U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS)
The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) was established by Congress in the early 19th century to survey the Atlantic coast and create accurate navigation charts for maritime activities. Originally called the Coast Survey, it was intended as a temporary agency funded until safe navigation charts were completed. However, as the organization expanded its mission to include extensive research in fields like hydrography, cartography, and meteorology, it became a vital scientific agency, ultimately leading to its continued funding. In 1878, it was officially renamed the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Over its more than 150 years of operation, the USC&GS made significant advancements in geodesy and surveying techniques, including triangulation and geodetic astronomy. The agency conducted systematic observations of solar eclipses and studied celestial transits, contributing to a more accurate understanding of the Earth's shape. It also played a critical role in improving navigation by determining ideal locations for lighthouses and buoys and maintaining the nation's standards for weights and measures. Although the USC&GS was eventually dissolved, its legacy and research practices were carried on by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which continues to manage navigation and tidal monitoring today.
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U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS)
Date: Established as Coast Survey in 1807; reestablished in 1832; renamed Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878; abolished in early 1970’s
The Coast and Geodetic Survey, moving far beyond its original assignment of making coastal navigation charts, was a research agency that became a world leader in geodesy. It developed and refined navigation and measurement techniques and did research in hydrography and coastal geology.
Background
The U.S. Congress created the Coast and Geodetic Survey, initially known as the Coast Survey, early in the nineteenth century to survey the Atlantic coast of the United States and develop accurate charts for navigation and shipping. Legislation in 1807, the Coast Survey Act, first provided for surveying and mapping the nation’s coastline, but Congress failed to allocate adequate funding. As a result, little progress was made. In 1832, Congress authorized reestablishment of the Coast Survey. Lawmakers at the time intended for the Coast Survey to be a temporary agency: Funding would be provided only until the charts needed for safe navigation were completed, and then the Coast Survey would be dissolved. Under the leadership of its early superintendents, however, the Coast Survey expanded its mission to include basic research into hydrography, topography, cartography, meteorology, coastal geology, and a wide range of other topics relating to the physics of the Earth. By the time the Coast Survey completed charts of the Atlantic and, after the acquisition of Western territories, Pacific coastlines, the organization was so thoroughly established as a scientific agency that it became difficult for legislators to argue against continued funding. In 1878, the agency’s name was changed to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Impact on Resource Use
Over the course of the more than 150 years of the Coast and Geodetic Survey’s existence, the agency achieved numerous scientific and technical breakthroughs. In the process of completing its original mission of creating navigation charts, the organization evolved into a scientific research agency that became a world leader in geodesy. It developed methods for use in triangulation, arc measurement, geodetic astronomy, determining longitude and latitude, and other aspects of measuring the Earth. The Coast and Geodetic Survey improved instruments used in surveying and navigation for determining position, distance, angles, directions, and elevations, and it investigated the best methods to be used in reproducing maps. As part of its research in geodesy, the survey conducted methodical observations of solar eclipses. For the solar eclipse of August 7, 1869, for example, the survey stationed observation teams in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, and Alaska. Other astronomical observations made at various times included studying the transit of the planets Mercury and Venus. Measurements of the great arcs of the thirty-ninth parallel and the ninety-eighth meridian both provided a basis for the government surveys of the interior of the United States and suggested a more refined model of the shape of the Earth.
In addition, the Coast and Geodetic Survey pioneered research in tidal flows, hydrography, and oceanography. The organization determined the best sites for lighthouses and navigation buoys and researched the history of names of prominent geographic features for use on maps and charts. Minor functions of the Coast and Geodetic Survey included serving as the keeper of the nation’s standard weights and measures.
Though the Coast and Geodetic Survey was eventually dismantled, its research traditions continued in other agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific agency created as part of President Richard Nixon’s reorganization of the Department of Commerce in 1970. NOAA’s National Ocean Service, for example, prepares charts and monitors tidal activity.
Bibliography
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.