From NOAA
Every year, the international hydrographic community celebrates World Hydrography Day on June 21.
The 2014 theme, established by the International Hydrographic Organization, is “Hydrography ‒ More Than Nautical Charts.”
To further the discussion, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey invited the public to contribute articles that illustrate the theme.
The articles in this collection, contributed by government and private experts, reflect the diversity of users of hydrography, with interests from marine ecology, archeology, energy and water resource management, and emergency response.
John Cloud tells how hydrography helped restore oyster beds in the late 1800s ‒ and how that early work may help to restore oyster beds in North Carolina today. George Cole reports on using LiDAR hydrography to develop minimum flow standards for Florida water management districts.
James Delgado and Vitad Pradith describe how hydrography helped NOAA positively identify the 1860 wreck of the U.S. Coast Survey steamer Robert J. Walker, and brought long-delayed honor to the 21 lost crew members.
Paul Donaldson recounts the contributions of hydrographic operations to local economies after hurricanes.
John Hersey and Paul Cooper discuss the emergence of crowdsourced bathymetry as a next-generation hydrographic tool.
Joyce Miller explains how a continuing collaboration is using hydrography to conserve coral reefs in the Pacific.
Alison Pettafor provides two articles: one describes how bathymetry data can determine damage to underwater pipelines, and the other shows the use of hydrography to monitor and detect problems with wind turbine seafloor foundations.
Aurel Piantanida provides an overview of the use of hydrography in speeding the resumption of commerce at ports hit by hurricanes.
Finally, Kevin Tomanka winds up the collection with a provocative question: are you a hydrographer?
You might be surprised at some of the answers.