Chart of the North Atlantic

Chart of the North Atlantic
Name	Chart of the North Atlantic
Caption	Historical chart of the North Atlantic
Type	Nautical chart
Creator	Various cartographers
Date	Various
Language	English

Contents

Chart of the North Atlantic is a nautical and cartographic compilation used to represent the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent landmasses including Greenland, Iceland, British Isles, Iberian Peninsula, and North America. The chart synthesizes sources from institutions such as the Hydrographic Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Canadian Hydrographic Service, and historical publishers like the Royal Geographical Society and Stockholm-based cartographers. Its use spans navigation by entities including the Royal Navy, United States Navy, Maersk, and scientific expeditions from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory.

Overview

The chart presents bathymetric contours, coastlines, hazards, and shipping lanes that affect transatlantic crossings between ports such as New York City, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Liverpool, Lisbon, Reykjavík, and Bermuda. It functions as a reference for authorities like the International Maritime Organization, International Hydrographic Organization, European Maritime Safety Agency, and commercial operators including CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Company. Historically and presently, the chart interfaces with systems developed by Sailing Directions, Admiralty Sailing Directions, NOAA Nautical Charts, and cartographic collections at the British Library and Library of Congress.

Early precursors derive from medieval and Age of Discovery works by figures such as Prince Henry the Navigator, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and Willem Janszoon Blaeu, compiled alongside atlases like those of Gerardus Mercator, Abraham Ortelius, and Jodocus Hondius. Nineteenth-century improvements were influenced by hydrographers like Matthew Fontaine Maury, publications from the U.S. Coast Survey, and surveys by the Royal Navy Hydrographic Office during the Napoleonic Wars and Crimean War. Twentieth-century revisions incorporated data from expeditions of Challenger expedition, Meteor (1925 vessel), SS Polarstern, and wartime charts produced during World War I and World War II for convoys involving Battle of the Atlantic operations.

Coverage extends from the eastern coasts of North America across to the western coasts of Europe and Africa, including marginal seas such as the Labrador Sea, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay, and the Sargasso Sea. Features mapped include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, abyssal plains, seamounts like the New England Seamounts, continental shelves, submarine canyons such as the Baltimore Canyon, and glacially influenced fjords of Greenland. Charted hazards include icebergs tracked along the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, shoals off Cape Cod, and tidal streams around Cape Finisterre and the Faroe Islands.

Major transatlantic routes between Rotterdam, Hamburg, New York Harbor, Philadelphia, Boston, Port of Montreal, Port of Lisbon, and Port of Bilbao are plotted for merchant shipping by firms such as Hapag-Lloyd and passenger liners historically including RMS Titanic and RMS Lusitania. The chart supports naval operations by fleets like the United States Fleet Forces Command and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, search and rescue coordination with Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax and MRCC Falmouth, and fishing activities by fleets from Spain, Portugal, Icelandic Coast Guard, and Norway. It underpins route planning for research voyages by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer and transoceanic flight corridors that reference oceanic waypoints used by carriers like British Airways and Delta Air Lines.

Primary data sources include soundings from echo sounding surveys, multibeam sonar campaigns funded by institutions such as European Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, historical lead-line logs archived at the National Archives (UK), and satellite altimetry from missions like TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-3. Cartographic projections commonly used are variations of the Mercator projection for coastal navigation and Lambert conformal conic projection or Universal Transverse Mercator for regional insets; bathymetric interpolation uses methodologies developed at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Contemporary iterations appear as Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) compliant with International Maritime Organization and International Hydrographic Organization standards, distributed via providers such as Navionics, Jeppesen, and national hydrographic offices. Integration with Geographic Information Systems employs platforms like ArcGIS, QGIS, and web services by OpenStreetMap contributors and GEBCO datasets, enabling overlays of marine protected areas designated by Convention on Biological Diversity, shipping density maps from AIS data aggregators, and real-time weather from ECMWF and National Weather Service.

The chart underlies the transatlantic trade networks connecting stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange, fisheries regulated under agreements like the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization and International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, and cultural exchanges epitomized by voyages of explorers like Ernest Shackleton and emigrant movements commemorated at Ellis Island. It informs maritime heritage initiatives at institutions including the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, National Maritime Museum (Greenwich), and UNESCO-designated sites such as Bermuda Maritime Museum and contributes to economic planning by agencies like World Trade Organization and regional bodies like the European Union.

Category:Maps of the Atlantic Ocean