About Us

The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM)/ Joint Hydrographic Center (JHC) is a recently established University of New Hampshire program aimed at creating a national center for expertise in ocean mapping and hydrographic sciences. Guided by a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the JHC operates in partnership with NOAA's National Ocean Service. The CCOM is a University center that expands the scope of interaction and cooperation with the private sector, other government agencies and universities. In addition to NOAA support, CCOM currently has projects underway funded by the US Geological Survey, the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Research Lab, DARPA, NSF and several private sector partners. The centers focus their activities on two major tasks, an educational task, aimed at creating a learning center that will promote and foster the education of a new generation of hydrographers and ocean mapping scientists, and a research task aimed at developing and evaluating a wide range of state-of-the-art hydrographic and ocean mapping technologies and applications.

The Centers' graduate degree program in ocean mapping has been awarded Category A Recognition by the International Federation of Surveyors /International Hydrographic Organization /International Cartographic Association (FIG/IHO/ICA) Advisory Board on Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors. Category A Recognition is the highest level of international recognition. It indicates that the FIG/IHO Advisory Board has examined the program curriculum in detail and concluded that the program provides comprehensive and broad-based knowledge in all aspects of the theory and practice of hydrography and allied disciplines.

History of CCOM/JHC

CCOM has finished it's new addition and occupants have started to move in as of the first week in July 2008.

The new wing will be called the IOCM (Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping) Processing Center.

The central theme for the new center is "map once, use many times". The idea behind the processing center is to use hydrographic data to develop protocols for producing mapping products that can serve many other purposes (e.g. fisheries habitat).

Two people from the NOAA Ocean Exploration program will be assigned to the center to process multibeam sonar data collected on the Okeanos Explorer. The data will be transported to the new center via a telepresence console and then sent back to the ship. The Center will also focus on developing products specific to the Okeanos Explorer team.

Additionally the Center will focus on multibeam sonar data collected for purposes other than hydrography. The research question will be -- "Can these data also be used for hydrographic purposes?"

the Center in 2000

breaking ground for the new ccom/jhc addition

Ground breaking for the new addition 2007

In support of the new Center, the University committed to the construction of a new 7225 square foot building which was originally scheduled for completion in early January. During the course of this construction, Center faculty and staff invested a great deal of time working with the University architects to design a building that would accommodate the needs of the new Center within the constraints of the allowed budget. Final permission for occupancy was received on the evening of the 27th of January 2000.

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Legal Notice

This website was prepared by the University of New Hampshire's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping under award NA17OG2285 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Department of Commerce.