WEBVTT 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:14.459 align:middle line:90% I'm the Captain of the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson. The Thomas Jefferson is a hydrographic survey 00:00:14.459 --> 00:00:19.930 align:middle line:90% ship. We map the ocean floor in order to update the charts. All boats on the water--from the 00:00:19.930 --> 00:00:24.410 align:middle line:90% smallest to the largest--use the nautical charts that NOAA makes to safely navigate. 00:00:24.410 --> 00:00:28.880 align:middle line:90% They know how deep the water is, where the obstructions are, and if there's anything 00:00:28.880 --> 00:00:34.809 align:middle line:90% dangerous out there. We're making really good progress but still about half of the U.S. 00:00:34.809 --> 00:00:39.739 align:middle line:90% coasts were last surveyed with pre-World War II technology of lead line and sextants. 00:00:39.739 --> 00:00:44.570 align:middle line:90% Most of the surveys that we are replacing were done about 50 years ago. So this ship 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:49.470 align:middle line:90% does mapping of the seafloor with sonar. So we bounce sound off the seafloor and it comes 00:00:49.470 --> 00:00:53.129 align:middle line:90% back, and we measure the time that it takes to travel, and we can measure the depth of 00:00:53.129 --> 00:00:57.299 align:middle line:90% the water. We have very sophisticated instruments that do this at a very high resolution, so 00:00:57.299 --> 00:01:01.409 align:middle line:90% we can see everything down to the little sand ripples and shipwrecks and everything that 00:01:01.409 --> 00:01:05.330 align:middle line:90% are on the seafloor. Those measurements get pulled together into a very high-resolution 00:01:05.330 --> 00:01:11.010 align:middle line:90% model of the seafloor, so you can visualize it like you could fly through it like a video 00:01:11.010 --> 00:01:16.070 align:middle line:90% game. And eventually all of those measurements are databased and put together and made public, 00:01:16.070 --> 00:01:20.380 align:middle line:90% but also used to update the nautical charts for safety and navigation. It's the map of 00:01:20.380 --> 00:01:25.109 align:middle line:90% the ocean for a ships and boats just like you might have a map for your car. The coasts 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:29.299 align:middle line:90% are very dynamic. They change as a result of storms and currents, sea level rise to 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:34.369 align:middle line:90% some extent, and also human activity. So we do a lot of shipwreck mapping, marine debris 00:01:34.369 --> 00:01:38.780 align:middle line:90% that washes from the shore into the waterways after a storm. One of the most interesting 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:42.920 align:middle line:90% and biggest challenges we have right now is working our way into the really shallowest 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:47.710 align:middle line:90% part of the coasts. The shallows are the most important for habitat--that's where all the 00:01:47.710 --> 00:01:52.289 align:middle line:90% juveniles and essential fish habitat are--it's also the most dynamic. That's where a lot 00:01:52.289 --> 00:01:56.670 align:middle line:90% of the energy is from waves and currents. It's the area that changes the most. It's 00:01:56.670 --> 00:02:01.420 align:middle line:90% also the hardest to measure because it's difficult and dangerous to work in really shallow water 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:06.590 align:middle line:90% and because our sonars work better in deeper water. We can map a really big area in deep 00:02:06.590 --> 00:02:10.060 align:middle line:90% water. But when you start getting into the depths that really matter to smaller boats, 00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:15.310 align:middle line:90% say 12 feet or less, it takes an enormous amount of time. We've just introduced into 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:20.910 align:middle line:90% the NOAA fleet the first unmanned survey vessels which can be operated remotely or can operate 00:02:20.910 --> 00:02:25.980 align:middle line:90% autonomously to survey the areas where it's too shallow or too unsafe for our manned boats 00:02:25.980 --> 00:02:30.940 align:middle line:90% to go. They locate themselves by GPS. They have an echosounder on board, just like the 00:02:30.940 --> 00:02:35.340 align:middle line:90% big ships do. They have a computer on board to log all that information, to record it 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:41.170 align:middle line:90% all. And they communicate using 4G technology to communicate that information ashore to 00:02:41.170 --> 00:02:46.430 align:middle line:90% the operator and to receive new mission taskings from us. Really they can do two things. First, 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:50.650 align:middle line:84% they can get places that we cannot get today. We can map places we can't with other 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:55.230 align:middle line:90% technology. And that's really important, particularly in our coastal areas that support all of the 00:02:55.230 --> 00:02:59.740 align:middle line:90% smaller harbors and waterways that thousands of coastal towns depend on. But second, unmanned 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:05.010 align:middle line:90% systems can potentially in the future allow us to put more boats on the water, to be able 00:03:05.010 --> 00:03:09.290 align:middle line:90% to do surveys more quickly and potentially cheaper. But we're not there yet. There's 00:03:09.290 --> 00:03:13.980 align:middle line:90% a lot of automation that needs to be developed to support that type of technology. But what's 00:03:13.980 --> 00:03:18.930 align:middle line:90% really exciting to me is that those same automation techniques that are necessary for unmanned 00:03:18.930 --> 00:03:24.100 align:middle line:90% systems also really improve manned systems. Through the automation driven by unmanned 00:03:24.100 --> 00:03:29.100 align:middle line:90% systems, all of our work gets to be more efficient and higher quality.