Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Meet the Crew: Senior Survey Technician Andrea Stoneman

For this "meet the crew" profile, we asked Andrea Stoneman, who serves as Senior Survey Technician aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, to tell us about her role aboard the ship and what her path to NOAA was.

If you had asked me when I was a kid where I would be today, I certainly would not have imagined myself exploring the high seas in Alaska.

A female senior survey technician on aboard a ship with a water sampling instrument

NOAA and K-State Salina create NOAA Corps pilot recruiting pipeline

NOAA and Kansas State University (K-State) Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus signed an agreement on Oct. 1 to collaborate on a first-of-its kind program to prepare students to serve as officers and pilots with the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps), one of the nation’s eight uniformed services.

NOAA aircraft gather data on Hurricane Ida before, during and after the storm

From their base at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, the NOAA Hurricane Hunters flew nine missions to gather data crucial to forecasting Hurricane Ida’s track and intensity. NOAA’s high-altitude Gulfstream IV-SP jet flew three missions to sample the upper atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. These missions aided forecasters as they developed storm track forecasts and determined if conditions were favorable for further development.

The eye of Hurricane Ida on NOAA WP-3D Orion N43RF Miss Piggy the morning of August 28, 2021

NOAA breaks ground on project to rebuild its Ketchikan port facility

Federal, state and local officials joined NOAA on Aug. 31, 2021, at a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of a project to revitalize the agency’s port facility in Ketchikan, Alaska. NOAA awarded an $18.7 million contract in April 2021 to Alaska-based Ahtna Infrastructure & Technologies, LLC to make major improvements to the facility.

Rendering of NOAA port facility showing buildings and a dock

U.S. Coast Guard officer joins NOAA survey of the California Current

In January 2021, U.S. Coast Guard officer Lt. j.g. Rebecca Edmonds, found herself in an unusual situation for a Coast Guard member: serving as an officer of the deck aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship. In the 72nd year of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), the San Diego-based NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker, one of NOAA’s five fisheries survey vessels, was short-handed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lt. j.g. Edmonds is on the left collecting water samples from a CTD device on the right.

Meet the crew: Survey Technician Sophia Tigges

In this article, we hear from Sophia Tigges, a survey technician aboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. As a survey technician she is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the functionality and operational efficiency of all scientific data collection equipment aboard the ship. In her own words, she shares her journey from a young, budding science enthusiast to joining the nation’s leading federal scientific agency. Enjoy!

A crew member works on a bouy on the deck of a ship

NOAA partners with University of Southern Mississippi on uncrewed systems

NOAA and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) signed a 10-year agreement on Feb. 4, 2021 to partner on ways to improve how uncrewed systems (UxS) are used to collect important ocean observation data and augment NOAA’s operational capabilities. The agreement provides a framework for collaborating with NOAA scientists and UxS operators on projects to further UxS research, development and operations. UxS are sensor-equipped vehicles that operate autonomously or are remotely piloted.

A yellow autonomous surface vehicle in the water