What is Hydrography?

Surveying Puget Sound, 1927

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 What is Hydrography?
• International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
Definition:
‐ Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals
with the measurement and description of the physical
features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as
well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the
primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all
other marine activities, including economic development,
security and defense, scientific research, and environmental
protection. (14 September 2011, www.iho.int)

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Three Aspects
• Coastal Hydrography is concerned with the development of
ports and harbors, coastal erosion problems, the utilization of
harbor and coastal conservation services and, especially, the
safety of navigation in coastal waters.

• Off-shore Hydrography is concerned with

‐ The provision of hydrographic data as an extension of the coastal zone
normally encompassing the continental shelf
‐ The development of mineral deposits, including hydrocarbons
‐ Provision of data for fisheries management

• Oceanic Hydrography is concerned with the acquisition of

hydrographic data in the deep ocean areas for the depiction of
sea-floor geomorphology.
(USM and UNB Intro to Hydrography, GGE1001)

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

Why Hydrography is Important

71% of the Earth surface is covered with water, yet only

about 10% of the seafloor has been surveyed by echo
sounders at a resolution of 1 minute or better. –IHO, 2011

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

NOAA’s Charting Responsibility

3.4 Million Square Nautical Miles

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012
 Critical Areas and Priorities
• NOAA Maintains approximately
1,000 nautical charts encompassing
U.S. Territorial waters and the EEZ
‐ Nearly 50% of all soundings on
current charts were acquired utilizing
leadlines prior to 1940
• These areas are prioritized into
categories:
‐ Critical Areas;
‐ Emerging Critical Areas
‐ Resurvey Areas
Leadline Sounding Operations
‐ Priority Areas C&GS, 1928
» Divided into Priorities from 1 to 5
NOAA Hydrographic Survey Priorities, 2011

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Critical Areas and Priorities
• Prioritized by the following factors:
‐ Shipping Tonnage and Trends
‐ Vintage of Surveys in the Area (Year, Equipment, Process)
‐ Under-keel Clearance of Vessels
‐ Potential for Unknown Dangers to Navigation due to
dynamic bottom or human influence
‐ Requests for surveys from Pilot’s Associations, the U.S.
Coast Guard, and the Marine Community through NOAA’s
Regional Navigation Managers

NOAA Hydrographic Survey Priorities, 2011

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Critical Areas and Priorities
• Of the 43,000 SNM identified as Critical in 1994, only
14,980 SNM remains

• Nationally, 36,545 SNM of modern, Full Bottom

Coverage completed since 1994

• NOAA, through ships and contractors, survey

approximately 1,300 – 1,600 SNM per year with
existing resources and funding levels

NOAA Hydrographic Survey Priorities, 2011

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

Who is Responsible

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Why do we survey?
Bigger, Taller, Longer Ships
• Emma Mærsk
‐ Length: 1,302 ft
‐ Beam: 184 ft
‐ Draught: 51 ft

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Hydro & Homeland Security
• The Oceanographer of the Navy
requested NOAA to provide side
scan sonar imagery of shipping
channels and harbors to the Naval
Oceanographic Office (NAVO) Klein 5000
Side Scan Sonar
‐ NOAA collected data at 34 strategic
commercial ports
‐ NAVO collected data at 14 military
ports
‐ NAVO processes and stores data
• This data is used as a baseline for Detailed Side Scan
comparison Sonar Imagery

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Hydro & Homeland Security

• If a threat condition occurred, the Navy will use the

baseline data of pre-existing objects so they can search
for new objects, utilizing mine counter-measure assets
more effectively to determine if a mine has been
placed on the seafloor.

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Bottom Coverage by Survey Method
Leadline Single Beam Multi Beam

Pre - 1940 1940 - 1998 1998 - Present

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Shallow Water Multibeam
• Direct measurement
of Depth
• Multibeam sonar
systems are rigidly
attached to the
survey vessel
• Less swath width
than Side-Scan
Project: OPR-O190-RA-11

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Side-Scan Sonar
• Underwater Imagery
‐ Although depths can be
correlated, not a direct
measurement
• Used to look for features
‐ Features will be surveyed
with Multibeam
• Side-Scan “Towfish” are Side-Scan Image of USS Monitor

towed behind the survey

vessel
• Very wide coverage swath

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Hydro Types

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 NOAA Hydrographic Fleet

Rainier Thomas Jefferson

Norfolk, VA 1992
Newport, OR 1968

Navigation Response
Teams (NRT’s)
Six Teams, Nationwide

Fairweather R/V Bay Hydro II

Solomons, MD
Ketchikan, AK 1968 / 2004

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 Other Hydro-Capable NOAA Vessels

Nancy Foster Gloria Michelle Henry Bigelow

Ronald Brown Hi’ialaki Pisces

Okeanos Explorer Oscar Dyson Bell M. Shimada

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 NOAA’s Navigation Services:
Nautical Charting
• Nautical Charts
‐ 1,000 Paper Charts
‐ 998 Print-on-Demand
‐ 380 Electronic Navigation
Charts (ENCs)
• Coast Pilot
‐ Nine Volumes
encompassing U.S coastal
and intracoastal waters
• Notice to Mariners
‐ Provides Updates for all
charts and Coast Pilots

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 NOAA’s Navigation Services:
Navigation Response Teams (NRT’s)
• Small teams located
around the country
‐ NRT-1; Gulf of Mexico
‐ NRT-2; Southeast
‐ NRT-3; Northwest
‐ NRT-4; Great Lakes
‐ NRT-5; Northeast
‐ NRT-6; Southwest

• Highly mobile units

providing site surveys and
rapid disaster response
What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012
 Products for Safe Navigation

National Spatial
Reference System
Nautical Charts Real Time Tides and Currents

Hydrographic Surveys

Research and Development

Models and New Technologies

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012

 The End

What is Hydrography? – NOAA Hydro Training 2012