News and Updates
By ENS Cullen Hauck
NOAA Ship Fairweather went farther north than ever before for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Port Access Route Study, a multi-year effort to establish new maritime traffic routes, safety zones, and use areas in the U.S. Arctic waters.
Since 1807, Coast Survey has endured to keep mariners safe and maritime commerce flowing, under the leadership of now 32 superintendents and directors. 2025 was Coast Survey’s last under Rear Admiral (lower half) Benjamin K. Evans, who was relieved as Director in early 2026 by Rear Admiral (lower half) Christiaan van Westendorp.
Coast Survey is excited for what’s to come under RDML van Westendorp’s leadership–the continued evolution of the National Bathymetric Source program, two new hydrographic ships built from the keel-up to incorporate uncrewed systems, more S-100 rollouts, and more–but wanted to first look back on everything the office accomplished in 2025 to build a strong foundation for a safer, more efficient marine economy.
Continue reading “Office of Coast Survey: 2025 Year in Review”
“Since 1807, Coast Survey has been keeping mariners safe and maritime commerce flowing. It’s an honor to be a small part of its history.” – Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
This January, NOAA staff, partners, and friends gathered to witness the change of command and assumption of the 32nd Director of the Office of Coast Survey.
NOAA Corps Rear Admiral (lower half) Chris van Westendorp accepted command of the Office of Coast Survey, relieving Rear Admiral (lower half) Benjamin K. Evans.
Continue reading “Coast Survey Change of Command: Welcoming Rear Admiral (lower half) van Westendorp, the 32nd Director of Coast Survey”
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a member of the NOAA Coast Survey team? We use the Coast Survey spotlight blog series as a way to periodically share the experiences of Coast Survey employees as they discuss their work, background, and advice.
“When you’re surveying, you get to watch the seafloor tell a story.”
Continue reading “Coast Survey Spotlight: Meet Michael Bloom, Navigation Response Team – New London”
NOAA Ship Rainier charts volatile, glacially active waters in Glacier Bay National Park
By ENS P. Giamportone and ENS N. Greenlaw
In August 2025, NOAA Ship Rainier pulled into Lituya (lih-TOO-yuh) Bay, an inlet tucked within the outer edge of Glacier Bay National Park. The name is of Tlingit origin, meaning “lake within the point,” and the Bay has long been a source of sustenance and shelter. The entrance is narrow and turbulent, and the glacial walls make it vulnerable to rockslides and their following waves.
Continue reading “The latest expedition in Lituya Bay: NOAA and National Park Service collaborate to update nautical charts”
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey just released major updates to the official navigational charts of the Yukon River—a vital waterway serving many interior communities of Alaska. The Yukon is frozen more than half the year, limiting the window for barges to deliver the fuel, building materials, heavy equipment, and other supplies that cannot be transported by air. NOAA has developed a new process for updating the Yukon charts with the most current shoreline information, which is expected to improve safety and efficiency of navigation on the river and make delivery of vital supplies more reliable.
Continue reading “Charting the Yukon River as it freezes and thaws”
Alaska’s Kuskokwim River is both unpredictable and essential. Shifting sandbars, variable tides, and seasonal ice dramatically reshape the waterway, requiring frequent updates to the navigational channel. It remains a lifeline for communities like Bethel, Alaska. NOAA’s Coast Pilot describes the waterway as a “maze of shifting sandbars…and blind channels” with navigation conditions that can change daily.
Currently, the U.S. Coast Guard maintains over 50 aids to navigation, or ATONs, along the river to guide vessels. Mariners use these ATONs to travel safely through the channels. The Coast Guard Cutter Aspen requested support from NOAA to provide updated bathymetric data to help them to validate and adjust ATONs–a mission critical function to ensure safe navigation for vessels traversing one of the state’s most dynamic and economically vital waterways.
Continue reading “Surveying the Kuskokwim River, Alaska’s Most Dynamic Waterway”
We are pleased to announce the availability of new seafloor mapping data to support energy infrastructure planning in the Long Island Sound!
This survey is the result of a Coast Survey partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) through NOAA’s Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund opportunity, a program that allows non-federal organizations to co-fund projects of mutual interest utilizing NOAA’s contracting and data management expertise. NOAA selected this project in the FY2024 round of the matching fund opportunity.
Continue reading “NOAA releases Long Island Sound survey data to support electric power cable planning”
During World War II, the 334-foot, 5,350-ton SS Coast Trader was hit by a torpedo and sank off the coast of Cape Flattery, Washington.
Resting almost 500 feet below the surface, the Coast Trader has an estimated 542 tons of heavy fuel oil remaining in the fuel tanks. The quantity onboard the Coast Trader is equivalent to 60% of the volume of fuel spilled into the Pacific Ocean near Grays Harbor by the barge Nestucca in 1988, which remains one of Washington’s largest and most damaging oil spills.
Continue reading “Coast Survey’s Operational Forecast System informs shipwreck oil spill scenarios”
The federal Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping recently released the sixth annual report on progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters. To safeguard our national security and economic prosperity, ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization is foundational to maritime commerce, domestic energy and seafood production, tourism and recreation, and understanding of our natural resources, among other interests. The 2020 National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (NOMEC) makes comprehensive ocean mapping a priority for the coming decade. The Unmapped U.S. Waters report tracks progress toward these important goals.
Continue reading “The Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping announces progress on mapping U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes waters”