OPR-L397-FA-21 Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary CINMS and BOEM Investigations NOAA Ship Fairweather (S220) F00844 1 BOEM Platforms and Pipeline Investigation California United States 10000 2022 CAPT John Lomnicky Navigable Area 2021-09-15 2021-10-04 2021-10-13 Multibeam Echo Sounder Multibeam Echo Sounder Backscatter meters UTC Pacific Hydrographic Branch Any revisions to the Descriptive Report (DR) applied during office processing are shown in red italic text. The DR is maintained as a field unit product, therefore all information and recommendations within this report are considered preliminary unless otherwise noted. The final disposition of survey data is represented in the NOAA nautical chart products. All pertinent records for this survey are archived at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and can be retrieved via https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/. Products created during office processing were generated in NAD83 UTM 11N, MLLW. All references to other horizontal or vertical datums in this report are applicable to the processed hydrographic data provided by the field unit. CC0-1.0 (NOAA Field Units) CC0-1.0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode These data were produced by NOAA and are in the public domain within the United States. NOAA waives any potential copyright and related rights in these data worldwide through the Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (CC0). NOAA The survey area is located 12 miles off the coast of southern California between Port Hueneme in the south and Purisima Point in the north. 34.624192 120.732495 34.120561 119.381439 F00844 sheet limits (in blue) overlaid onto chart 18720. SupportFiles\1. Sheet Limits.png Data were acquired to the survey limits in accordance with the requirements in the Project Instructions and the 2021 NOS Hydrographic Surveys Specifications and Deliverables (HSSD). Coverage acquired in F00844 is shown in Figure 1. This year the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) work will focus on the remaining survey area (prior projects 2017-2019) offshore of the Channel Islands (about 151 sq. mi.), located about 30 miles offshore of the California mainland city of Santa Barbara. The waters surrounding CINMS are highly productive and are home to recreational and commercial fishing efforts, and regularly host kayakers, surfers, sightseers, whale watchers, researchers, and Channel Islands National Park concessionaires, who all access the sanctuary via boats. Correspondingly, the abundance of sea life and aquatic habitats drives a thriving industry of recreational and commercial fishing that brings varied vessel traffic through the waters of CINMS. Additionally, major mainland port traffic transiting to and from Los Angeles and Long Beach, California routes large cargo and tanker vessels close to CINMS boundaries. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are top 10 ports in the United States for containers and tonnage. This poses a serious risk to life, property, and the delicate ecosystem of the area. Multibeam, backscatter, and water column data have been collected in support of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Pacific Region area around selected offshore platforms and pipelines. Survey data from this project is intended to supersede all prior survey data in the common area. The entire survey is adequate to supersede previous data. Data acquired in F00844 meet multibeam echo sounder (MBES) coverage requirements for object detection, as required by the HSSD. This includes NOAA allowable uncertainty (see Section B.2.11a and density requirements (see Section B.2.12). Crosslines were not obtained for this survey. See Section B.2.1 for more information. All waters in survey area Object detection with backscatter and water column data The entirety of F00844 was acquired with object detection, meeting the requirements listed above and in the HSSD. See Figure 2 for an overview of coverage. F00844 survey coverage overlaid onto Chart 18720 SupportFiles\2. Coverage.png 2805 0.0 51.02 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2806 0.0 33.54 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2807 0.0 42.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2808 0.0 2.11 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 S-220 0.0 31.97 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 160.73 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 12.08 2021-10-04 2021-10-08 2021-10-13 Refer to the OPR-L397-FA-21 Data Acquisition and Processing Report (DAPR) for a complete description of data acquisition and processing systems, survey vessels, quality control procedures and data processing methods. Additional information to supplement sounding and survey data, and any deviations from the DAPR are discussed in the following sections. 