Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping
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Coordinates: The Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping (CCOM) / NOAA-UNH Joint Hydrographic Center (JHC) was founded in 1999 to find ways to process the massive amounts of data coming from sonar systems at rates commensurate with data collection; that is, to make the data ready for chart production as rapidly as the data could be collected. As we begin to achieve this goal, our attention is also turning to the wonderful opportunity to utilize this massive flow of information into products that meet a wide range of needs, such as safer navigation, marine habitat assessments, fisheries management and national security. In this short period of time, the center has grown to over 70 employees and an international reputation as the place, "where the cutting edge of Hydrography is now located" (Adam Kerr, Past Director of the International Hydrographic Organization in Hydro International).
The center is located in the Chase Ocean Engineering building on the campus of the University System of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire
The center works on a wide range of marine research topics including:
- Hydrography
- Improved bathymetric processing
- Improved side-scan sonar and backscatter processing
- Data Visualization with emphasis on whale tracking, flow visualization, and mid-water fish
- Seafloor characterization
- Lidar
- Photographic mosaic
- Law of the Sea mapping for the United States
- Electronic chart of the future and the marine Automatic Identification System
- Acoustic positioning and tracking
