Oc 101

Introduction and
Chart Exploration

OBJECTIVES
This lab is an introduction to charts and the Castine Harbor area. You will observe
landmarks and learn to find them on a chart and collect data for next week’s lab.

INTRODUCTION
It is essential that oceanographers be able to work with charts. Most oceanographic reports
include a chart showing the station locations. Reports commonly include maps of oceanographic
parameters, such as sediment size, salinity, temperature, etc. These maps are derived from charts
and the data collected on oceanographic cruises.

A bathymetric chart is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional surface. It shows

the relief of the surface on the earth by using contour lines. Contour lines are labeled with depth
below the chart datum. It is like a topographic map, except that topographic maps show the
relief of the surface of the earth above sea level. On topographic maps, increasing values on
contour lines mean increasing height above sea level. On a bathymetric chart increasing values
on contour lines mean increasing depth below sea level. In addition to showing the relief of the
earth, bathymetric charts have other useful information on them. They show the land between
low and high tide, the material at the sea or river bed, engineering structures such as jetties and
breakwaters, underwater cables, buildings, lights, buoys, beacons, radio stations, fog signals, and
many other things of interest to the mariner. As such, boaters use them in navigation.

In oceanography, samples and measurements are taken at sea. These data are analyzed and
interpreted sometime after the vessel returns to shore. The data are virtually useless unless an
accurate position has been recorded for each piece of data. For each sample collected, two
pieces of information are necessary: the geographic location and the depth at which the sample
was obtained. For example, a cruise of the western North Atlantic (i.e. east and southeast of
Maine) would measure some warm and some cold surface temperatures. With accurate
geographic locations for each measured surface temperature you would be able to map the
boundary between the warm Gulf Stream and the colder water to the north of the Gulf Stream. If
you also took temperatures of water below the surface, you would be able to make a three-
dimensional map of the Gulf Stream in the region.

The oceanographer has several methods that can be used to determine position. Once a position
is determined it is plotted on a chart. In this lab we will learn how to work with charts, learning
their key features, how to interpret the symbols and colors and how to use them to calculate
distances and depths.
OC101 Week 1—Charts and Harbor Tour Data Sheet Name:

PROCEDURE - Landmark identification

We will take a trip on an Academy vessel to explore the local geography. After visiting
significant landmarks and determining their position on the chart, we will follow a transect
across the harbor recording position and depth soundings. As we make the trip your instructor
and driver will point out landmarks. You will work with the data you collect in Week 3 of lab.

Station Latitude Longitude Water Depth (ft)

1
2
3
4
5

For use in Week 3

Station Corrected Latitude Corrected Longitude Water Depth (ft)
West Shore 0
1
2
3
4
5
East Shore 0

Landmark list
Castine Harbor is also the mouth of a small estuary, the Bagaduce River, which then empties into
a larger estuary system, Penobscot Bay. The tidal range on the coast of Maine is significant and
generates strong currents in the harbor area. Smith Cove is a relatively protected area just south
of the Harbor. The boat based lab work for OC101 will take place in these areas. You may visit
some or all of the following landmarks in the harbor/Smith Cove/Bagaduce River area during the
introductory harbor tour.

Hatch Cove Holbrook Island

Middle Ground and Red Nun (N”2”) Ram Island
Hosmer ledge day marker Trott Ledge and GC “3”
Smith Cove and Red Nun (N“2”) Nautilus Island and the Indian Bar (sand bar
at low tide)
Green can number 1 (GC”1”) Near Dice
Head and shoal Nautilus Rock (G C “1A”)
Channel marker bell buoy (RW CH Bell) Henry Islands
Dice head light
OC101 Week 1 Due at the end of lab Name:

1. Use Chart No. 1 (the book of chart symbols) or your memory of the harbor tour to determine
the symbol that represents the following, a “nun” buoy and a “can” buoy.

Locate an example of each on Chart 13309 in the Smith Cove/Castine waterfront area. For each
example draw the symbol, indicate the color of the symbol on the chart, record the number of the
buoy, and verbally describe its location.

a. A nun buoy.

b. A can buoy.

2. Find a compass rose on your chart. How many degrees is magnetic declination (or variation),
in what direction and from what year? Is magnetic declination the same at every location on your
chart? (Hint: check all the compass roses to see if they match).

For questions 3-5, use a ruler or dividers to measure a straight line distance, then the use the
graphical scale to convert the chart distance to a “real” distance. (Be sure to give the answers in
whatever units are asked for).

3. Using the scale on the chart, what is the distance (in nautical miles) from the bell buoy
marking the mouth of Castine Harbor to the Middle Ground Ledge (use the star/exposed
rock as your measuring point)? Convert this distance to kilometers (1 nautical mile =
1.852 km).

4. What is the distance (in nm and km) from Middle Ground Ledge to the nun buoy in
Smith Cove?
5. Using the scale on the chart, what is the straight-line distance (in yards) from the
waterfront to Dismukes Hall (1 nautical mile = 6076 ft; 1 yard = 3 ft)

For questions 6 and 7, take special note while working with some of these problems that lines of
constant depth (isobaths) are indicated on the chart for depths of mean low water (dotted line),
and 6, 12, 18, 30, 60 and 120 feet below mean low water (all solid lines). The individual
numbers on the chart are soundings.

6. According to the isobaths, what is the maximum possible depth in Smith's Cove between
Henry Point and Hospital Island (sometimes listed as Great Island)?

7. According to the soundings, what is the maximum depth in channel in Castine Harbor?

8. a. Compare the bathymetry off the south shore of Nautilus Island and due west of the Henry
Islands in Smith Cove. At which site is the sea floor steeper?

b. How can you tell?

9. Calculate the slope of the sea floor from Hosmer Ledge due North to the deepest part (assume
the center of the channel is the deepest part) of the channel. Use the formula:

slope (feet/nautical mile) = Vertical distance in feet

Horizontal distance in nautical miles
10. What is the bottom sediment type in the region south of Sheep Island in Smith's Cove,
and how does it compare with the bottom type east of Negro Island?

11. In the shallow water of Smith Cove, south of Henry Point, there is a symbol on the chart.
What does this symbol indicate?

12. Locate Nautilus Island. Is Nautilus Island an island (separated from the main land by
water) at low tide? Explain.