2805 8.6 1.1 2806 8.6 1.1 2807 8.6 1.1 2808 8.6 1.1 S-220 70.4 4.8 Positioning and Attitude System Applanix POS MV 320 v5 Sound Speed System Teledyne RESON SVP 71 Sound Speed System Teledyne RESON SVP 70 Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth Sensor Sea-Bird Scientific SBE 19plus V2 MBES Kongsberg Maritime EM 710 MBES Kongsberg Maritime EM 2040 The equipment was installed on the survey platform as follows: S220 utilizes the Kongsberg EM 710 MBES, a POS M/V v5 system for position and attitude, and SVP 70 surface sound speed. All launches utilize the Kongsberg EM 2040 MBES, a POS M/V v5 system for position and attitude, SVP 71 surface sound speed sensors, and Sea-Bird SBE 19plus v2 CTDs for conductivity, temperature, and depth casts. Crosslines were not acquired on this sheet. This occured due to time constraints and the irregular shape of the sheet. Thus it was decided that crosslines could not quickly and effectively be collected. ERS via VDATUM 8.05 S-220 1 0.5 280X 2 0.5 In addition to the usual a priori estimates of uncertainty via device models for vessel motion and VDATUM, real-time and post-processed uncertainty sources were also incorporated into the depth estimates of survey F00844. Real-time uncertainties were provided via EM 2040 MBES data, EM 710 MBES data, and Applanix Delayed Heave RMS. Following post-processing of the real-time vessel motion, recomputed uncertainties of vessel roll, pitch, gyro and navigation were applied in CARIS HIPS and SIPS via a Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory (SBET) RMS file generated in Applanix POSPac. The Measured MVP Sound Speed Uncertainty value applied to the data is 2 m/s. Sonar system quality control checks were conducted as detailed in the quality control section of the DAPR. None Exist There were no conditions or deficiencies that affected equipment operational effectiveness. None Exist There were no other factors that affected corrections to soundings. Casts were conducted at a minimum of one every four hours during launch acquisition. Casts were conducted more frequently in areas where the influx of freshwater had an effect on the speed of sound in the water column and when there was a change in surface sound speed greater than two meters per second. MVP casts on S220 were not conducted. Instead, the ship used casts taken by the launches. All equipment and survey methods were used as detailed in the DAPR. 2806 Roll Artifact Roll artifacts due to inclement sea state are present throughout data collected by Launch 2806 as depicted in Figures 3 through 5. There are many areas where the offset of two overlapping swaths exceed the maximum allowable TVU values (Figure 4). While the artifacts are present in the surface, they did not impact the ability to observe the pipelines in the data. No area with roll artifacts obscured the pipeline (see Figures 3 through 5). Nadir depths are consistent between vessels and lines. Roll artifacts produced by 2806 SupportFiles\3. Roll Artifacts.png Roll artifacts, TVU, and measured offset values for select overlapping areas SupportFiles\3. Roll Artifacts with TVU.png Area where roll artifacts are present but are not obscuring the pipeline SupportFiles\3. Roll Artifacts but no obscure.png Holidays F00844 data were reviewed in CARIS HIPS and SIPS for holidays in accordance with Section 5.2.2.3 of the HSSD. Thirty-seven holidays which meet the definition described in the HSSD for object detection were identified via HydrOffice QC Tools Holiday Finder tool. This tool automatically scans the surface for holidays as defined in the HSSD and was run in conjunction with a visual inspection of the surface by the hydrographer. The majority of the holidays were produced due to excessive sea state. The movement of the vessel created gaps between sectors due to yaw stabilization being turned off because of backscatter acquisition guidance. These holidays are predominantly located on the outer-most edges of the surveyed area where there is no overlap from an adjacent swath (Figure 6). One holiday was produced by a partial blowout (Figure 7). The final holiday was produced by an indiscernible man-made or biological feature (Figure 8). Several holidays in the VR surface were found (Figure 9). However, further investigation of this area using a 16 m surface revealed that these holidays did not exist. It is unclear what caused the lack of display in VR surface but not in the 16 m surface. Holidays along a line produced by yaw stabalization in conjunction with roll and yaw SupportFiles\4. Holidays due to roll.png Holiday due to blowout SupportFiles\6. Holiday due to Blowout.png Indiscernible man-made or biological features on seafloor SupportFiles\5. Data Quality.png Holidays in VR surface that are not found in 16m surface. Unclear what causes the lack of display in VR surface SupportFiles\10. Holidays in VR.PNG NOAA Allowable Uncertainty The surface was analyzed using the HydrOffice QC Tools Grid QA feature to determine compliance with specifications. Overall, over 99.50% of nodes within the surface meet NOAA Allowable Uncertainty specifications for F00844 (Figure 10). F00844 allowable uncertainty statistics SupportFiles\7. Uncertainty Graph.png Density The surface was analyzed using the HydrOffice QC Tools Grid QA feature to determine compliance with specifications. Density requirements for F00844 were achieved with at least over 99.50% of surface nodes containing five or more soundings as required by HSSD Section 5.2.2.3 (Figure 11). F00844 data density statistics SupportFiles\7. Density Graph.png All data reduction procedures conform to those detailed in the DAPR. All sounding systems were calibrated as detailed in the DAPR. Raw backscatter data were stored in the .all file for Kongsberg systems. All backscatter were processed to GSF files and a floating point mosaic was created by the field unit via Fledermaus FMGT 7.9.0 . See Figures 12, 13, and 14 for a greyscale representation of the complete mosaic. A relative backscatter calibration was performed by the field unit via a backscatter calibration site in order to bring the survey systems on each of the launches into alignment. See Figure 15 for a table of the calibration values entered into the Processing Settings within FMGT. Approximate inter-calibration corrections for offsets between EM 2040 sonar systems were applied to the