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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.

Year:
Location:
NOAA Survey ID:
Project Comment:
1995
Vineyard Sound and Long Island Sound
H10611, H10612, H10618, H10625, H10649, H10651, H10654
As a subcontractor, OSI provided position and side scan sonar equipment with operators, along with installation of multiple tertiary tide stations.
1999Approaches to Winyah Bay, SC
H10946A, H10946B
Surveyed 1,100 LNM in a 24 SQNM survey area.
2002Pamlico and
Croatan Sound, NC
H11032
Surveyed 3,100 LNM in a 54 SQNM survey area. Project included installation of five (5) remotely accessible tertiary tide stations
2006Portland Harbor, ME
W00177
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.
2008Approaches to Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami, FL
H11896, H11897, H11898, H11899
Surveyed 4,000 LNM in an 80 SQNM survey area. Depth in this survey reached up to 500 feet.
2009Safety Fairways Pensacola, FL
H12060, H12061, H12062, H12157
Surveyed 5,600 LNM in a 143 SQNM survey area.
2010Florida and Alabama Safety Fairways
H12236, H12237
Surveyed 1,937 LNM in a 62 SQNM survey area.
2012 Approaches to Bartaria Bay, LA
H12425, H12426, H12427, H12428
Surveyed 3,500 LNM in a 95 SQNM survey area.
2013Approaches to Bartaria Bay, LA
H12550, H12551, H12552, H12553
Surveyed 3,900 LNM in a 122 SQNM survey area.
2013Lower New York Bay to Jamaica Bay, NY
H12604, H12891
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).
2013East Rockaway Inlet to Zachs Bay, NY
H12607
Post-Hurricane Sandy Survey
2015Approaches to Breton Sound, LA
H12733, H12734, H12735, H12736
Surveyed 3,500 LNM in a 117 SQNM survey area.
2016Approaches to Atchafalaya Bay, LA
H12905, H12906, H12907, H12908
Surveyed 4,000 LNM in a 130 SQNM survey area. The survey showed both shoal migration and deepening trends since the 1930s.
2017Louisiana Coast (vicinity of Tiger Shoal)
H13040, H13041, H13042, H13043
Surveyed 6,500 LNM in a 200 SQNM survey area. The survey showed significant migration of Tiger Shoal since the 1930s.
2018Louisiana Coast (vicinity of Trinity Shoal)
H13100, H13101, H13102, H13103, H13200
Surveyed 10,700 LNM in a 300 SQNM survey area. The survey showed significant migration of Trinity Shoal since the 1930s.
2019Texas Coast (Corpus Christi)
F00767, H13222, H13223, H13224, H13225, H13226,
Surveyed 6,842.9 LNM in a 308 SQNM survey area.
2019Approaches to Louisiana Coast
H13312, H13313, H13314, H13315, H13316, H13317, H13318, H13319,
Surveyed 7,988.8 LNM in a 383.5 SQNM survey area.

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