successfully for its protection in the International 

 Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the 

 North Pacific Ocean. In 1975 a comprehensive 

 Atlantic bluefin tuna research study was designed 

 and implemented. 11^ There appears to be other 

 basic research going on in this branch, although it 

 is clear from the Secretary's annual report that its 

 emphasis is on economics, conservation, the fish- 

 ing business, and the amateur fisherman. 

 Commerce reports no 1977 basic research in the 

 life sciences. 



NOAA— Current Trends 



NOAA reports that all its basic research for 

 1977 is in the environmental sciences — oceanic 

 and atmospheric."^ "NOAA's research, with the 

 exception of Sea Grants' applied research is con- 

 ducted primarily in-house." The major in-house 

 facilities for basic research in oceanography are 

 the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological 

 Laboratory and the Pacific Marine Environmental 

 Laboratory. NOAA's basic research in oceanogra- 

 phy is less than 20 percent of that in meteorology. 

 Nevertheless, NOAA does report significant recent 

 results from programs in basic oceanic research."** 

 In addition to its own research, NOAA provides 

 valuable services to all oceanographers, and others 

 with an interest in the sea, through the National 

 Oceanographic Data Center and the National 

 Oceanographic Instrumentation Center (both in- 

 herited from Navy) and through the above-men- 

 tioned Data Buoy Development Project. 



An examination of the NOAA section in Part I 

 reveals that atmospheric science receives the ma- 

 jor emphasis in its basic research program. In the 

 late 1940's the Weather Bureau established small 

 in-house programs for research on basic cloud and 

 precipitation physics, as well as on a number of 

 other meteorological projects which represented 

 the beginning of a fundamental atmospheric re- 

 search program. In 195.^, when a digital electronic 

 computer became available, it began investigating 

 the circulation of the atmosphere, and this work 

 continues today at the Geophysical Fluid Dynam- 

 ics Laboratory in Princeton, N. J. During the In- 

 ternational Geophysical Year (IGY) (1957-58), the 

 Weather Bureau began collaboration with NSF 

 which led to the current program of Global Moni- 

 toring for Climatic Change. The need to eliminate 

 air pollution and to predict severe storms led to the 

 creation of the Air Resources Laboratory, the Na- 

 tional Hurricane and Experimental Laboratory, 

 and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, all of 



which conduct programs that include both basic 

 and applied research. The laboratories have stud- 

 ied such phenomena as atmospheric turbulence 

 and diffusion and structure of severe storms such 

 as hurricanes, tornadoes, and violent thunder- 

 storms. "9 



In a transfer from NBS, ESS A received pro- 

 grams and personnel in telecommunications, 

 space environment, and aeronomy research. 

 Telecommunications is now a separate unit, not in 

 NOAA, and the other programs which NOAA now 

 has have been altered. Their previous focus was 

 on the atmosphere as a transmission medium for 

 electromagnetic radiation, but now the electro- 

 magnetic radiation is used as a tool to study the 

 atmosphere with remote sensing techniques. "-'^ In 

 newly formed laboratories the skills and tech- 

 niques of these scientists are being used to probe 

 the environment, especially to study the strato- 

 sphere, the upper atmosphere, and the space envi- 

 ronment. '-i 



In summary, NOAA has an active basic re- 

 search program and finds this valuable in meeting 

 the responsibilities of its mission. NOAA reported 

 having $50.1 million in 1977 for research in the 

 life sciences, none of it basic, and $59.9 million 

 for research in environmental science, of which 

 $11.8 million is for basic research. i- The total 

 lack of basic research in marine biology indicated 

 by the above figures may reflect a particularly 

 stringent interpretation of the definition some- 

 where in the system. In the environmental sci- 

 ences NOAA's basic research program is consider- 

 ably heavier in atmospheric than oceanic sciences, 

 in spite of the strong emphasis on oceanic science 

 in the Stratton Report'-"* (which is credited with 

 playing an important part in the creation of 

 NOAA). 1-4 



NBS— Origins 



The second largest basic research program in 

 the Department of Commerce is that of the Na- 

 tional Bureau of Standards (NBS), which has a 

 $6.5 million basic research budget— $5.4 million 

 allocated for physical sciences and $1.2 million for 

 engineering. 1-5 



^^^ Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce, op. cit.. pp. 

 11,122. 



^"Fedeml Funds. Vo]. XXVI. NSF77-.ll7.TableC-34. 

 I'^NOAA communication to NSB staff. May 1977. 



"»lbid. 



l-OSee Part I. NOAA section. 



'2INOAA communication to NSB staff. May 1977. 



^--Federal Funds. Vol. XXVI. NSF IT-^V. Tables C-\f' and C- 

 M. 



'23Commission on Marine Science, Engineering and Re- 

 sources, Our Nation and the SeaiGPO: Washington, D.C., 1969). 



^-■^ Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce, op. cit.. p. 

 101. 



^-^ Federal Funds. Vol. XXVI. NSF77-.117, Table C-.34. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 337 



