Marine Navigation

Our marine transportation system includes 500,000 square nautical miles of navigationally significant waters. Over 1.34 billion metric tons of cargo, valued at $1.73 trillion, shipped in and out of U.S. ports in foreign trade in 2011. Those ports support, directly and indirectly, more than 13 million American jobs. The connections between the system, coastal communities, and maritime industries is intuitive. Less recognized are the links between communities in our nation's heartland and the marine transportation system. NOAA tools — such as nautical charts, accurate positioning services, and ocean and weather observations — play a key role in ensuring that shipments move swiftly and safely along our marine highways.

Resources and Education

Resources for Recreational Boaters

NOAA offers a wide range of products to help make maritime transportation safe and fun for all users.

How Important is Our Ocean Economy?

The U.S. economy is very dependent on healthy coastal and ocean resources, for a number of reasons.

Nautical Charts

A nautical chart is one of the most fundamental tools available to the mariner. NOAA is the nation's chartmaker, constantly updating a suite of over 1,000 charts using sonar, LIDAR, and aerial photographs.

Real-Time Data

NOAA's Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System, or 'PORTS®,' operates in many ports around the country, providing up-to-the-minute information on tides, currents, salinity, water and other critical ocean data.

Spatial Framework

To avoid collisions and ensure safe passage, mariners rely on NOAA's National Spatial Reference System and National Water Level Observation Network.

Marine Debris

You might not think of a floating plastic bag as something that keeps a ship from reaching its destination. However, marine debris can interfere with navigation safety and harm shipping and coastal industries.

NOAA Tides and Current Data

NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and its predecessors have gathered oceanographic data along our nation's coasts for over 200 years.

High Frequency Radar

High frequency (HF) radar systems measure the speed and direction of ocean surface currents in near real time.

What is a Navigation Response Team?

NOAA's navigation response teams, part of the Office of Coast Survey, survey the seafloor in ports and harbors that have undergone infrastructure updates, shoreline alterations, or seafloor changes.

Dive Deeper

NOAA Custom Chart Tool

In this podcast, NOAA Corps Capt. EJ Van Den Ameele discusses the ongoing transition from paper to digital nautical charts, as well as the NOAA Custom Chart online tool.

Charting New Waters

This podcast discusses NOAA's nautical charts and how they are updated, using high-tech tools including experimental ocean "robots" that are small enough to survey the nation's shallowest coastal areas.

What is Air Gap?

The NOAA Air Gap system is a tool that measures the vertical clearance between a defined reference point under a bridge and the surface of the water below.

Collecting Aerial Imagery

In this podcast, NOAA experts discuss their role in emergency response imagery collection after hurricanes, and what it provides for the public.