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NOAA SHIP WHITING TO JOIN EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 990 SEARCH

NOAA Ship WhitingNovember 1, 1999 — The NOAA Ship Whiting was requested by the U.S. Coast Guard to join the search efforts for EgyptAir Flight 990 off Nantucket Island.

The Whiting will replenish its supplies of food and water and will refuel in Newport, Rhode Island, before joining the other search vessels on Tuesday. The NOAA ship will use its side-scan sonar to try to locate the downed aircraft.

 

The NOAA ship is a hydrographic vessel that uses sophisticated scanning technology to chart and map the ocean floor. Its home port is NOAA's Atlantic Marine Center in Norfolk, Va. Rear Admiral Nicholas Prahl is the director of both the Atlantic and Pacific Marine Centers.

Deploying side-scan sonarBackground Information

SIDE SCAN SONAR

DYNAMICALLY FOCUSED MULTI-BEAM SIDE SCAN SONAR

NOAA'S OFFICE OF COAST SURVEY — The nation's official chartmaker.

NOAA LOCATES WRECKAGE ON OCEAN FLOOR AFTER TWA FLIGHT 800 DISASTER

Office of NOAA Corps
Rear Admiral Evelyn FieldsSince NOAA’s beginning, a large percentage of its oceanographic, atmospheric, hydrographic, fisheries and coastal data has been collected on NOAA ships and aircraft. This fleet of platforms is managed and operated by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, an office made up of civilians and officers of the NOAA Commissioned Corps (a uniformed service of the United States). In addition to research and monitoring activities critical to NOAA’s mission, NOAANOAA Corp Seal ships and aircraft provide immediate response capabilities for unpredictable events, such as recovery and search efforts after the TWA Flight 800 crash, damage assessment after major oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez, Persian Gulf War and New Carissa, and several major hurricanes during the 1998 season.

Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields is the director of the NOAA Corps.

Contact Information

Media should contact Greg Hernandez, NOAA public affairs, in Washington, DC, at (202) 482-3091 or the main number at (202) 482-6090. Media can also contact the U.S. Coast Guard public affairs command center in Newport, Rhode Island, at (401) 841-9541, -9542, or -9580.