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EX-16-09

The purpose of this manual is to describe OER’s principles and procedures for deepwater ocean exploration acoustic mapping. It supports the National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (OPC, 2020), which was developed by the Ocean Policy Committee of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in coordination with NOAA. The national strategy calls for coordinating interagency mapping and exploration activities for the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), developing new and emerging science and mapping technologies, building public and private partnerships, and completing mapping of the deep water of the U.S. EEZ by 2030 and the near shore by 2040. Published Refereed Current 14.a Mature Organisational National Kongsberg EM 304 Multibeam Sonar Simrad EK60/EK80 Split-beam Echosounders Knudsen 3260 Sub-bottom Profiler Teledyne Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers Applanix POS MV Kongsberg K-Sync Synchronizing Unit Reson SVP-70 Probe Surface Sound Speed Sensor Method

EX-16-08

This report focuses on exploration expedition EX-14-02 Leg 1, during which a ship shakedown and patch test were conducted, as well as mapping of several Atlantic Shelf Edge Canyons.

This document contains project instructions for EX-16-01, with operations expected to commence on January 20, 2016 in Alameda, CA and conclude on February 7, 2016 in Honolulu, HI. The primary goals of the cruise include: exploratory ocean mapping, shakedown, testing, and calibration of existing and newly-installed equipment, and positioning the ship for the 2016 exploration missions in the central and western Pacific Ocean. New equipment in need of shakedown testing includes a new Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) antenna, a new Keyboard-Video-Monitor (KVM) system, new Doppler speed log, a new POS-MV inertial measurement and positioning system, four new EK 60 single beam sonars, two new ADCPs, new digital file storage systems, and a newly installed UnderwayCTD. Testing and fine tuning of the VSAT and KVM system are anticipated to occur throughout the cruise. Multibeam and singlebeam mapping operations will be conducted 24 hours a day throughout the cruise. Sub-bottom profile mapping will be conducted 24 hours a day at the discretion of the CO. XBT and/or UnderwayCTD sound velocity casts in support of multibeam sonar mapping operations will be conducted at an interval defined by prevailing oceanographic conditions, but not to exceed 6 hours. All multibeam data will be fully processed according to standard onboard procedures and will be archived with the National Geophysical Data Center. Split-beam EK60 data will be archived at the National Oceanographic Data Center.

This document describes the mapping capabilities of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, and the performance evaluations undertaken in preparation for the 2016 field season. This report will provide a comprehensive list of all hardware and software components, configuration, calibrations and system evaluations in use during the 2016 field season.