 Surveying the coastline and the offshore area from Point Lay to Barter Island, the field party made the first accurate survey of the North Slope area.As a lieutenant (junior grade), Nygren used this newfound knowledge to serve as a maritime pilot for a convoy of United States Navy tank landing ships (LSTs) as it voyaged along the Alaska North Slope.Leaving the Arctic Field Party in 1952, Nygren became executive officer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey coastal survey ship USC&GS "Hodgson" (CSS 26), operating in Oregon's Depoe Bay and Washington's Puget Sound.