19 



Authoruation level 



1994 enacted 



South Pacific Tuna, PL 102-523, administrative exp 



350— FY 1992-2002 



NOAA 1994 PRIORITY REQUEST 



The following lists NOAA Priorities as included in the President's Request and 

 Congressional Action for FY 1994: 



[In thousands of dollars] 



Program 



National Ocean Service: 



Great Lakes Mapping proiect 



Observation and Prediction 



Coastal Ocean program 



National Marine Fisheries: 



Computer hardware/software 



Enforcement & Surveillance 



Product Quality & Safety 



Oceanic & Atmospheric Research: 



Long-Term Climate & Air Quality Research 



High Performance Computing 



Climate & Global Change 



Weather Research 



Solar-Terrestrial Services & Research 



Marine Prediction Research 



National Weather Service: 



Central Forecast Guidance 



Atmospheric and Hydrological Research 



NEXRAO 



NMC Computer Facility Upgrades 



National Environmental and Satellite, Data and Information Service: 



Environmental Observing Services 



Environmental Data Management Systems 



Program Support: Central Administrative Support 



Senator Kerry. With respect to aircraft procurement, your testi- 

 mony suggested that the new high-altitude aircraft eventually will 

 provide tnree capabilities, hurricane surveillance, hurricane recon- 

 naissance, and hurricane and tropospheric research. 



The $43 million in funding was for hurricane reconnaissance as 

 set out in the 1994 appropriations report, but now you are saying 

 that the money is only sufficient for hurricane surveillance, which 

 is a lower level of capacity. Can you tell us what the distinction is, 

 and why it exists between the original 



Dr. Baker. This is an interesting issue with the aircraft, and I 

 want to be completely up front with you about the issue associated 

 with the aircraft. We are working very hard to get the aircraft in 

 place, but I think it is important to recognize two things. 



One is, we are working hard and we think we will get this air- 

 craft procured in a time which is shorter than most aircraft pro- 

 curements. Also I think it is fair to say that the aircraft was added 

 to our budget last year, and we did not expect that to happen quite 

 so soon, and because of that we had to work very hard and very 

 fast to make sure that we had the requirements in place so that 

 we could move ahead with the procurement, given the fact that we 

 had the opportunity to have the aircraft in place. 



It is something that we want, do not get me wrong. The current 

 budget that has been estimated for the aircraft allows us to do 

 what we call hurricane surveillance. This is the initial capability. 

 This is drop wind sonde mission around the periphery of the storm, 



