Symposia Series for Undersea Research 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of 

 Undersea Research provides manned undersea facilities and other research support 

 for investigations of aquatic environments in the areas of biological, geological, 

 and ecological research. There are currently five national undersea research 

 facilities which operate under cooperative agreements between universities and 

 NOAA. These facilities are located at: the West Indies Laboratory of Fairleigh 

 Dickinson University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the 

 University of Connecticut at Avery Point, the University of Southern California, 

 and the University of Hawaii. 



NOAA's Office of Undersea Research provides facilities for scientists to 

 conduct research supporting NOAA's mission objectives in the areas of: marine 

 fisheries, marine pollution, sea floor properties and processes, and ocean 

 services. 



Since its inception, NOAA also has encouraged and supported the use of 

 submersibles to perform in-situ underwater observations and data gathering. 

 Many shallow-water submersible missions have been supported, including the use 

 of the Johnson Sea-Link , the Nekton-Gamma , and the Mermaid , as well as deep-water 

 missions using the Al vin . The goals of the submersible programs are to support 

 the research requirements of NOAA's major program elements and its Sea Grant 

 Col lege system. 



This Symposia Series for Undersea Research has been developed specifically 

 to provide a publishing medium for national symposia whose contents have addressed 

 topics related to undersea research activities. Additional information concerning 

 this series and other activities of NOAA's Office of Undersea Research may be 

 obtained by contacting: 



Di rector 



NOAA's Office of Undersea Research 



Mail Stop R/SE2 



6010 Executive Boulevard, Room 805 



Rockville, MD 20852 



Photo Credits: Color photographs are from Bruce Nyden, Marjorie Reaka, Phillip 

 Lobel , or the Office of Undersea Research. 



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