OCEANOGRAPHY 109 



located near the Hydrographic Office, much uunecessary duplication of facilities 

 and data could be avoided. 



H.R. 12018 also authorizes the establishment within the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey of a National Instrument Test and Calibration Center. This center 

 would test, calibrate and evaluate geographic and hydrographic instruments, 

 on a cost-reimbursable basis, for both governmental and nongovernmental agen- 

 cies and persons, including foreign agencies and persons. I believe that the 

 establishment of such a facility is of very great importance. esi>ecially in view 

 of the plans for coordinated oceanwide research and surveys. These surveys 

 will involve the efforts of many different groups within the United States and 

 from other cooi>eratiug nations. The larger laboratories in the United States 

 do mo.st of their own instrument testing and calibration, but there is certainly 

 a need for such services for smaller laboratories which cannot afford the nec-es- 

 sary facilities. EA'en the larger laboratories might find that a national center 

 would be able to provide the services at a lower cost. In the case of foreign 

 laboratories, such as the small laboratories of some of our Latin-American 

 neighbors, I know from personal experience that such a service would be very 

 valuable to them, and could be an effective means of encouraging their develop- 

 ment of marine sciences, as well as insuring that the data collected by them 

 are accurate and comparable to those collec-ted elsewhere. 



I have no personal opinion as to whether such a test and calibration center 

 should be located in the Coast and Gef)detic Survey, the Hydrographic Office, 

 the Bureau of Standards, or some other agency. I believe that any of the 

 agencies I have just named could do the job competently. 



Dr. ScHAEFER. With respect to the surveys, as you know, our com- 

 mittee has for some time reviewed this matter of the needs for sur- 

 veys and we are extremely gratified to note that the Conofress and the 

 administration are both recoofnizing the necessity for these and are 

 considering ways and means of accomplishing them. 



The surveys, in our opinion, should be three dimensional, oceanwide. 

 They should map such features as depth, salinity, temperature, current 

 velocity, turbulence, wave motion, magnetism, and biological activity. 

 These surveys are of value, botli for immediate uses, for certain mili- 

 tary problems, for the expansion and development of fisheries, for 

 the efficient routing of merchant ships, and for the disposal of indus- 

 trial waste products such as atomic waste, but they are also useful to 

 provide a comprehensive background which will form a basis for 

 scientists to orient basic research in particular subjects which will 

 ultimately yield new kinds of benefits to our citizens and the rest of 

 the world. 



The task of making these surveys is very large. They will have to 

 be made on a planned, coordinated basis, and in order to do it with any 

 reasonable number of ships, and in any reasonable leng-th of time, it 

 will have to be done on an international basis. Our estimate is that 

 the United States should undertake about a third of tliis worldwide 

 survey and the remainder be done by other maritime nations on a 

 cooperative basis. "We believe that this procedure is feasible on the 

 basis of the experience with the success of the International Geo- 

 physical Year, and the plans that are now being formulated for an 

 international study of the Indian Ocean. 



One aspect of these surveys, of course, which is important is the mat- 

 ter of the ship's position. It is particularly important with respect to 

 the surveys of the bottom topography of the ocean. Precise position- 

 ing is needed for this. One of the interesting aspects of this problem 

 is the navigational satellites which the space agency is just be- 

 ginning to get up. I was talking to one of the scientists yesterday 

 evening. It turns out that the technicians feel that they can make a 

 shipboard instrument for using the navigational satellites which will 



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