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152 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



detail the initial state of the entire global atmosphere. With an adequate 

 research data set, it would be possible to distinguish between prediction 

 errors induced by scanty data and those arising from imperfections in 

 the models, and meaningful research could be performed. This would 

 pave the way for better operational forecasts employing improved 

 models and an efficient global observing system. Moreover, observa- 

 tions from space provided a new means for obtaining the complete 

 worldwide observations needed to carry out meaningful research in this 

 area. Finally, it was evident that such a global data set could be obtained 

 only through close cooperation among all nations — including the 

 Soviet Union — thus addressing the political goals of the Kennedy ini- 

 tiative. 



With the central goal of the program defined, there remained the 

 establishment of an institutional framework to support its implementa- 

 tion. Here, many competing interests and allegiances had to be recon- 

 ciled. It was clear that a program to observe the entire planet would re- 

 quire significant resources and that these resources could be supplied 

 only by the governments of the world. It was equally clear, however, 

 that a simple hardware-oriented data-gathering exercise would fail to 

 build the intellectual bridges between scientific communities that were 

 so urgently desired. A complex partnership thus evolved, the advan- 

 tages of which will be discussed more fully later on. 



Two major and closely linked programs were developed. The first, 

 the World Weather Watch, was to be organized by the intergovernmen- 

 tal WMO. This promised near-term improvements in the world's opera- 

 tional weather observing and forecasting systems by providing coor- 

 dination of national efforts and infusions of technology and training 

 from the developed to the developing countries. A parallel Global At- 

 mospheric Research Program held out hope for the future. This pro- 

 gram would be organized jointly by both WMO and ICSU in order to 

 draw on both the needed physical resources that governments can pro- 

 vide and the intellectual inputs of the nongovernmental scientific com- 

 munity. For this latter effort, a unique planning and management struc- 

 ture was developed, centered on an independent Joint Organizing Com- 

 mittee (JOC) of distinguished scientists reporting directly to the ex- 

 ecutive bodies of the sponsor organizations and an equally independent 

 Joint Planning Staff (JPS) reporting only to the JOC. This central struc- 

 ture was provided with significant funds of its own that it could use with 

 minimal bureaucratic inertia and constraint. Supporting national com- 

 mittees were established in many countries, notably the United States, 

 and made important contributions to the program's development. ^ By 

 1968, this structure was complete, and the detailed planning of GARP 

 began. 



