256 • Marine Minerals: Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier 



are typically processed in 3 weeks or less, provided 

 no major system problems are encountered. Two 

 mapping systems developed by the General Instru- 

 ment Corp. are the Sea Beam system and the 

 Bathymetric Swath Survey System (BS^) used 

 aboard ships of the NOAA fleet. A more modern 

 version of BS^ called Hydrochart II is now avail- 

 able from General Instrument. Japan has deployed 

 the first system. NOAA intends to use Hydrochart 

 II or its equivalent on the U.S. east coast and to 

 upgrade BS^ to the same system. Swath data are 

 now classified (see the last section in this chapter). 



NOAA has operated multi-beam survey ships 

 since the mid to late 1970s. The EEZ swath map- 

 ping program began in 1984 and covered about 150 

 square nautical miles. During 1985, about 1 !^ ship- 

 years were logged covering about 6,400 square nau- 

 tical miles. In 1986, approximately 2 ship-years 

 completed another 14,000 square miles. By the end 

 of 1986, NOS had 3 ships in operation acquiring 

 swath data, and about 1 percent of the total U.S. 

 EEZ had been mapped. NOS staff estimate that 

 it wiU talce about 143 ship-years to survey the en- 

 tire EEZ and that about 150,000 reels of magnetic 

 tape will be required to store the entire set of origi- 

 nal data. To date, about 6,000 magnetic tape reels 

 of swath data have been recorded and stored. The 

 storage problem is significant though not insur- 

 mountable. NOS is currently evaluating the pos- 

 sibility of using optical disk technology for long- 

 term storage of EEZ bathymetric data. NOAA in- 

 tends to archive all original data as a source data- 

 base for use by other researchers. NOS will proc- 

 ess the data into two gridded data sets: 



1 . Metric data in the UTM (Universal Trans- 

 verse Mercator) projection to construct bathy- 

 metric maps, and 



2. English (feet or fathom) data in the Merca- 

 tor projection to construct nautical charts. 



Both gridded data sets will be processed into digital 

 graphics for use in electronic chart systems and the 

 construction of map and chart hard copy graphics. 



In conjunction with the swath data, other ancil- 

 lary data are collected by ships. These data include 

 3.5 and 12 kilohertz underway bottom-profiling sys- 

 tems and surface weather observations.^^ 



Since 1980, the budgets for mapping, charting, 

 and geodesy programs in NOAA have shrunk 10 

 to 20 percent (unadjusted dollars). Ship support 

 funds also have been reduced over this period. Cur- 

 rently, EEZ multi-beam efforts represent about 10 

 percent of the NOAA surveying and mapping activ- 

 ities. Bathymetric surveys are not a line item in the 

 NOAA budget; the level of effort increases at the 

 expense of traditional mapping and charting activ- 

 ities.^^ NOAA is increasing multi-beam survey ef- 

 forts in 1987 to 418 sea-days at a cost of about $6.1 

 million. ^* ^^ Eventually, NOAA plans to apply sim- 

 ilar technologies within nearshore regions using ex- 

 perience gained with the offshore systems. 



"More detail on the NOS bathymetric mapping program may be 

 found in the report of the December 1984 EEZ Bathymetric and Geo- 

 physical Survey Workshop, NOAA, March 1985. 



"Three ships formerly assigned to charting now do multi-beam 

 surveys. 



"Estimated from cost of ship-days in 1984-86. 



^^Appropriated $1.1 million for an additional multi-beam system. 



OTHER DATA COLLECTION PROGRAMS 



The National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration 



In addition to the extensive program of bathy- 

 metric mapping using multi-beam systems (de- 

 scribed above), NOAA collects 

 J^^^^^^^^ ^nd synthesizes biological, 

 ' ^iiUUw^i chemical, and physical charac- 

 teristics of the ocean environment. 

 Through NESDIS, NOAA con- 

 .^^^^^^ trols the major data centers for 

 ""^^S??^ EEZ data (NGDC and NODC). 



The National Ocean Service 



General Physical Oceanography Programs. — 

 NOS is the major NOAA group systematically col- 

 lecting physical and geological data from the EEZ. 

 In addition to the relatively recent swath mapping 

 program, NOS collects and maintains tidal data 

 along the U.S. coastline. NOS has funded the de- 

 velopment of a state-of-the-art database manage- 

 ment system for much of these data as part of its 

 "next-generation water level measurement sys- 

 tem." Insufficient funds have been provided to put 



