Charting Navigable Waters
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Ocean Surveys was a subcontractor to the prime on NOAA’s very first contracted hydrographic survey. Since 1999, OSI has acted as a prime contractor and surveyed thousands of square nautical miles of navigable waters on behalf of NOAA (see table below). In all cases, OSI employed state-of-the-art multibeam (or single beam) sonar, side scan sonar, positioning, attitude, and sound speed instrumentation.
Most recently, OSI charted navigable waters offshore of the Louisiana coast and performed “complete coverage” multibeam and side scan sonar surveys in the vicinity of Trinity and Tiger Shoals.
During the 2017 and 2018 field seasons, OSI surveyed over 17,000 linear nautical miles (LNM) of navigable waters in an 500 square nautical mile (SQNM) survey area. The surveys revealed significant migration of both shoals and identified multiple dangers to navigation.
Navigable Waterways Fig. 1
Navigable Waterways Fig. 2
Navigable Waterways Fig. 3
Navigable Waterways Fig. 4
Navigable Waterways Fig. 5
Navigable Waterways Fig. 6
Navigable Waterways Fig. 7
Navigable Waterways Fig. 8
| 1995 | Vineyard Sound and Long Island Sound | As a subcontractor, OSI provided position and side scan sonar equipment with operators, along with installation of multiple tertiary tide stations. | |
| 1999 | Approaches to Winyah Bay, SC | Surveyed 1,100 LNM in a 24 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2002 | Pamlico and Croatan Sound, NC | Surveyed 3,100 LNM in a 54 SQNM survey area. Project included installation of five (5) remotely accessible tertiary tide stations | |
| 2006 | Portland Harbor, ME | The survey was performed on behalf of a private interest (with NOAA's approval) for the purposes of providing data to update the NOAA chart. | |
| 2008 | Approaches to Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami, FL | Surveyed 4,000 LNM in an 80 SQNM survey area. Depth in this survey reached up to 500 feet. | |
| 2009 | Safety Fairways Pensacola, FL | Surveyed 5,600 LNM in a 143 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2010 | Florida and Alabama Safety Fairways | Surveyed 1,937 LNM in a 62 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2012 | Approaches to Bartaria Bay, LA | Surveyed 3,500 LNM in a 95 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2013 | Approaches to Bartaria Bay, LA | Surveyed 3,900 LNM in a 122 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2013 | Lower New York Bay to Jamaica Bay, NY | Post-Hurricane Sandy Survey with over 1,500 wrecks and obstructions were identified (which are a subset of over 3,000 features meeting the criteria for reporting). | |
| 2013 | East Rockaway Inlet to Zachs Bay, NY | Post-Hurricane Sandy Survey | |
| 2015 | Approaches to Breton Sound, LA | Surveyed 3,500 LNM in a 117 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2016 | Approaches to Atchafalaya Bay, LA | Surveyed 4,000 LNM in a 130 SQNM survey area. The survey showed both shoal migration and deepening trends since the 1930s. | |
| 2017 | Louisiana Coast (vicinity of Tiger Shoal) | Surveyed 6,500 LNM in a 200 SQNM survey area. The survey showed significant migration of Tiger Shoal since the 1930s. | |
| 2018 | Louisiana Coast (vicinity of Trinity Shoal) | Surveyed 10,700 LNM in a 300 SQNM survey area. The survey showed significant migration of Trinity Shoal since the 1930s. | |
| 2019 | Texas Coast (Corpus Christi) | Surveyed 6,842.9 LNM in a 308 SQNM survey area. | |
| 2019 | Approaches to Louisiana Coast | Surveyed 7,988.8 LNM in a 383.5 SQNM survey area. |
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