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NOAA divers survey reefs and habitats in the Mariana Islands

NOAA divers conducted numerous coral and seafloor habitat studies in the Mariana Islands as part of the Rainier Integrates Charting, Hydrography, And Reef Demographics, or RICHARD, mission supported by NOAA Ship Rainier in 2022. Learn more about the mission in this story map.

Two divers working on the sea floor

Meet the Crew: Senior Survey Technician Andrea Stoneman

For this "meet the crew" profile, we asked Andrea Stoneman, who serves as Senior Survey Technician aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, to tell us about her role aboard the ship and what her path to NOAA was.

If you had asked me when I was a kid where I would be today, I certainly would not have imagined myself exploring the high seas in Alaska.

A female senior survey technician on aboard a ship with a water sampling instrument

NOAA breaks ground on project to rebuild its Ketchikan port facility

Federal, state and local officials joined NOAA on Aug. 31, 2021, at a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of a project to revitalize the agency’s port facility in Ketchikan, Alaska. NOAA awarded an $18.7 million contract in April 2021 to Alaska-based Ahtna Infrastructure & Technologies, LLC to make major improvements to the facility.

Rendering of NOAA port facility showing buildings and a dock

U.S. Coast Guard officer joins NOAA survey of the California Current

In January 2021, U.S. Coast Guard officer Lt. j.g. Rebecca Edmonds, found herself in an unusual situation for a Coast Guard member: serving as an officer of the deck aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship. In the 72nd year of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), the San Diego-based NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker, one of NOAA’s five fisheries survey vessels, was short-handed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lt. j.g. Edmonds is on the left collecting water samples from a CTD device on the right.

Meet the crew: Survey Technician Sophia Tigges

In this article, we hear from Sophia Tigges, a survey technician aboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. As a survey technician she is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the functionality and operational efficiency of all scientific data collection equipment aboard the ship. In her own words, she shares her journey from a young, budding science enthusiast to joining the nation’s leading federal scientific agency. Enjoy!

A crew member works on a bouy on the deck of a ship

Contract awarded to Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors LLC to build two new oceanographic ships for NOAA

NOAA’s effort to recapitalize its aging fleet of research ships took a major step forward today with the U.S. Navy’s award of a $178,082,877 contract to Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors LLC, Houma, Louisiana, for the detailed design and construction of two new oceanographic ships for the agency. NOAA is acquiring the vessels through an agreement with the Naval Sea Systems Command, a leader in building, providing and procuring large research ships for the nation's research fleet.