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NOAA COMPLETES ITS MISSION IN EGYPTAIR 990 INVESTIGATION
November
16, 1999 The NOAA
Ship Whiting, marine
weather forecasters and oil
spill and fisheries experts
have completed their role in the investigation of EgyptAir 990.
The Whiting, a hydrographic survey vessel which maps
the ocean floor, left the Newport, Rhode Island, naval base
last Thursday. It is now at its home port at NOAA's
Atlantic Marine Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
The remaining NOAA personnel
disengaged from the mission on Monday. NOAA will continue to
make its marine forecasts available to the National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Navy from its headquarters in
Camp Springs, Maryland.
The NTSB and the U.S. Navy
commended NOAA personnel for playing a vital role in finding
the debris area. NOAA HazMat personnel were instrumental in identifying
the origin of oil
slicks in the recovery area.
NOAA personnel who assisted
in this effort represented the NOAA
Commissioned Corps, Office
of Marine and Aviation Operations, National
Weather Service, National
Ocean Service, and National
Marine Fisheries Service.
Previous Missions
The NOAA Ship Whiting also took part in the recovery operations
for JFK, Jr. last July off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. Its
sister ship, NOAA Ship
Rude, identified the location of the downed aircraft. The
NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations also took part
in the recovery operations of TWA 800 in July 1996.
See real-time
ocean information from a buoy near the crash site off the
coast of Nantucket Island. This information comes from NOAA's
National Data Buoy Center. Offshore waters forecasts (graphics
and text)
are also being provided in text format by NOAA's
Marine Prediction Center.
Background Information
NOAA'S
MARINE PREDICTION CENTER SPECIAL EGYPTAIR 990 WEATHER INFORMATION
NOAA
SHIP WHITING
NOAA SHIPS
TAKE PART IN JFK, JR. PLANE SEARCH
SIDE
SCAN SONAR
NATIONAL
TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD (NTSB)
U.S. NAVY OPERATIONS
DYNAMICALLY FOCUSED MULTI-BEAM SIDE SCAN
SONAR
NOAA'S
OFFICE OF COAST SURVEY
The nation's official chartmaker.
NOAA
LOCATES WRECKAGE ON OCEAN FLOOR AFTER TWA FLIGHT 800 DISASTER
NOTE: A NAUTICAL MILE = 1.15 MILES ; e.g. 13.6 knots =
13.6 x 1.15 = 15.64 miles per hour
NOAA Office of Marine
and Aviation Operations
Since
NOAAs beginning, a large percentage of its oceanographic,
atmospheric, hydrographic, fisheries and coastal data has been
collected on NOAA
ships and aircraft. This fleet of platforms is managed and
operated by the Office of
Marine and Aviation Operations (formerly Office of NOAA Corps
Operations), an office made up of civilians and officers of the
NOAA Commissioned
Corps (a uniformed service of the United States). In addition
to research and monitoring activities critical to NOAAs
mission, NOAA ships
and aircraft provide immediate response capabilities for unpredictable
events, such as recovery and search efforts after the TWA Flight
800 crash, damage assessment after major oil spills such as the
Exxon Valdez, Persian Gulf War and New Carissa, and several major
hurricanes during the 1998 season.
Rear Admiral Evelyn
Fields is the director of the NOAA Corps.
Contact Information
Media should contact Greg
Hernandez, NOAA public affairs, in Washington, DC, at (202)
482-3091 or the main number at (202) 482-6090.
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