Performance and Progress Report - John Doe FIX: put in the authors ...

8745 line km of MBES and 3.5-kHz profiler lines and mapped a total area of 46,138 nm 2 .
Leg 2 of the survey was completed on August 24, 2005 and the ship transited back to
Honolulu, HI. The cruise mapped a total of 93,724 nm 2 in 42 days, with an average speed
of 10 kts.
In 2006 three more Law of the Sea cruises were scheduled: the continuation of our Arctic
work on the Chukchi Cap, a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico, and the beginning our work in
the western Pacific. Unfortunately a tragic diving accident on board the USCG HEALY
led to the ship’s return to Seattle and cancellation of the mission before the completion of
the 2006 field season leading to the cancellation of our 2006 Arctic Law of the Sea
cruise. This cruise has been rescheduled for the summer of 2007. Additionally,
equipment problems with the vessel scheduled to do the Gulf of Mexico work have led to
the postponement of that cruise to April 2007. We did, however, begin our work in the
Western Pacific with the mapping of the western slope of the West Mariana Ridge. The
survey work off the Marinas took place on the NAVO vessel USNS Bowditch, a 329-ft,
5000 ton vessel equipped with a hull-mounted Kongsberg Simrad EM121A multibeam
sonar, under the supervision of Dr. Jim Gardner. In addition to the multibeam sonar, the
Bowditch, also carried a Knudsen 3.5-kHz chirp sub-bottom profiler and a BGM-5 Bell
Gravity Meter. NAVOCEANO was responsible for system calibration, data collection
and quality control and overall cruise management. The overall responsibility of cruise
planning, both before and during the cruises, as well as processing MBES acoustic
backscatter and 3.5-kHz profiler data were the responsibilities of the UNH/NOAA
representative aboard ship. In the course of 30 days at sea, approximately 27,000 nm 2 of
MBES data were collected representing approximately have of the area to be mapped in
this region.
These cruises have not only provided data that will, unquestionably, add significant
territory to the juridical continental shelf should the U.S. choose to file a submission
under UNCLOS Article 76, but from a scientific perspective they have provided
tremendous new insights into the nature of continental margin processes. These data sets
will be an invaluable addition to our fundamental understanding of marine processes and
have already become the focus of several student theses. Details of all of these cruises
can be found at: http://www.ccom.unh.edu/unclos.htm
Electronic Chart of the Future:
In FY2003, we began our “Chart of the Future” an evolution of the Navigation Surface
concept that also takes advantage of our expertise in visualization. We are taking a twopronged
approach at trying to define the electronic chart of the future. One track is an
evolutionary approach to see how additional, non-standard layers (i.e. the navigation
surface bathymetric grid, real-time tide information, etc.) can be added to existing
electronic charts. This approach requires careful attention to present day standards and
the very restrictive constraints of today’s electronic charts. This work is being done in
conjunction with the standards committees (represented by Center faculty member Lee
Alexander) and the electronic chart manufacturers and is intended to provide short-term
solutions for the need to see updated electronic charts. In concert with this evolutionary
development we also have embarked on a revolutionary development with researchers in
JHC Performance Report 47 30 January 2007