A partnership of strengths
JOA is a small business licensed in Alaska, founded in 2003. The 5 partners of JOA have all worked together for over 5 years, with roots in Alaska surveying going back more than 35 years.
Nathan Wardwell
Email: nathan@joasurveys.com
Nathan 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
Email: erik@joasurveys.com
Erik 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
Email: mike@joasurveys.com
Mike 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.