A partnership of strengths
JOA is a small business licensed in Alaska. The 4 partners of JOA have worked together for over 5 years, with roots in Alaska surveying going back more than 35 years.
John Oswald is partner and president of JOA. John is a licensed surveyor in the state of Alaska and an ACSM Certified Inshore Hydrographer. John has 36 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 project 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 the 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.
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 10 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 has completed training through the NGS for processing and adjusting GPS surveys with NGS Page-NT/Adjust software for submission to NGS for Bluebooking and recently completed a statewide adjustment for Alaska DOT for submission to NGS. In addition, Mr. Oppegard is Project Manager for JOA on a 5 year contract with NOAA/CO-OPS for tide station maintenance, upgrades and new installations 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.
Nathan Wardwell is a partner of JOA. Nathan graduated from Alaska Pacific University and is currently completing a Masters of Science in Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping Joint Hydrographic Center. He has managed multiple projects in the field establishing tide stations in remote Alaska as well as completing all of the datum computations and reports for these projects. He has particular experience and interest in GPS tides, authoring a technical paper on the subject for the Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference.
Upon completion of his degree, Nathan will have a FIG/IHO Category A certification in Hydrographic Surveying. Nathan has been with JOA since 2003.