A list of lights is a publication describing lighthouses and other aids to maritime navigation. Most such lists are published by national hydrographic offices. Some nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, publish lists that cover the whole world in many volumes. Other nations publish lists that cover only their own coasts.
The Canadian Coast Guard publishes the List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals in four volumes which are updated periodically
The books are available in paper from dealers. As well, HTML and PDF formats updated up to the latest version of the Monthly Notices to Mariners can be viewed online. The PDF format is also available for free download. [1]
The Chilean official list of lighthouses is the Lista de Faros de la costa de Chile, Costa Oriental de Tierra del Fuego y Territorio Antártico published (as Nr. 3007) by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA) [2]
Navigational aids in Chile are provided by the Servicio de Señalización Marítima [Maritime Signalling Service], a department of the Dirección de Seguridad y Operaciones Marítimas (Dirsomar) [Directorate of Maritime Security and Operations], of the Dirección General del Territorio Marítimo y de Marina Mercante (Directemar) [Directorate General of the Maritime Territory and the Merchant Marine] of the Chilean Navy.
Official light list from Denmark Dansk Fyrliste 2020 provided by Søfartsstyrelsen or in English Danish Maritime Authority
https://www.soefartsstyrelsen.dk/Media/6/0/Dansk%20Fyrliste%202020.pdf Archived 2021-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
SHOM, the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service, publishes Livres des feux et signaux de brume (Books of Lights and Fog Signals) in four volumes, updated periodically: [3]
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, generally known as "The Admiralty", publishes the Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals covering the whole world in 15 volumes. The information is also available in digital form. [4] [5]
The United States Coast Guard Light List is published annually in seven volumes. It covers the entire coastline of the United States and its possessions. [6]
Each volume of the Light List contains aids to navigation in geographic order from north to south along the Atlantic coast, from east to west along the Gulf coast, and from south to north along the Pacific coast. It lists seacoast aids first, followed by entrance and harbor aids listed from seaward.
Intracoastal Waterway aids are listed last in geographic order in the direction from New Jersey to Florida to the border of Texas and Mexico.
The listings are preceded by a description of the aids to navigation system in the United States, luminous range diagram, geographic range tables, and other information.
NGA publishes NGA List of Lights Radio Aids & Fog Signals covering the rest of the world: [7]
Both the Coast Guard and the NGA lists are available in book form from a range of dealers and in PDF form, without charge.
In addition to information on lighted aids to navigation and sound signals in foreign waters, the NGA List of Lights provides information on storm signals, signal stations, racons, radiobeacons, and radio direction finder calibration stations located at or near lights. Publication number 117, Radio Navigational Aids, is the primary source for details on radio navigational aids.
The List of Lights does not include information on lighted buoys inside harbors. It does include certain aeronautical lights situated near the coast; however, these lights are not designed for marine navigation and are subject to unreported changes.
Notices to mariners provided by other countries are the main source for correctional information source for the Lists of Lights, however other sources, such as ship reports, are also used.
The history of the many lightvessel stations of Great Britain goes back over 250 years to the placement of the world's first lightship at the Nore in the early 18th century.
A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or banks. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of land (topography), natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and human-made aids to navigation, information on tides and currents, local details of the Earth's magnetic field, and human-made structures such as harbours, buildings, and bridges. Nautical charts are essential tools for marine navigation; many countries require vessels, especially commercial ships, to carry them. Nautical charting may take the form of charts printed on paper or computerized electronic navigational charts. Recent technologies have made available paper charts which are printed "on demand" with cartographic data that has been downloaded to the commercial printing company as recently as the night before printing. With each daily download, critical data such as Local Notices to Mariners are added to the on-demand chart files so that these charts are up to date at the time of printing.
A hydrographic office is an organization which is devoted to acquiring and publishing hydrographic information.
Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or aircraft with respect to a desired course or location. Horizontal fixes of position from known reference points may be obtained by sight or by radar. Vertical position may be obtained by depth sounder to determine depth of the water body below a vessel or by altimeter to determine an aircraft's altitude, from which its distance above the ground can be deduced. Piloting a vessel is usually practiced close to shore or on inland waterways. Pilotage of an aircraft is practiced under visual meteorological conditions for flight.
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is the UK's agency for providing hydrographic and marine geospatial data to mariners and maritime organisations across the world. The UKHO is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and is located in Taunton, Somerset, with a workforce of approximately 900 staff.
Admiralty charts are nautical charts issued by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and subject to Crown Copyright. Over 3,500 Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and 14,000 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are available with the Admiralty portfolio offering the widest official coverage of international shipping routes and ports, in varying detail.
The American Practical Navigator, originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, is an encyclopedia of navigation. It serves as a valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary. In 1867 the copyright and plates were bought by the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy. As of 2019 it is still published by the U.S. Government and is available free online from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the modern successor agency to the 19th Century Hydrographic Office. The publication is considered one of America's nautical institutions.
A navigational aid (NAVAID), also known as aid to navigation (ATON), is any sort of signal, markers or guidance equipment which aids the traveler in navigation, usually nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids include lighthouses, buoys, fog signals, and day beacons.
Chile has a large and intricate coastline of 4000 km with myriads of islands, islets, straits, bays, and fjords.
Sailing Directions are written directions that describe the routes to be taken by boats and ships during coastal navigation and port approaches. There are also products known as Sailing Directions, which are books written by various Hydrographic Offices throughout the world. They are known as Pilot Books, because they provide local knowledge of routes and landmarks, which would typically be provided by a local marine pilot. As such, they are used frequently by naval and government vessels, who are exempted from 'Compulsory Pilotage' in many ports.
A notice to mariners advises mariners of important matters affecting navigational safety, including new hydrographic information, changes in channels and aids to navigation, and other important data.
Nautical publications is a technical term used in maritime circles describing a set of publications, either published by national governments or by commercial and professional organisations, for use in safe navigation of ships, boats, and similar vessels. Other publications might cover topics such as seamanship and cargo operations. In the UK, the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, the Witherby Publishing Group and the Nautical Institute provide numerous navigational publications, including charts, publications on how to navigate and passage planning publications. In the US, publications are issued by the US government and US Coast Guard.
The North Bull Lighthouse, is an active aid to navigation located at the mouth of the River Liffey, near Dublin, Ireland. It is one of four lighthouses that help guide shipping into the Liffey, and the Port of Dublin, all of which are operated and maintained by the Dublin Port Company.
Attribution
This article incorporates public domain material from . National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
| General references |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Nautical charts | ||
| Lights and buoys | ||
| Geographic information | ||
| Celestial navigation | ||
| Tidal information | ||
| Radio information | ||
| Periodicals | ||
| See also | ||