Public tours NOAA ships on Saturday 'Painting' the bay </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 9:44 PM on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Public tours NOAA ships on Saturday 'Painting' the bay

PHOTOS AND TEXT BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

At an open house Saturday afternoon, crews of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ships Fairweather and Rainier led tours at the Deep Water Dock. This summer, for a project called "Hydropalooza," the two 231-foot vessels have been the base for shoreline and ocean bottom mapping of Kachemak Bay.

Photo by Michael Armstrong

The NOAA ship Rainier, left, is docked next to the Fairweather, right.

Using multibeam echosounders mounted on the bottom of launches, NOAA scientists have been running transects to more precisely map the hydrography of the bay. The echosounders shoot focused sound beams at the bottom and measure features by how the beams are reflected back up. Launches "paint" the bottom, passing back and forth like a lawn mower cutting grass.

In the mapping room, Cmdr. Douglas Baird showed a new feature found this summer north of Eldred Passage: 165-foot high underwater hill in 460 feet of water.

"In the world of hydrography, we are the rock stars," said Ian Colvert, a survey technician on the Rainier.

NOAA will work through the end of the summer. Homeported in Ketchikan, the Fairweather will do more work later on in Prince William Sound and Icy Bay. NOAA will continue its research in Kachemak Bay next summer.

In the photo at right, Fairweather Cmdr. Douglas Baird points to a GPS antenna. At far right the Rainier's bow is to the left of the Fairweather.

From left to right, below, a launch ties up at the Fairweather; the new underwater feature; Mayor James Hornaday looks at a hydrographic map, and far right, a launch in its cradle.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.