El faro: developing a digital illustration of hull wreckage 15,400 feet below the surface of the Atlantic ocean

Abstract

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent agency charged with determining the probable cause of transportation accidents and promoting transportation safety. We collect a large volume of highly complex and diverse data, which is often integrated into digital illustrations to help explain the accident events, probable cause, and relevant safety issues. One major accident investigation in which digital illustrations were key was our investigation into the sinking of the cargo ship SS El Faro in 2015. (Fig. 1)