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NAVO

Naval Oceanographic Office deploys airborne hydrographic survey asset to the Republic of Haiti as part of Operation Unified Response

As part of the United States’ massive effort to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the devastating 12 January earthquake in Port au Prince, the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) has sent a number of assets to conduct hydrographic surveys of ports and harbors in the Republic of Haiti. 

 

CHARTS aircraft warming up in the Dominican Republic in the pre-dawn hours of 18 January prior to an early morning hydrographic survey mission over Haiti. In the background is US Air Force C12 from the US Embassy in Honduras and US Customs and Border Patrol UH60M Blackhawk helicopters.  Photo Garth Robson.

One of these assets is the “Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey” (CHARTS) system installed on a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200 aircraft.  Specifically designed for rapid coastal hydrographic surveys, this multi-sensor platform includes laser systems capable of mapping wide swaths of topography or shallow sea floor, digital color cameras and a high resolution spectral imager. Flying at survey altitudes of only 1300 feet, the sensors are capable of collecting swaths of laser and imagery data up to 900 feet wide at airspeeds of about 130 knots.

When the earthquake struck Port au Prince in the afternoon of 12 January the CHARTS Detachment was engaged in an ongoing hydrographic survey project in the Republic of Nicaragua. At that time, and in advance of tasking, the survey party began to make preparations for rapid deployment to the disaster area.  On the afternoon of 15 January the order was given for the aircraft and personnel to relocate to the Dominican Republic as part of Commander, Task Force 42 (CTF42) and designated Commander, Task Unit (CTU) 42.1.2. In the early morning of 16 January the aircraft departed the Republic of Nicaragua, heavily loaded with a bare minimum of personnel, maintenance equipment and data processing computers.  After a non-stop transit of nearly 1200 nm, the aircraft landed on 16 January at San Isidro Airbase, just outside of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

Survey areas in a number of Haitian ports and harbors were prioritized by CTF42, and two five hour survey missions per day were planned. The first mission was flown on 17 January, and flights continued daily until 21 January. Bathymetric lidar and imagery data was collected over the approaches and harbors of Port au Prince, Jacmel, Baie St. Marc, Cap Haitien and Gonaives.  The CHARTS aircraft and personnel transited back to Nicaragua on 22 January, and survey operations resumed there the following day.

Data collected by the CHARTS system is being used by NAVOCEANO to create navigation products for ports and harbors of the island nation.  As soon as the aircraft landed at San Isidro Airbase the survey data was couriered back to NAVOCEANO were a team of personnel from the Airborne Coastal Survey Branch (0TPEC), Tactical Charting Branch (NP431) and the Littoral and Riverine Department (NP2) were standing by to create mapping and charting products.  Less than twenty four hours after the CHARTS data was available at NAVOCEANO a full suite of geospatial products was created, including soundings, contours, digital elevation models, large scale charts and orthorectified image mosaics in multiple formats.  The NAVOCEANO production team worked with GoogleEarth’s Crisis Response Team to post products from the CHARTS surveys.  Orthorectified color imagery from the CHARTS aircraft can be viewed in GoogleEarth ™ under the “imagery” tab at http://mw1.google.com/mw-earth-vectordb/haiti/Haiti-Earthquake-nl.kml.  A link to all of NAVOCEANO’s public-release Operation Unified Response products can be found at  https://oceanography.navy.mil/legacy/web/cgi-bin/search.pl/0/objects/0/6.

Opening up Haitian harbors to relief ships is necessary in order to offload critical supplies and heavy equipment and will help reduce the overwhelming number of relief flights in and out of Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital city.  Due to its unique sensor suite and ability to rapidly relocate to the disaster area the CHARTS aircraft was a chosen as a first-responder.  Less than thirty six hours after tasking the CHARTS aircraft and personnel were on-station over Port au Prince, and over the next five days the aircraft conducted survey operations over five Haitian ports. Thanks to round the clock efforts by production personnel at NAVOCEANO a full suite of geospatial products created from the CHARTS data was available less than 48 hours after data collection. Following their release from CTU42 the CHARTS aircraft resumed survey operations in Nicaragua less than twenty four hours after leaving the Dominican Republic.

Haitian Humanitarian Aid Survey Products:

St. Marc
Jacmel
Gonaives