NOAA Ship 'Thomas Jefferson' Returns

The NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson wraps up an exceptionally eventful field season.

After 193 days away from home, the hydrographic survey vessel completed 14, 768.9 linear nautical miles of survey that covered 352 square nautical miles of area in Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound. Due to this work, 38 dangers to navigation (DTONs) were issued, protecting maritime traffic in the area.

Additionally, the Thomas Jefferson was in prime position to respond to the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in October and November. The U.S. Coast Guard requested assistance from NOAA after New York Harbor was closed to all traffic, preventing crucial goods and services from reaching the citizens of New York City.

The Thomas Jefferson and her two launches ran 170.74 linear nautical miles of side scan sonar and multibeam echo sounder operations (MBES), while also surveying 53.82 linear nautical miles of object detection MBES, detecting numerous hazards to navigation and located many lost containers throughout New York Harbor and the approaches.

The ship is now in the NOAA's homeport for the winter.