Archives Specialist Marcia Kolko reports that descriptions for nine small series of video recordings from Record Group 370, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have recently been uploaded to the National Archives Catalog
The series document a range of NOAA surveys and projects, including documentation of an emergency response drill in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, images of the shipwreck site of the USS Monitor, documentation of NOAA research expeditions and missions to the Lost City Hydrothermal Fields in the Atlantic Ocean, and NOAA research expeditions to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary.
Footage also includes camera originals used in the making of two NOAA-produced documentaries. “The Surveyors: Charting America’s Course”, which commemorates the 200th anniversary in 2007 of NOAA and its predecessor agencies, and “People of the Seal”, a documentary about the history, legacy of the Unangan native people of Alaska’s Pribilof and Aleutian Islands, the relationship between the Unangan and the northern fur seal, and of NOAA’s restoration and environmental remediation efforts on the islands.
Descriptions of the footage shot to make these two documentaries can be found in the series “Unedited Video Recordings Used for “People of the Seal” Documentary, compiled 08/2008 – 09/2008 NAID 6927407 / Local Identifier 370-POTS and “Coast Survey 200th Anniversary Video Recordings, compiled 2006 – 2007 NAID Identifier 6925728 / Local Identifier 370-CS.”
Most of the videos from these series are unedited, and were shot in the high definition video format. If you are interested in the technical specs, they were shot in 720p, or 720 progressive scan, with frame rates of both 24 and 60 frames per second, and recorded to DVCPro videotape.
Roughly speaking, 720p meaning that there are 720 lines of horizontal resolution in every frame of video, and the images are scanned progressively( (line 1,2,3,4, etc. through 720). In 1080i, or interlaced video, another high definition format, the image or frame is displayed as even lines, odd lines, over and over again. As our colleague Courtney Egan explained , “this is a more traditional type of video formatting and display that has been used since the early days of broadcasting and that was originally used as a basic means of compression.”
This video, “Pribilof Islands Scenes” is from the series “Unedited Video Recordings Used for “People of the Seal” :
Here are descriptions for the new NOAA series:
- Safe Sanctuaries Video Recordings (370-SAS) NAID 6921948 . The series documents an oil cargo vessel emergency response drill in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary conducted by NOAA and several partners. Compiled 2005 (16 items).
- Pac Baroness Video Recordings (370-PACB) NAID 6921951 . The series is comprised of unedited video recordings that capture the sunken remains of the vessel Pac Baroness in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Compiled 2002 (5 items).
- Okeanos Lost City Video Recordings (370-OLC) NAID 6923580 . These are video images of the Lost City Hydrothermal Field, located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, that were captured from two robotic vehicles — Hercules and Argus – in a 2005 expedition. Compiled 2005 (3 items).
- Okeanos Explorer Video Recordings (370-OEX) NAID 6923602. This Okeanos Explorer series consists of raw footage recording the commissioning and conversion of the USS Capable, a naval surveillance ship, to a research vessel equipped with real-time broadband satellite communications. Missions of the ship included mapping, site characterization, reconnaissance, education and outreach. Compiled 2007-2008 (8 items).
- Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Video Recordings (370-MON) NAID 6923810 . This series captures high-resolution digital video images from the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary of the shipwreck site of the USS Monitor. Compiled 2006 (11 items).
- Northwest Hawaiian Islands Video Recordings (370-NWHI) NAID 6924946 . This series documents events from May 14th through June 7th 2005, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel Hi`ialakai, conducted a research expedition to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). NWHI footage includes scenes of marine life; placement of permanent transects to mark monitoring sites for coral ecologists; investigation of shipwreck sites; and the work of several scientific research teams. The vessel visited French Frigate Shoals, La Perouse Pinnacle, Maro Reef, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Midway Atoll, and Kure Atoll. Compiled 2005 (34 items).
- Coast Survey 200th Anniversary Video Recordings (370-CS) NAID 6925728 . This Coast Survey series consists of raw footage used to make a NOAA documentary film “The Surveyors: Charting America’s Course” (2007). The film was made in celebration of the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson’s authorization of the Survey of the Coast in 1807. The series also includes footage of modern, state-of-the art operations aboard the NOAA ships Fairweather, Thomas Jefferson and Rainier . Compiled 2006-2007 (13 items).
- Unedited Video Recordings Used for “People of the Seal” (370-POTS) NAID 6927407 . This series consists of moving images that compile Pribilof Island scenes for potential inclusion in the documentary “People of the Seal.” The footage includes wildlife and scenes of contemporary everyday life in the Aleut community. Compiled 2008 (22 items).
Search Tip: You can search on individual program titles for a series by clicking on “Search Within This Series” in the series Catalog record.
