[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11900-11901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03795]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Request for Public Comment on a Draft Standard Ocean Mapping 
Protocol

AGENCY: Office of Coast Survey, National Ocean Service, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization 
(NOMEC) Council and the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal 
Mapping (IWG-OCM) request public comment from all interested parties on 
the IWG-OCM's draft Standard Ocean Mapping Protocol (SOMP). The draft 
SOMP was developed in accordance with Objective 2.1 of the National 
Strategy for Ocean Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United 
States Exclusive Economic Zone (National Strategy). Objective 2.1 
directs the IWG-OCM to establish a SOMP to encourage consistency in 
data acquisition, stewardship and data management across a subset of 
ocean sensing capabilities for seafloor mapping, including bathymetry 
(acoustic and airborne), seabed backscatter, water column backscatter, 
side scan sonar imagery, sub-bottom profiling, and magnetometer data 
readings.

DATES: Comments must be received via email by 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) 
on June 2, 2023.

ADDRESSES: A copy of the draft SOMP may be downloaded or viewed at: 
https://iocm.noaa.gov/standards/Standard_Ocean_Mapping_Protocol_draft_Feb2023.pdf. A copy of the 
National Strategy may be downloaded or viewed at: https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/NOMEC%20Strategy.pdf. A copy of the 
National Strategy Implementation Plan may be downloaded or viewed at: 
https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-11/210107-FINALNOMECImplementationPlan-Clean.pdf.
    Comments can be submitted by email to [email protected] by 5 
p.m. ET on June 2, 2023.
    Instructions: Response to this notice is voluntary. Please include 
``Public Comment on Draft SOMP'' in the subject line of the message. If 
applicable, clearly indicate the section and page number to which 
submitted comments pertain. All submissions must be in English. Email 
attachments will be accepted in plain text, Microsoft Word, or Adobe 
PDF formats only. Each individual or institution is requested to submit 
only one response. Please note that the U.S. Government will not pay 
for response preparation, or for the use of any information contained 
in the response.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Paul Turner, NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal 
Mapping, at [email protected], (240) 429-0293.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Pursuant to Objective 2.1 of the National Strategy, this SOMP was 
drafted to encourage consistency in data acquisition, stewardship and 
data management for seafloor mapping. The SOMP is organized into the 
following seven chapters:
    1. Data Management--The data management chapter covers methods for 
effective data management, metadata, and archive techniques, which 
allow data to be accessed by and shared freely with the public.
    2. Bathymetry--The bathymetric data chapter focuses on procedures 
for collecting, processing, and delivering bathymetry acquired by 
multibeam, single beam, and phase-discriminating sonar, and light 
detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems. This chapter summarizes best 
practices for:

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positioning, system calibration and Quality Assurance/Quality Control 
(QA/QC) techniques, coverage and resolution, uncertainty, tides and 
water levels, and general gridded data specifications.
    3. Seabed and Lakebed Backscatter--The backscatter data chapter 
focuses on establishing common backscatter acquisition and processing 
methods, acoustic signal corrections and image processing steps 
leveraging existing guidelines and recommendations from the Marine 
Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping Backscatter Working Group, as 
well as expert input from government, industry, academic institutions 
and other relevant bodies.
    4. Water Column Sonar--The water column sonar chapter focuses on 
collecting, processing, and delivering raw and interpreted backscatter 
from single beam and multibeam echosounders. This chapter summarizes 
best practices for system configurations, operating frequencies and 
depth ranges, system calibration, QA/QC techniques, and analysis, and 
interpretation of backscatter.
    5. Side Scan Sonar--The Side Scan Sonar chapter focuses on 
collecting, processing, and delivering side scan sonar data. This 
chapter summarizes best practices for acquisition standards and system 
set-up, range scales, frequencies and ping rates, coverage 
requirements, positioning, system calibration, QA/QC techniques, and 
derivation of products.
    6. Sub-bottom--The sub-bottom profiling chapter focuses on common 
system types, practical survey design, conventional acquisition 
procedures, processing protocols, data formats, and publication of 
subsurface imaging data. The chapter describes the standard operating 
procedure for the use of single-channel acoustic systems that commonly 
operate in the 0.2 to 24 kilohertz frequency range to remotely image 
the surface morphology and near-surface stratigraphy.
    7. Magnetometer--The magnetometer chapter focuses on general 
magnetic theory as it relates to anomaly detectability, factors that 
influence data quality, instrument configuration and selection, 
platforms, coverage specifications, testing and calibration, and 
resolution/line spacing based on survey objectives.
    The SOMP encourages use of national standards and best practices to 
guide all ocean mapping actions in order to ensure the widest access 
to, use of, and integration of data while minimizing duplication of 
effort and archiving of ocean and coastal mapping data in publicly 
accessible repositories and databases. Collecting, processing, and 
archiving data to established standards expands its utility for 
multiple uses. Ocean mapping data are required to meet many Federal 
government missions. To make the most of every survey mile collected, 
the IWG-OCM works with and encourages participation from partnering 
federal, state, local, academic, private industry, and non-profit 
organizations on mapping activities, data collection, and data sharing.
    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 883e.

Benjamin K. Evans,
Rear Admiral, Director, Office of Coast Survey, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-03795 Filed 2-23-23; 8:45 am]
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