A partnership of strengths
JOA is a small business licensed in Alaska. The 5 partners of JOA have worked together for over 5 years, with roots in Alaska surveying going back more than 35 years.
John Oswald is a consulting partner of JOA. John is a licensed surveyor in the state of Alaska and an ACSM Certified Inshore Hydrographer. John has 38 years of survey experience. Hydrographic surveying, coastal mapping and water level measurements have been the primary focus of his career.
John holds a master's degree in Geodetic Science from Ohio State University and has worked for NOAA, the University of Alaska, and the private sector. John has managed projects from Ketchikan to Amchitka Island and Demarcation Bay on the Beaufort Sea. He began his career as a NOAA officer, performing and supervising hydrographic surveys throughout the coastal waters of Alaska, Washington, and California. He also performed first order triangulation as a NOAA/National Geodetic Survey (NGS) party chief of 15 man crews in Maine, Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri. In addition, John served a two year appointment as the NGS, Geodetic Advisor for New York State.
Over the past decade, John has supported NOAA hydrographic and shoreline mapping prime contractors in remote areas of Alaska using boats, ships, fixed wing, ATV's and helicopters. John recently served on the NOAA Hydrographic Services Review Panel.
Nathan Wardwell is the managing partner of JOA. Nathan graduated from Alaska Pacific University in 2004 with a Bachelors of Science in Earth Sciences. He has also received a Masters of Science with a focus in Ocean Mapping from the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center. While completing his masters Nathan also received a FIG/IHO Category-A certification in Hydrographic Surveying.
Nathan has managed multiple projects in the field establishing tide stations in remote Alaska as well as completing datum computations. His masters thesis involved the implementation of a weighted least-squares algorithm for deriving tidal harmonic constituents from Post-Processed Kinematic GPS heights observed along a scheduled ferry route in the Bay of Fundy.
Erik Oppegard is a partner of JOA. Erik graduated from the University of Alaska, Surveying and Mapping Program with a Bachelor of Science in 1997 and has 12 years of professional experience in the field of surveying. In that time, Erik has focused on tide/water level measurement and geodetic GPS topics, participating on hydrographic, bathymetric lidar or shoreline mapping projects as well as completing several large scale GPS network surveys. He has installed and maintained NOAA National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) stations in Alaska and has specific expertise in tidal datum computations.
Erik was trained by the NGS for the processing and adjustment of GPS surveys using the NGS PAGES and Adjust software. He has recently completed a statewide adjustment for the Alaska DOT which is published in the NGS database. In addition, Mr. Oppegard is the Project Manager for JOA on a 3 year contract renewal with NOAA/CO-OPS for tide station maintenance and upgrades in Alaska.
Mike Zieserl is a partner of JOA. Mike graduated from the University of Alaska, Department of Geomatics with a Bachelor of Science in 2000 and has 8 years of professional experience in the field of surveying. Mike has focused on tide/water level measurement and kinematic GPS topics, participating on hydrographic, bathymetric lidar or shoreline mapping projects as well as several experimental projects to measure tide heights with GPS.
Mike oversaw design of the JOA GPS buoy for water level measurements, and has developed methods to refine tidal zoning schemes with GPS heights from hydrographic survey vessels. Mike has installed and maintained tide/water level measurement stations throughout Alaska, the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
Cody Mayfield is a partner of JOA. Cody brings extensive fabrication and logistic skills to the company. He has vast experience building tide stations in remote Alaska often in very harsh conditions. In addition to the tertiary stations, he has performed maintenance on NOAA's permanent tide stations (NWLONS) throughout Alaska which includes equipment mainenance and repair, geodetic GPS surveying and cold water diving. Cody has also built and maintained tertiary tide stations in Louisiana and Virginia