mosaic. Backscatter, north western-most portion of sheet SupportFiles\9. Backscatter A.png Backscatter, north-most portion of the southeastern portion of the sheet SupportFiles\9. Backscatter B.png Backscatter, south-most portion of the southeastern portion of the sheet SupportFiles\9. Backscatter C.png Backscatter calibration values SupportFiles\8. Backscatter Calibration.PNG The backscatter data was re-processed during office review and does not reflect the calibration that was noted in this section. New GSF files and mosaics were produced using FMGT 7.9.6. CARIS HIPS and SIPS 11.3 QPS Fledermaus 7.9.0 NOAA Profile Version 2021 F00844_MB_VR_MLLW.csar CARIS VR Surface (CUBE) Variable Resolution 22.7 240.3 NOAA_VR Object Detection F00844_MB_VR_MLLW_Final.csar CARIS VR Surface (CUBE) Variable Resolution 22.7 240.3 NOAA_VR Object Detection The NOAA CUBE parameters defined in the HSSD were used for the creation of all CUBE surfaces for F00844. The surfaces have been reviewed where noisy data, or "fliers" are incorporated into the gridded solutions causing the surface to be shoaler or deeper than the true sea floor. Where these spurious soundings cause the gridded surface to vary from the reliably measured seabed by greater than the maximum allowable Total Vertical Uncertainty at that depth, the noisy data have been rejected by the hydrographer and the surface recomputed. Flier Finder, part of the QC Tools package within HydrOffice, was used to assist the search for spurious soundings following gross cleaning. Flier Finder was run iteratively until all remaining flagged fliers were deemed to be valid aspects of the surface. Per Section 5.2.2.1.3 of the 2020 Field Procedures Manual no Horizontal and Vertical Control Report has been generated for F00844. Mean Lower Low Water ERS via VDATUM OPR-L397-FA-21_100m_NAD83_2011-MLLW_geoid18.csar ERS methods were used as the final means of reducing F00844 to MLLW for submission. North American Datum 1983 Projected UTM 11 RTX Vessel kinematic data were post-processed using Applanix POSPac processing software and RTX positioning methods described in the DAPR. Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory (SBET) and associated error (RMS) data were applied to all MBES data in CARIS HIPS and SIPS. During real-time acquisition, all platforms received correctors from the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) for increased accuracies similar to USCG DGPS stations. WAAS and SBETs were the sole methods of positioning for F00844 as no DGPS stations were available for real-time horizontal control. US3CA69M 232188 26 2022-01-18 2022-01-18 US4CA68M 100000 17 2022-11-18 2023-01-09 US5CA65M 50000 47 2021-09-13 2021-11-18 No shoals or potentially hazardous features exist for this survey. All assigned charted features are attributed in the Final Feature File. During survey operations a mischarted pipeline was discovered in the survey area. A seep and pipeline reporting PDF with the updated pipeline location can be found in supplemental records. Survey F00844 has six new features that are addressed in the F00844 Final Feature File. These six features are all new offshore platforms (OFSPLF). These offshore platforms were already charted, but MBES revealed a more accurate placement of their position. No channels exist for this survey. There are no designated anchorages, precautionary areas, safety fairways, traffic separation schemes, pilot boarding areas, or channel and range lines within the survey limits. No Aids to navigation (ATONs) exist for this survey. No Maritime Boundary Points were assigned for this survey. No bottom samples were required for this survey. No overhead features exist for this survey. There are 24 pipelines and 1 submarine cable within the F00844 survey. Nine of these pipelines as well as the singular submarine cable are either fully or partially visible in the MBES data. There is no indication of the other 14 pipelines in the MBES data. MBES data was collected for a significant portion of PIPSOL 0681. Analysis of the suface and backscatter revealed that the charted pipeline is partially mis-positioned. That pipeline is recommended for deletion and a new pipeline (PIPSOL 0258) which more accurately fits the surface was created. There are 17 platforms within the F00844 survey. Six were repositioned to an area that more accurately describes their location on the chart. The rest were retained as charted. No ferry routes or terminals exist for this survey. No abnormal seafloor or environmental conditions exist for this survey. No present or planned construction or dredging exist within the survey limits. No new surveys or further investigations are recommended for this area. No new ENC scales are recommended for this area. As Chief of Party, field operations for this hydrographic survey were conducted under my direct supervision, with frequent personal checks of progress and adequacy. I have reviewed the attached survey data and reports. All field sheets, this Descriptive Report, and all accompanying records and data are approved. All records are forwarded for final review and processing to the Processing Branch. The survey data meets or exceeds requirements as set forth in the NOS Hydrographic Surveys Specifications and Deliverables, Field Procedures Manual, Letter Instructions, and all HSD Technical Directives. These data are adequate to supersede charted data in their common areas. This survey is complete and no additional work is required with the exception of deficiencies noted in the Descriptive Report. LTJG Carly Robbins Operations Officer 2022-05-20 CAPT John Lomnicky Commanding Officer 2022-05-20