shown below and is located in Brunswick Harbor, GA at: 31°07’40.80″N, 081°24’10.80″W. NGS provided a shapefile to Coast Survey to overlay on NOAA Nautical Chart 11506. During the SUE process, NGS acquires existing high resolution imagery from a variety of sources, analyzes and improves the georeferencing accuracy of the imagery if necessary, then quickly creates a shapefile depicting the new/changed feature(s) using NGS’ standard C-COAST attribution scheme, and delivers a shapefile to NDB for immediate application to the nautical charts. The port of Georgia (Savannah and Brunswick) is the fourth largest by total volume and Brunswick is considered the busiest seaport for automobile imports in the US. Thus, this request is considered a high priority. For previous articles on SUE please see Coast Surveys’ 2018 blog. |
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NOAA co-hosts annual Texas Coastal Ocean Observing Network Meeting…virtually! |
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In mid-April, NOAA co-hosted the first entirely virtual Texas Coastal Ocean Observing Network Meeting (TCOON) along with our partners, the Galveston District US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). This was the first time this meeting was held virtually due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. NOAA partners with the USACE and the state of Texas (Texas General Land Office (TGLO) and the Texas Water Development Board) to manage and operate a coastal ocean observing network that considers federal, state and local observation requirements for a variety of coastal projects and products and leverages the partnerships capabilities and resources toward meeting them. It’s an impressive collaborative network made up of 6 NOAA National Water Level Observation System stations, 28 TCOON stations, 2 NOAA current meter stations, and four NOAA Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems that provide the Texas coast with integrated data to support navigation, emergency response, coastal inundation, marine boundaries and resilience planning. This annual meeting is a venue for marine navigation stakeholders in the Texas region to convene and discuss critical regional issues, opportunities for collaboration and implementation success stories. |
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New Great Lakes water level information available on NOAA Tides and Currents website |
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Great Lakes partners and stakeholders will now have access to the record high and low water level for each NOAA Great Lakes National Water Level Observation Network station on the NOAA Tides and Currents website.and can use this information as a reference during this spring and summer season which is forecast to continue with high water conditions. NOAA has analyzed historical data for each of its Great Lakes water level stations and provided this information on each station’s homepage, like this one from Ludington, Michigan. The overwhelming majority of these stations reached their highest levels on record in 2019. |
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