Delaware Spotlight
The Delaware office remains a NOAA centric office focused on Operation,
Maintenance, Repair, and Management contracts for the NOAA CO-OPS
PORTS networks. Presently the office has five staff members based
in Dover, DE, one technician in Gloucester, VA, and one technician
in Jacksonville, FL. Woods Hole Group Delaware personnel continue
to perform operations and maintenance activities for NOAA PORTS
systems. In July of 2014, Woods Hole Group was awarded the "Operation,
Maintenance, Repair & Management of the East Coast Observing
Systems" contract from NOAA. This contract is a for a period of
five years that covers the Narragansett Bay, New London, New Haven,
New York-New Jersey Harbor, Delaware Bay, Upper Chesapeake Bay,
Lower Chesapeake Bay, and Charleston PORTS networks. Woods Hole
Group staff will continue to provide NOAA with unparalleled service
for their PORTS system providing both routine and annual maintenance,
along with major repairs for the majority of the NOAA PORTS stations
along the East Coast of the US.
In June of 2014, Woods Hole Group was awarded the "Operation,
Maintenance, Repair & Management of the Western Gulf of Mexico"
contract that included Lake Charles PORTS, Houston-Galveston PORTS,
and the Texas NWLON network. This contract is also for a period
of five years. These stations will be managed by Woods Hole Group,
but operations will be performed by our strong IDIQ partner from
the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Conrad Blucher Institute.
The two contract awards represent a large commitment from NOAA,
and are indicative of the level of satisfaction NOAA has with
the Woods Hole Group.
Over the past few months, Woods Hole Group was awarded contracts
to repair multiple stations damaged during Hurricane Sandy. These
stations include Quonset Point water level and current meter station
in RI, Conimicut Light water level station in RI, The Narrows
current meter station in NY, Bergen Point water level in NY, Brandywine
Light Shoal water level station in DE, and Brown Shoal current
meter station in DE. Work is either in progress or completed at
these stations, and will be completed by the end of the year.
The aim of the rebuild for each station in addition to restoring
data flow, is to harden these stations above highest observed
storm surge during Hurricane Sandy. Installation of the new metrological
station on the USCG Mariner's Harbor Tower in Staten Island, NY
was finally approved, and will be installed by the end of the
year. The new station is funded by the USACE NY and NY/NJ PORT
Authority. Data will be hosted by NOAA as part of the New York/New
Jersey Harbor PORTS system. This involves installing dual met
sensors on a 200 feet tall USCG communications tower with the
sensors installed at 160 feet, along with a new set of data collection
and transmission equipment.
The operation and maintenance phase of Jacksonville PORTS network
that Woods Hole Group installed for the Jacksonville Marine Transportation
Exchange (JMTX), in partnership with NOAA, has been ongoing since
April 2014 when the JXPORTS was declared operational and public
dissemination of the data started. The Jacksonville PORTS network
is the second largest behind the Chesapeake Bay PORTS network
consisting of eighteen stations along the St. Johns River, including
six water level stations with associated sensors, three visibility
stations, seven current meter systems, one conductivity-only station,
and one air gap station. The data are available on the NOAA PORTS
webpage. Woods Hole Group will continue with Operations and Maintenance
of this PORTS network for at least the next three years. At this
time all stations are fully operational and producing high quality
data for the St. Johns River maritime community and future port
stakeholders in Jacksonville. The Delaware office continues to
provide support for the ongoing Philadelphia Water Department
project, providing field support for the long-term current monitoring
stations, short-term current meter deployments, and the dye tracer
study. Since May 2014 Woods Hole Group DE personnel have taken
the lead on the installation and routine maintenance of two continuous
YSI dissolved oxygen monitoring systems for this project.
The Delaware office also provided field assistance for the Mullica
River portion of the Newtown Creek Sediment Toxicity Test Work
Plan during the initial pilot study in August, with continued
support during the remainder of sampling events this fall.
Woods Hole Group Delaware office will continue to work closely
with the Falmouth, MA and Houston, TX offices supporting the NOAA
PORTS contracts and additional projects throughout the remainder
of the year.
