ATTENTION SHIP"S NAVIGATORS AND BRIDGE TEAM MEMBERS IF YOU HAVE A NORTH WEST PASSAGE VOYAGE TO PLAN FOR THIS SEASON KEEP THIS IN MIND
 |
| NARWHALS A HIGH ARCTIC SEA MAMMAL SPECIES |
NOAA's Coast Survey Plans New Arctic Charts
NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has issued an updated Arctic Nautical Charting Plan, as a major effort to improve what it calls the inadequate chart coverage for Arctic areas experiencing increasing vessel traffic due to ice diminishment.
The update came after consultations with maritime interests and the public, as well as with other federal, state, and local agencies.
"As multi-year sea ice continues to disappear, vessel traffic in the Arctic is on the rise," said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, NOAA Coast Survey director. "This is leading to new maritime concerns about adequate charts, especially in areas increasingly transited by the offshore oil and gas industry and cruise liners.
"Given the lack of emergency response infrastructure in remote Arctic waters, nautical charts are even more important to protect lives and fragile coastal areas," Glang said.
Commercial vessels depend on NOAA to provide charts and publications with the latest depth information, aids to navigation, accurate shorelines, and other features required for safe navigation in U.S. waters. But many regions of Alaska's coastal areas have never had full bottom bathymetric surveys, and some haven't had more than superficial depth measurements since Captain Cook explored the northern regions in the late 1700s.
No comments:
Post a Comment