212 



in the less stable areas which comprise the 

 remaining 20 per cent. Such a program would 

 require a capability equivalent to 16 medium- 

 sized survey vessels, a capability substan- 

 tially in excess of ESSA's present hydro- 

 gi-aphic survey fleet. The processing, com- 

 pilation, and reproduction functions would 

 have to be correspondingly augmented, since 

 existing shore facilities cannot process all 

 data even at the present rate of acquisition. 

 Although nautical charting has been con- 

 ducted in U.S. coastal waters for more than 

 100 years, there still remain many areas which 

 have not been surv^eyed and very substantial 

 areas whicli have been surveyed to obsolete 

 standards. The existing chart survey capa- 

 bility for nautical charting is so limited that 

 contemporaiy survey projects must be con- 

 centrated largely on resui-veys of critical 

 areas which have undergone rapid manmade 

 and natural changes. 



The Commission recommends that the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Agency (ESSA) accelerate nautical chart- 

 ing activities in U.S. coastal waters to 

 ensure up-to-date charts of all areas of 

 moderate to heavy marine activity. The 

 civil nautical charting capability should be 

 expanded within 15 years to a level which 

 will sustain a basic resurvey cycle of 50 

 years with more frequent surveys in im- 

 portant areas of rapid change. The capa- 

 bility of the private sector should be 

 utilized whenever possible. 



Survey Technology 



A historic problem of mapping and chart- 

 ing organizations is that they offer a rela- 

 tively small and specialized market for 

 equipment and instrumentation. Much of 

 today's hydrographic surveying equipment 

 was developed within Federal organizations 

 because it was not available commercially. 



DATA COMPIITAHON PIOITER 



MUinCOlOR PRtSS nNISHED MtP 



Project Hystirch — a new system for improving 

 the speed and, accuracy of mapping activities, 

 relics on small sea- and aircraft, operating from 

 a mother ship, to generate survey data. 



This situation has improved since the entry 

 of scientific institutions and petroleum com- 

 panies into ocean operations; however, many 

 problems remain to be solved if survey qual- 

 ity is to be improved and cost reduced. A 

 few examples of needed items are: 



• Digital output echo sounders which com- 

 pensate for effects of sea and swell 



• Inexpensive telemetering or recording tide 

 gauges and magnetometers 



• Gravity meters which function properly 

 on small ships in high sea states 



• Seismic profiling hydrophone arrays ef- 

 fective at survey speeds of 15 knots or 

 more 



• Improved systems to acquire shallow cores 

 and dredge samples while imderway 



• Inexpensive inert ial navigation systems to 

 monitor position between satellite fixes and 



