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November 2003

  • NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) recently delivered a component of the VDatum model for the area of Puget Sound, Washington, to the Office of Coast Survey (OCS). This component, in conjuction with OCS tidal models, an NGS geoid model, and data quality control, completes the VDatum package for Puget Sound. VDatum enables users to convert GPS-based data into local tidal references, allows mixture of disparate data in GIS systems, and supports more efficient shoreline and hydrographic data collection. For more information, please contact the NGS Webmaster.
October 2003
September 2003
  • The National Geodetic Survey Photos Document Hurricane Destruction in North Carolina

    September 24: After Hurricane Isabel swept through the North Carolina coast last Friday, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) spent the weekend taking photos of the changed coastline.  Using an Applanix-Emerge Digital Sensor System camera mounted on the bottom of a NOAA Twin Otter aircraft, NGS took more than 600 detailed images of the North Carolina coast.  The digital images were available about two hours after the aircraft landed.  The camera will continue to be used for research and development in programs like coastal mapping. Please see http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s2091.htm for the full story or contact Mike Aslaksen for more information.


  • On September 1, Jim Ray from the National Geodetic Survey begins a one-year detail at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in Paris. Ray will look at improving the consistency between space geodetic observing techniques and products. This effort will help support things like monitoring global sea level rise at the mm/year level. For more information, please contact Jim Ray.

  • On September 10, the National Geodetic Survey will give a presentation on shoreline mapping with Synthetic Aperture Rader (SAR) at the 2003 SAR/Side Looking Airborne Radar Steering Committee Meeting.  Held in England, this meeting is a forum for exchanging information on the technology and development of radar sensors.  For more information, please contact Mike Aslaksen.

  • During the month of August, Stephen Goodell,  a senior cartographer from NOAA's National Geodetic Survey, joined the NOAA ship RAINIER as it wrapped up the 2003 Alaska season conducting hydographic surveying operations for uncharted territory at Kuiukta Bay, Alaska.  This past year, NGS provided timely and accurate shoreline data for the Kuiukta Bay region.  This information allowed hydrographers and survey technician s to conduct the shoreline verification process as well as collect bathymetry data to update the first edition (01/20/01) provisional Chart 16561.  For more information, please contact Stephen Goodell.

  • NGS joins with the Federal Aviation Administration to do an Airport Obstruction study employing Dual Sensor LIDAR technology.   Full Story
August 2003
  • On August 13, the National Geodetic Survey began a research and development project in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Working with contractors, NGS will use the Global Positioning System to determine positions and elevation of survey marks along 73 miles of Interstate Highway 70, from Golden to Vail Pass. NGS surveyed these marks last year using more conventional spirit leveling techniques. After the new data are collected, the elevations from the new project will be compared to those from last year's work. The analysis of the data will help NGS improve survey techniques in mountainous regions. For more information, please contact Joe.Evjen.


  • On August 15, the National Geodetic Survey started a new shoreline mapping project in northwestern Alaska. NGS's contractor will use photogrammetric and LIDAR technologies to map a portion of shoreline. The contractor will also compare the new aerial photography with historic aerial photography and prepare an Erosion Study covering changes in the location of the land-water interface. For more information, please contact George Leigh.
May 2003
  • NGS Surveys improve positioning in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands  Full Story
April 2003
  • On April 16, NOAA participated in a press conference about subsidence in Louisiana and Mississippi.  Full Story


  • On April 12, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) dedicated a survey marker that commemorates the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. This marker is the second in a series to be placed at sites along Lewis and Clark's route during the celebration. In addition to its commemorative value, the marker serves as a link to highly accurate positioning via the Global Positioning System. After the ceremony, a collaboration of NGS and the West Virginia Association of Land Surveyors gave a presentation on surveying and how it has evolved.

    For more details about the ceremony, please see http://www.nps.gov/hafe/home.htm.

    See a PDF of the NGS handout about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and a Photo of NGS Director Charlie Challstrom during the dedication ceremony.

    Watch a video clip [2nd story in the clip] about NGS's Lewis and Clark project provided by the National Ocean Service's Wavebreaking News web site.

March 2003
  • Listen to NPR's All Things Considered report on a project to re-survey the boundary between North and South Carolina. The states are undertaking the effort to ease confusion about the last survey, done in 1815.   All Things Considered audio


January 2003
    On January 14, NOAA joined the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in dedicating a survey marker that commemorates the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at Monticello. Set on the West Lawn in October by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey, the 12-inch diameter brass marker symbolizes the formation of the Corps of Discovery, part of Thomas Jefferson's Congressional act to chart the unexplored West. The marker is first in a series to be placed at sites along Lewis and Clark's route during the bicentennial celebration, ending at the site of the Expedition's westernmost base camp in Astoria, Oregon. In addition to its commemorative value, the marker serves as a link to highly accurate positioning via the Global Positioning System (GPS).

    More information about the event is available at http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/lewisandclark/index.html.

    More information on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the National Park Service is available at http://classic.mountainzone.com/nationalparks/lecl/#route.

News Archives
  2002 News Stories
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