Enclosure 2 to COMDTINST 16478.12
APPENDIX II - TECHNICAL APPENDIX
I.
DATA SOURCES
ATONIS
Most basic information about the AtoN sites was derived from raw data in the
Coast Guard's Aids to Navigation information System (ATONIS). We selected data
to help us identify the location, power demand and potential environmental
sensitivity of each fixed lighted AtoN.
Identifying information in ATONIS individual aids included the aid name, aid
number, and Light Number (1993 data). Aid locations were defined using the
assigned position of the AtoN, usually given in latitude. However, AtoNs
located on some Western Rivers were listed in terms of "River Mile". In those
cases, we manually estimated the latitude and longitude of the aid and entered
it in the data base. ATONIS included location-specific bottom type (i.e. mud,
rock, etc.) and mean low tide water depth for about 25% of the aids, both of
which were used to determine environmental characteristics of the aid's
location. ATONIS also included data on the lamp, flasher and changer
characteristics of each aid that we used to estimate power demand and battery
usage.
Each aid in the priority ranking data base was given a unique identifier.
Aid numbers are not unique among districts - therefore matching data from other
sources onto ATONIS required an additional identifier. We found that any two
descriptors among the name, aid number or latitude/longitude coordinates would
uniquely identify each aid. In most cases, the unique identifier was the
ATONIS aid name and aid number. These unique identifiers were crucial to
determining the actual number and location of fixed AtoNs to be ranked. Since
light list numbers are reassigned frequently, this number is not sufficient to
track AtoNs. Some data are omitted from final report listing AtoNs by
District, State and Priorty rank. These data were unavailable at the time of
the complilation of this version of the priority ranking report. State
identifiers for 392 AtoNs are omitted from this report; however, priority ranks
were assigned to these AtoNs and they appear in the tabular report for District
2.
II.
APPENDED FIELDS
NOAA Data on Bottom Types and Depths
_______________________________________
Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Priority Ranking Plan for Aton Battery Recovery
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