plans hydrographic operations in Alaska, California, Florida, 

 Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North and 

 South Carolina, the Virgin Islands, and Washington. Wire-drag 

 surveys will continue in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast Alaska, and 

 around major east coast ports. 



During 1972, 9,700 lineal miles of panchromatic, infrared, and 

 color aerial-mapping photography were flown by NOAA aircraft. A 

 total of 217 charts and basic map drawings were corrected using the 

 photographs, which aided compilation of topography for small-craft 

 charts as well as location and verification of 502 navigation aids and 

 538 landmarks. 



At year's end, the Southeastern Coastal Plains Expedition 

 (SCOPE) was begun by the National Ocean Survey. SCOPE is a 

 concentrated two-year environmental study of a 105,000-square- 

 mile area of coastal waters extending from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to 

 the vicinity of Cape Kennedy, Florida, and out to sea as much as 300 

 miles. The water depths being surveyed range from the surf zone 

 area to 16,000 feet. The study, which combines the resources of 

 NOAA and academic, regional, and State organizations, is designed 

 to provide coastal zone planners with data which should assist in 

 predicting the consequences of both nature's and man's activities in 

 these areas. SCOPE will involve aerial photography of the coast- 

 line, surveys of the seabottom topography, charting of coastal 

 waters, tidal current and range surveys, and studies of the sea's 

 physical properties, such as salt content and temperature of the 

 water, and delineation of the Gulf Stream. 



Work continues to automate the nautical charting operations of 

 NOAA. Completion of the automation program is projected for the 

 late 1970's, when it is expected that all nautical chart production will 

 be automated, cutting the time from completion of data acquisition to 

 nautical chart dissemination from two years to six months. 



As an aid to storm evacuation, NOAA has begun a series of maps 

 showing potential inundation levels along the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts where hurricanes may cause flooding. Maps for Galveston 

 and Corpus Christi, Texas, were completed in 1972. Areas to be 

 completed in 1973 include Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, 

 Georgia, and Norfolk, Virginia. 



Geophysical surveys, which describe gravity, geomagnetic, and 

 some geological properties of the ocean bottom and substructure, 

 continued last year in the Departments of Defense, Interior, and 

 Commerce. However, 1972 was the last year of NOAA's marine 

 geophysics program. 



Related data collection activities of Navy ships produced 55,000 

 miles of seismic profile data, 13,000 miles of gravity data, and 

 342,000 miles of magnetic data. Another 125,000 miles of magnetic 

 data were collected by the new Project MAGNET aircraft using 

 airborne geomagnetic survey equipment. Most of the geophysical 

 data, in addition to its military use, was submitted to NOAA's 



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