Hydrographic Surveying for NOAA Contracts
Over five years, Woolpert completed nine charting task orders under its current contract with NOAA/OCS. Each survey consisted of multiple detailed project phases, including pre-project planning, field acquisition, data processing, and final reporting. Each project included a detailed analysis of Tidal Zoning models established by NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. After applying preliminary tidal zoning models, Woolpert made recommendations for making changes to the zoning as necessary. Woolpert has a history of performing hydrographic surveying in complex tidal zones. Establishing and maintaining tidal control throughout a hydrographic survey project was critical to the success of the final product.
Each task orders employed a variety of sensors, including inertially aided positioning systems, MBES echosounders, sidescan sonars, physical bottom sampling equipment, and sound velocity measuring equipment. Woolpert employed crews who had versatile skill sets and could easily operate multiple sensors on multiple vessels for extended periods of time. During the field acquisition portion of the projects, Woolpert routinely staffed multiple vessels simultaneously, adding a force multiplier to data collection efforts with each vessel. The Woolpert team mobilized a shore-side field office for each project to process the hydrographic data collected on each vessel the previous day. By processing the data through the detailed processing pipeline, complete with daily QA/QC checks, the processing staff could verify that NOAA charting specifications have been met. Collaboration between the field and office entities eliminated any data deficiencies immediately and maintained an extremely high level of data quality, which routinely exceeded specifications.
