Reducing the risk of marine accidents by providing navigation services has been a fundamental federal responsibility since President Thomas Jefferson created the Survey of the Coast in 1807. NOAA's navigation tools (nautical charts, hydrographic surveys, shoreline maps, positioning capabilities, marine weather forecasts and real-time water level data) help to eliminate the guesswork in navigation and support a safe and profitable U.S. Marine Transportation System. Since its birth as a nation, the Unites States has always depended on marine transportation to move goods, services and people. Today, access to the MTS is still essential to both economic and national security. The economy (the foundation of national security) depends upon the unimpeded flow of commerce into and out of our ports, particularly as 95 percent of U.S. foreign trade enters and leaves by ship. The U.S. military also relies on the MTS for national defense and deployment missions.
When compared to other transportation modes, marine transportation remains the cheapest, most efficient and environmentally sound means of moving cargo and people. Millions of American consumers benefit from the reliable delivery of low-cost goods that pass through the MTS from all over the world each and every day. Oil for gasoline and home heating, coal, natural gas, food, clothing, electronics; most goods purchased by the American public travel on the MTS before reaching local store shelves. We also rely on safe marine transportation to enjoy recreational opportunities and to protect the marine environment.
Maritime commerce and U.S. economic competitiveness depend on safe and efficient navigation. Half of all cargo transiting U.S. waters is hazardous, and about 3,500 commercial shipping accidents occur each year. Furthermore, about 6,500 recreational boating accidents are reported annually. As waterway usage and congestion grow, and the U.S. economy grows increasingly dependent on the global economy, the MTS needs tools to manage capacity and remain competitive. NOAA's accurate and timely navigation information translates into cost savings that result in more efficient ship routing and transit timing, along with safer entry to and exit from ports. NOAA also contributes to an environmentally friendly MTS by assisting ports with development plans and by carrying out spill preparedness and response. Commercial shipping, commercial fishing, recreational boating, tourism, national defense, coastal management—these user communities and many others rely on NOAA's navigation services.
NOAA's Primary Navigation Tools
Electronic Navigational Charts: The Next-generation Nautical Chart
Hydrographic Surveying
Positioning GPS, the satellite-based Global Positioning System that became a household word with Operation Desert Storm, revolutionized how we think about locating ourselves on Earth. NOAA immediately saw the opportunities for improving and integrating its marine navigation products with the new positioning accuracies provided by GPS. NOAA Ocean Service's National Geodetic Survey manages the National Spatial Reference System, which provides a consistent framework for identifying real-time GPS coordinates—latitude, longitude and height—of any point on Earth. GPS can tell a mariner the horizontal and vertical position of the ship's bow and stern to centimeter accuracy, thereby allowing safer navigation and docking.
Shoreline Mapping
PORTS®
HAZMAT Response and Risk Assessment
Environmental Stewardship
A Safer Marine Transportation System
Relevant Web Sites
Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services
Office of Response and Restoration
Media Contact:
March 5, 2002 — Have you ever wondered how a ship safely gets from Port A to Port B without hitting anything? Consider that ships today are immense vessels—some drawing up to 60 feet of water (the equivalent of a five story building plunging toward the ocean floor)—operating in all weather and visibility conditions. Mariners must avoid each other and submerged obstructions, like rocks or wrecks, which can cause catastrophic accidents if hit. Without adequate information, navigating the nation's waterways is like maneuvering through unmapped minefields; a mariner can only guess at what lies beneath and hope for the best.
Safe navigation is a challenge on a clear day. Just imagine the added difficulty of navigating at night, in storms, or on foggy, low-visibility days. Mariners require up-to-date water depths and shoreline information, as well as information on light and buoy aid locations. They also need to know traffic separation schemes and where caution is necessary in order to avoid other ships and hidden obstructions in the water (such as wrecks, rocks, bridges, cables, or pipelines). About 75 percent of all commercial vessel accidents are attributed to human error, which indicates how important it is to put up-to-date safety information in the hands of mariners to improve situational awareness. NOAA's advanced navigation information tools seek to reduce human error by providing more accurate real-time data and supporting automated advanced warning systems.
