Survey vessels to inspect inlets today

MOREHEAD CITY — In the first few hours after Hurricane Earl has passed, the crew of the Survey Vessel Beaufort will be among the first to head out onto area waterways.

The storm is likely to toss trees and other storm debris into waterways, churn up sand from the sea floor and create obstructions along federally maintained channels such as Beaufort, Bogue and Topsail inlets.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District’s survey vessels are the first on the water to make sure the channels are clear and safe to reopen to navigation.

 “We’ll probably be out there 6 to 8 hours after the storm,” said Robby Potter, team chief for the Survey Vessel Beaufort based out of Morehead City.

Beaufort Inlet, a channel with access to the state port in Morehead City, will be on their stops.

“The Coast Guard closes the channel, but they won’t allow traffic through the inlet until we open it,” Potter said.

The Wilmington District has survey vessels located in Morehead City, Wilmington and Wanchese, with the S/V Beaufort and one other vessel based in Carteret County.

Potter was joined Wednesday by survey technician Reggie Adams and boat captain Barry Guthrie as they prepared for the approaching hurricane.

While they won’t know the damage Earl may leave behind until they get on the water, they’ll have state-of-the art equipment onboard to help them survey and more quickly and efficiently than years past.

“I’ve been here 30 years and it is amazing the equipment and advances I’ve seen,” said Guthrie as he explained a multi-beam hydrographic survey system.

While traditional systems had just one beam, the current system has 512 beams to help determine depth and width as they survey the channels and watch for submerged debris and objects.

They can survey four times the area they once could. In Beaufort Inlet, for instance, they can now cover the 450-foot wide inlet in about four passes over the area.

“It used to take about three days to do Beaufort Inlet, and now we can do it in one day,” Guthrie said.

And the more quickly they can complete one task, the sooner other boaters are back on the water.

As they work, the crew is able to produce maps onboard the boat and is continually sending data to officials with the Corps of Engineers as well as sharing information with agencies such as the Coast Guard and the N.C. Ferry System. The information is also used by the ports and port pilots in ensuring safe transit of commercial and cargo vessels.

And while storms and hurricanes keep the S/V Beaufort busy, the crew is on the water year around monitoring and surveying the channels for dredging.