News Releases 2004 NOAA Home Page NOAA Public Affairs The
Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) Center for Coastal Monitoring and
Assessment (CCMA) will be conducting a scientific research
mission on board the NOAA ship Nancy Foster from February 22 to
March 3, 2004. This joint mission with the National Park Service
(NPS) will explore and characterize nearshore and deepwater
habitats (less than 1000m) of NPS’s Buck Island Reef and Virgin
Islands Coral Reef National monuments within the U.S. Virgin
Islands using a suite of remote sensing tools. Scientists from
CCMA will explore the type and extent of habitats in selected
portions of both national monuments using multi-beam sonar and
under water video cameras. Using benthic habitat remote sensing
surveys, divers will observe fish, conch and lobsters to
characterize the populations of these resources within and
outside the national monuments. Data from the mission will be
used to produce maps of the seafloor topography