We had a wonderful day yesterday. About 27 children learned about hydrographic surveying techniques and nautical charts. Coast Survey Deputy Director Doug Brown, welcomed the students and gave a brief introduction about nautical charts and hydrographic surveying. Jeff Stuart, Jerry Mills, Leonard Arkenau, William Harper and Dan Black worked with the children and helped them understand hydrography and nautical cartography.
Here are examples of data points gathered from the hydrographic surveying boxes.The children tried to determine the shapes on the bottom of their "sounding box" by using a "sounding pole" (wooden skewer) inserted into a blue mesh box cover.

This is how some children decided to gather depth information (spot soundings)..

This is how others went about the task.

The children also learned a lot about making nautical charts and then applied their knowledge to a section of a chart and became "Cartographers for a Day." The chart piece below is an example (for a higher resolution graphic, please click on the picture).

The changes to the chart were "Lady Vicquita," Daddy's River" and "Victor's Harbor."

Everyone learned a lot, had fun and enjoyed their day.

Go to the NOAA Kid's Day, Bring a Child to Work Page

See some of the pictures
Go to the Coast Survey Bring Your Child To Work Day Page