NOAA SHIPS HELP KEEP PORTS OPEN FOLLOWING HURRICANE ISABEL

Oct. 6, 2003 — NOAA ships went into action following Hurricane Isabel to survey vital waterways in Baltimore, Md., Hampton Roads, Va., and North Carolina to ensure the safety of transiting mariners. The emergency surveys for submerged hazards were performed at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A variety of NOAA survey assets were pre-positioned so they could be quickly activated to provide critical side scan sonar survey data in the wake of the hurricane. (NOAA image of launch from the NOAA Ship RUDE using its side scan sonar. Please credit "NOAA.")

The NOAA navigation response team arrived in Elizabeth City on Sept. 20 after a difficult trip through Edenton, N.C., which was heavily damaged. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked the NOAA team to provide a survey of a remote stretch of the Intercoastal Waterway from the Virginia border to the North River where it opens to Albermarle Sound. This waterway is vital to the tug and barge industry for moving petroleum and bulk cargo. The NOAA team reported that the section from Coinjack, N.C., to the Virginia-North Carolina border was surveyed and found no significant shoaling (areas that become shallow) due to the storm.

The NOAA Survey Vessel BAY HYDROGRAPHER and the NOAA Ship RUDE surveyed near Baltimore, Md. The Ft. McHenry Channel, Baltimore Inner Harbor and some smaller channels were restricted to 40-foot draft vessels until obstruction surveys were completed. The survey did locate a significant obstruction—not associated with the Hurricane—and a local notice to mariners was issued on Sept. 30. (Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA Survey Vessel BAY HYDROGRAHER. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The NOAA Ship RUDE, which evaded the storm in New York City, returned to survey the northeast sea lane for the Hampton Roads, Va., area using its high-resolution side-scan sonar. In addition, RUDE also surveyed the York Spit and Rappahannock channels in the southern Chesapeake Bay, which are vital links to large ships transiting to ports in the upper Chesapeake Bay and the regions only oil refinery.

Jim Dixon, the NOAA regional navigation manager for the mid-Atlantic, with personnel from the Atlantic Hydrographic Branch and Marine Operations Center in Norfolk, Va., quickly did an obstruction survey of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, including the Portsmouth Marine Container Terminal. These surveys provided information for the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port to open the Port of Hampton Roads on a limited basis. The survey work made it possible for an unconditional opening later in the week. NOAA also performed an obstruction survey for the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command Facility, which is home to numerous Coast Guard vessels. (Click NOAA image for larger view of side scan sonar paths of NOAA Survey Vessel BAY HYDROGRAPHER—blue lines—and NOAA Ship RUDE—red lines. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Many NOAA employees from the NOAA Office of Coast Survey and NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations tended the survey vessels during Hurricane Isabel and did not check on their own homes before beginning survey operations. NOAA Navigation Services Division Chief, CDR Steve Barnum, said, "Their undaunted efforts made it possible to quickly re-open ports and move maritime commerce, Navy, cruise ships, towboats and commercial fishing vessels safely. Howard Danley, deputy chief of the NOAA Navigation Services Division, who coordinated communications for this effort from an undamaged, remote site, said, "The plan for continuity of operations was tested and it worked." (Click NOAA 3-D image for larger view of a pipe obstruction discovered by the side scan sonar of the NOAA Survey Vessel BAY HYDROGRAPHER in a channel off the Ft. McHenry Channel in the Patapsco River near Baltimore, Md., during its mission Sept. 22, 2003. Please credit “NOAA.”)

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Office of Coast Survey

NOAA Coast Survey Hydrographic Surveys

NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations

Media Contact:
Jeanne Kouhestani, NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations, (301) 713-3431 ext. 220