PREFACE 



The International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) is a long-term, 

 international, cooperative program to improve the use of the ocean and its 

 resources for the benefit of mankind. 



On March 8, 1968, the President of the United States proposed "an 

 historic and unprecedented adventure — an International Decade of Ocean 

 Exploration for the 1970's." In December 1968, the United Nations General 

 Assembly endorsed "the concept of an international decade of ocean ex- 

 ploration to be undertaken within the framework of a long-term programme 

 of research and exploration. . . ." 



In late 1969, the Vice President of the United States, in his capacity as 

 Chairman of the National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering 

 Development, assigned responsibility for planning, managing, and funding 

 the U.S. program to the National Science Foundation (NSF), and set forth 

 the following goals: 



• Preserve the ocean environment by accelerating scientific observa- 

 tions of the natural state of the ocean and its interactions with the coastal 

 margin — to provide a basis for (a) assessing and predicting man-induced 

 and natural modifications of the character of the oceans, (b) identifying 

 damaging or irreversible effects of waste disposal at sea, and (c) compre- 

 hending the interaction of various levels of marine life to permit steps to 

 prevent depletion or extinction of valuable species as a result of man's 

 activities; 



• Improve environmental forecasting to help reduce hazards to life and 

 property and permit more efficient use of marine resources — by improving 

 physical and mathematical models of the ocean and atmosphere to provide 

 the basis for increased accuracy, timeliness, and geographic precision of 

 environmental forecasts; 



• Expand seabed assessment activities to permit better management — 

 domestically and internationally — of marine mineral exploration and exploi- 

 tation by acquiring needed knowledge of seabed topography, structure, 

 physical and dynamic properties, and resource potential, and to assist in- 

 dustry in planning more detailed investigations; 



• Develop an ocean monitoring system to facilitate prediction of oceano- 

 graphic and atmospheric conditions — through design and development of 

 oceanographic data buoys and other remote sensing platforms; 



in 



