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revolutionized marine mammal research. He said "in the first six weeks of 

 the project, more total whale detections were recorded than exist in data 

 bases collected by scientists in the last 20 years". 



Dr. Clyde Nishimura of NRL documented the capability of the arrays 

 to detect and localize ocean seismic events, a capability that the 

 interagency Global Change "RIDGE" community is interested in obtaining in 

 order to understand the formation and deformation of the earth's crust. 

 Through access to SOSUS data, Dr. Nishimura was able to detect hundreds 

 of seismic events per month along the Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 

 compared with less than 10 per month detected using land-based sensors. 



This same system has other, still undemonstrated, potential uses to 

 assist non-DoD agencies and the civilian community. These uses include: 

 as a component of the planned Global Ocean Observing System; as a real- 

 time acoustic data link to receive data from subsurface drifting buoys and 

 other subsurface ocean sensors which cannot transmit via satellite; 

 detection and localization of atmospheric storm activitj' over the ocean; 

 as an integral remote sensor for experiments such as the Navy-initiated 

 Heard Island experiment on global warming; its successor sponsored by 

 ARPA called ATOC (Acoustic Thermometry of the Ocean); and a potential 

 SERDP sponsored marine mammal monitoring effort. 



The lUSS assets and capabilities are clearly of benefit to many 

 agencies, in addition to their fundamental importance to national security. 



MAPPING, CHARTING AND GEODESY 



Accurate mapping, charting and geodesy (MC&G) information is a 

 clear DoD requirement. While the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) acts as 

 the central point for preparing and distributing the products needed by 

 DoD, Navy surveys collect much of the data, and NRL is specifically 

 chartered to provide the required research and development in support of 

 this survey effort. This mission requires a broad set of capabilities to 

 advance the state-of-the-art in ocean bottom mapping, characterizing its 

 variability, and analyzing its engineering properties at all ocean depths. 

 Navy researchers make their information available to other agencies with 

 MC&G missions and we are eager to capitalize on their successes as well. 



