{"id":299430,"date":"2019-05-14T06:04:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T20:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=299430"},"modified":"2019-05-14T06:04:47","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T20:04:47","slug":"saipan-nautical-data-gets-an-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saipan-nautical-data-gets-an-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Saipan nautical data gets an update"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The DC-Turbo still stands strong after eight decades in operation and use. (Bea Cabrera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Have you seen yet a red-and-white airplane with fixed-wing propellers that has been circling Saipan the past couple of days?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s called a DC-Turbo aircraft and it is doing a hydrographic survey of Saipan. That means it is collecting data about the Saipan coastline to help mariners and ships sail safely through our waters.<\/p>\n

The last hydrographic survey done on Saipan was 10 years ago and many things under the water may have changed since then. A new, updated picture of the Saipan coastline will guide today\u2019s mariners on what lurks be-neath the waves.<\/p>\n

Arthur Scott Davidson, director of Navigation Support Division of NAVAL Oceanographic Office in Mississippi, said that the plane and his 11-man team arrived on Saipan in early May to collect data for the safety of navigation.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026We work for the [U.S.] Navy and the prepositioned ships that are here wanted updated charts for the shipping industry. \u2026They need modern charts to be able to anchor here and other ships that come in and out\u2026 Saipan is the only purview for this survey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The data collected is then turned over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is the chart-ing authority for the Northern Marianas, and it will then update the nautical chart and make these charts available for purchase.<\/p>\n

Davidson concedes that collecting the data and interpreting it is a drawn-out process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe collect the data here, then data gets back to Mississippi, and a group of scientists will go through it with a fine-toothed comb to make sure it\u2019s absolutely right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The survey done on Saipan 10 years ago was done by a different team.<\/p>\n

NOA will compare the results of this latest survey and the last survey and do a comparison..<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the ones that will give you an official word on how [the underwater topography has] changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To make the data collection fast and accurate, they use an equipment called the Coastal Zone Mapping and & Im-aging Lidar System. This tool provides hydrographic near-shore topographic data collection using 10,000 Hz Pulse Rate Laser that is attached to the plane and activated when it flies around the island. <\/p>\n

Site lead David Burke is responsible for collating and reviewing all the data. \u201cI manage the flight crew and initial review all data collected before we turn in over to the NAVAL Oceanographic Office data manager.<\/p>\n

He assured that the equipment they have can stand the test of the worst environment one can possibly have at the back of the airplane: heat, dust, humidity, and vibration. <\/p>\n

His team is made up of highly trained individuals who know the equipment and can troubleshoot on the fly. \u201cThey are really the reason why we are able to perform efficiently and get the job done and get the data that we need,\u201d Burke said.<\/p>\n

Davidson and his team will be on island for 18 days and are ahead of schedule. \u201cYour weather is so beautiful and the airport worked with us so well that we are way ahead of schedule. \u2026We have already collected all the data of water around Saipan and now we are flying over places that the lasers didn\u2019t get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of that was the ships that are anchored. When we flew over them, we got the ship but not what was under it so we plan to fly on a different tide when the ship would\u2019ve turned, so now we can fly where it used to be and col-lect that data,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Depending on the day, his team flies out for six hours a day but they can also do eight hours.<\/p>\n

For such a significant study on a high-tech expedition, why use an old plane?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis plane is dedicated to this kind of data collection work,\u201d said the plane\u2019s pilot, Stephen Kaizer. <\/p>\n

With built-in turbine engines, a few modifications to the airframe and new avionics or electrical system, \u201cit\u2019s ba-sically a brand new airplane with the old design,\u201d Kaizer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t many airplanes that this airplane can do as far as range, capacity, ease of maintenance, and speed go. It\u2019s built in the \u201940s, by a bunch of housewives and you can\u2019t beat that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you seen yet a red-and-white airplane with fixed-wing propellers that has been circling Saipan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":299431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}