The NOAA Navigation Response Team

gjohnston7
Dec 10, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Feb 24

By Glenn T. Johnston

In the wake of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the closing of the maritime Port of Baltimore, several NOAA programs deployed to Baltimore. These teams helped establish auxiliary navigation channels and restore limited vessel traffic along the Patapsco River. The auxiliary channels would serve as alternate routes for shallow-draft vessels to pass around the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Five people stand on a dock next to a NOAA survey boat, with a marina in the background. The sky is clear and sunny. — From left to right, Michael Bloom (Physical Science Technician, Navigation Response Team – New London), LT Patrick Debroisse (Ops Officer, NOAA Ship Ferdinand R. Hassler), Rob Mowery (Physical Science Technician, R/V Bay Hydro II), LTJG Carly Robbins (OIC, R/V Bay Hydro II), LTJG Mark Meadows (OIC, Navigation Response Team – New London). Not pictured, but also on scene for the response: LCDR (ret) Ryan Wartick (NOAA Mid-Atlantic Navigation Manager) (Credit: RDML Benjamin K. Evans/NOAA)

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey deployed six personnel to the scene. They included the mid-Atlantic navigation manager and a combined team from the NOAA navigation response team–New London, NOAA R/V BAY HYDROGRAPHER II, and NOAA ship FERDINAND HASSLER. On March 31, the team completed high-priority survey operations on the channel’s north side using multibeam and side-scanning sonar. Those surveying tasks allowed the team to determine water depths, detect obstructions along the river’s bottom, and establish available widths between the remaining bridge abutments. These data were paired with additional vessel-based lidar data to provide the distance between the water and non-collapsed sections of the bridge.

A gray research boat speeds through ocean waves, creating white spray. A forested coastline is visible in the background under a cloudy sky. — R/V BAY HYDROGRAPHER II (S5401), sometimes rendered as R/V Bay HYDRO II, is an American oceanographic research vessel in non-commissioned service in the fleet of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 2009. She is registered as NOAA S5401. (Courtesy of NOAA)

Once all obstructions were cleared from the channel, the Office of Coast Survey’s Hydrographic Surveys Division quickly reviewed and qualified the final surveys of each channel and uploaded them into the National Bathymetric Source program for rapid update of the electronic navigational charts.

Colorful data points on a black graph create a mountain-like shape with a spectrum gradient. Axes display numbers and symbols. — An NOAA graphic showing an obstruction found in the Fort Carroll Alternate Channel, developed with a multibeam echosounder. (Courtesy of NOAA)