Research, Manpower, and Engineering 



—provides management for the U.S. Antarctic Oceanographic Research 



Program; 

 — funds a special program of deep ocean sediment coring; and 

 — supports special studies, fellowship^, and conferences. 

 While the size of the research programs of other agencies is not as large 

 as the Navy and NSF programs, they, too, contribute both to meeting 

 the needs of individual agencies and to strengthening the national research 

 base. Among the many programs included in the multi-goal research cate- 

 gory are research on air-sea interaction, mathematical modelling and field 

 investigations of ocean dynamics and the geological and geophysical struc- 

 ture of ocean basins (ESSA), radionuclide investigations (AEC), studies 

 related to phenomena of currents (Coast Guard), and worldwide marine 

 biological and geological expeditions and specimen analysis at facilities in 

 the United States and abroad (Smithsonian). 



In considering future needs and opportunities of marine research, it is 

 becoming apparent that sharply increasing attention must be given to three 

 problems : stability in support to academic institutions, adequacy of funding 

 to cover ship operations and supporting facilities, and increased attention 

 to nearshore ecology. 



Research Areas of Special Emphasis 



Four areas of federally supported research will receive special emphasis 

 in FY 1970: 



1. Air-Sea Interaction.- — A numerical ocean-atmosphere interaction 

 model has been developed which extends from depths of a few hundred 

 meters in the ocean layer to heights of about a kilometer in the atmospheric 

 layer. The principal processes included in the model are eddy fluxes in 

 stratified flow, mixing due to wind-generated waves on the sea surface, and 

 cloud-dependent radiative heating. Parallel to the model development, an 

 instrument development program is continuing to improve capabilities for 

 measuring the important parameters in the lower atmosphere and upper 

 ocean. 



As part of the Federal program for air-sea interaction research, a Bar- 

 bados Oceanographic Meteorological Experiment — BOMEX — will be con- 

 ducted from May to July 1969 in the area east of Barbados with funding 

 and participation by seven Federal agencies.^ During the past year an instru- 



^ Departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior, and Transportation, Atomic Energ>' 

 Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Science 

 Foundation. 



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