The Office of Coast Survey, part of NOAA Ocean Service, produces nautical charts and products for MTS users. Much like a road map, nautical charts portray the basic elements necessary to navigate in the marine environment. Traditionally paper, more recently raster (a digital picture of the paper chart), NOAA's nautical charts have now evolved into a third format—the Electronic Navigational Chart. The ENC is a "smart chart" that gives the user much more information than the paper chart can, and with much greater accuracy. ENCs are a database of vector chart features and hydrographic data used by an electronic navigation system to draw a display that resembles a nautical chart, but has greatly enhanced functionality as an advanced warning system. The NOAA ENC can be integrated with Global Positioning System satellite data and other sensor information (such as radar, water levels, winds and weather) to enhance situational awareness and help to make informed, safe decisions in all weather conditions. Available on the Internet, NOAA ENCs are designed to meet the increasingly sophisticated technological demands of mariners.
The Office of Coast Survey, with NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, also performs hydrographic surveys of U.S. coastal and territorial waters. Multi-beam and side-scan sonar systems precisely determine water depths and submerged dangers to navigation. This data is the backbone of the ENC. NOAA locates obstructions (such as wrecks, rocks, seabed changes due to earthquakes and storms, and other features) to update nautical charts and warn the mariner of dangers.
Responsible for the official National Shoreline, the National Geodetic Survey uses GPS and remote sensing techniques to map the coast for nautical products and ENCs. America's 95,000 miles of coastline are subject to natural and man-made processes that continually alter its shape and character. Accurate, consistent, and up-to-date shoreline mapping improves navigation safety and provides critical baseline data for many other uses (including coastal management).
The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, also under NOAA Ocean Service, has developed a real-time decision support tool for mariners and port authorities to increase the capacity of ports and the mobility of the ships navigating these port areas. The Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System®, or PORTS®, allows the maritime user community to access water levels and oceanographic and meteorological data in order to monitor the ship's underkeel clearance as it enters or leaves port. This data also helps mariners make better use of existing channel depths, which reduces the need for safety margin dredging. Confirmation of exact water depth can allow a ship to load hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of extra cargo or to better time arrival or departure to avoid waiting for the next tide. Just one inch of additional draft can yield increased revenues of up to $50,000. Knowing real-time water levels also improves the efficiency of port operations, while reducing the risks of groundings and bridge collisions. Because it can take hours to load a ship or transit a bay, mariners also need to know what the water levels and oceanographic conditions will be as much as 24 hours in advance in order to plan arrival for the most favorable circumstances and maximize cargo loads. To support this user need, NOAA has integrated its weather data with PORTS® and water level measurements to develop 24-hour hydrodynamic nowcast/forecast models. Ships coming into port can use these models to time arrivals for the best underkeel clearance situation and more efficient scheduling to enter or leave a depth-limited port. This will reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
When accidents do occur on our waterways, NOAA Ocean Service's Office of Response and Restoration stands ready to provide scientific support to emergency responders. NOAA's skilled Hazardous Materials and Response scientists respond to dozens of spills of oil and other hazardous materials each year. They also help emergency planners prepare for potential accidents by developing and sharing software, databases and other tools on hazardous material response. NOAA's trajectory forecasts, atmospheric dispersion models, and chemical threat analyses allow emergency responders to make timely operational decisions. By working with ports to evaluate their development plans, NOAA can help to pinpoint likely areas of risk and help establish disaster-resistant ports.
As a trustee and steward of the nation's marine environment, NOAA is keenly aware of the daily threats to U.S. coastal resources. NOAA's navigation services provide a cost-effective way to significantly reduce risks to life and property, enhance the efficiency and capacity of U.S. ports, and protect our coastal resources at the same time. High accuracy nautical charts, maps of the nation's shoreline, positioning data and real time water level and current data—all critical components of the MTS—can also benefit surveyors, managers, planners, engineers and scientists working in the coastal zone.
While marine navigation will always be hazardous, NOAA's data helps mariners reduce the risk of accidents and spills. NOAA's integrated navigation services enhance safety, situational awareness, natural resource management and pollution prevention, and the efficiency and competitiveness of U.S. ports.
National Ocean Service
Stephanie Balian, NOAA's National Ocean Service, (301) 713-3066