News and Features

36th Joint Meeting United States and Japan Committee on Natural Resources Sea Bottom Surveys Panel
On January 20-22, NGDC Director Dr. Christopher Fox will be attending the 36th Joint Meeting United States and Japan Committee on Natural Resources Sea Bottom Surveys Panel at the Komaba Research Campus, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Other U.S. participants include Office of Coast Survey Director CAPT Steve Barnum (head of delegation), CAPT (ret) Andy Armstrong, and CAPT (USN) John Cousins, Commanding Officer U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office. The session will include various topics of mutual interest in seafloor mapping. Dr. Fox will present an update on NGDC activities over the past year and a special presentation on data management activities of the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Task Force. On January 23rd, Dr. Fox and CAPT Armstrong will visit the ECS team at the Japanese Coast Guard, who recently provided Japan's submission to the U.N. Committee on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
( or 303-497-6215)

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Initiates Geospatial One-Stop Harvest
NGDC completed publishing 12,281 National Ocean Service (NOS) hydrographic survey metadata with Geospatial One-Stop (GOS), which is an E-Government initiative, part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Training Program, and the metadata clearinghouse for the Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping program (IOCM). NGDC is the national archive and steward for NOS hydrographic survey data. This is an on-going partnership between NGDC and the NOS Hydrographic Survey Division.
Significance: One common method of data discovery is searching through data and metadata repositories. GOS is one of the E-Government initiatives of the Presidents Management Agenda, which seeks to provide data in a "one stop shop" and is a government, cross-agency initiative, with the primary objectives to provide access to many themes of geospatial data and web mapping services to portray that data. Under the IOCM, all government agencies collecting coastal and ocean data will coordinate efforts and publish metadata in GOS.
Outcome: This activity supports the general goal to improve our environmental and marine infrastructure and to develop a more robust Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
( or 303-497-6429)

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Develops New Tsunami Inundation Digital Elevation Model of Portland, Maine
NGDC has developed a high-resolution coastal digital elevation model (DEM) of Portland, Maine for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). This integrated bathymetric-topographic DEM is part of an on-going collaboration across NOAA to support the tsunami forecast and warning system being developed by PMEL for the Tsunami Warning Centers. The new DEM covers an area roughly 1 degree square centered on Portland, Maine, with a cell size of one-third arc-second (~10 m). It was compiled from the best available digital data obtained from U.S. federal, state and local agencies, and will increase the accuracy with which NOAA's tsunami modeling efforts will forecast inundation in the region.
Significance: Although infrequent, tsunami waves have caused considerable damage and loss of life in U.S. coastal areas. The NOAA/NGDC development of coastal digital elevation models is an integral part of NOAA's effort to forecast tsunamis and deliver accurate and timely warnings and to develop resilient communities. The DEMs and other tsunami data archived by NGDC provide information essential for coastal hazard assessment and research related to past hazardous events for monitoring and mitigating the socio-economic impact of coastal hazards.
Outcome: This activity supports the general goal to improve our environmental and marine infrastructure and to develop a more robust Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
( or 303-497-6767)