4 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



DAILY OCEAN WEATHER SERVICES 



The Weather Bureau's shipboard weather observation program— 

 this at present has three general components. The first is a coopera- 

 tive program which provides meteorological data and information 

 on weather and state of the sea from many vessels traveling the 

 high seas and the Great Lakes. The Weather Bureau furnishes a 

 few items of meteorological equipment to selected vessels. The 

 Bureau also calibrates barometers, barographs, and other instruments, 

 and trains designated ship's officers in the techniques of synoptic 

 weather observations. 



In the second component the Weather Bureau operates meteoro- 

 logical stations on six ocean vessels at fixed locations, four in the At- 

 lantic and two in the Pacific. The vessels are manned and operated 

 by the U.S. C^oast Guard on funds furnished by the Xavy. 



' The third component is an upper air sounding program carried on 

 seven MSTS ships which take observations in the Atlantic, Carribbean, 

 and Pacific. 



Tlie present number of meteorological and oceanographic measure- 

 ments obtained from the ocean is still inadequate for forecasting and 

 research. The lack of upper air data over the oceans poses a serious 

 handicap for high altitude forecast centers responsible for predicting 

 wind, temperature, and circulation at high levels in the atmosphere. 

 This lack of information in turn leads to inadequate forecasts for con- 

 tinental as well as for ocean areas. Gradually the number and ac- 

 curacy of measurements must be increased not only to meet require- 

 ments of meteorological oceanography and marine weather services, 

 but also for benefit of domestic weather forecasting and international 

 air commerce. Eventually, 400 additional selected merchant vessels 

 should be equipped for surface weather observations and at least 75 

 additional merchant vessels for the upper air soundings will be required 

 in the Atlantic, (Caribbean, and Pacific areas. 



Automatic 'marine weather stations. — ^Usually merchant ships follow 

 established shipping lanes. These restricted routes tend to limit the 

 coverage of the weather reports and leave vast areas of the oceans 

 without observations of weather conditions. Automatic ocean 

 weather stations widely placed in untraveled ocean regions would pro- 

 vide needed scientific data and would assist in detection of violent 

 storms which develop in regions where no reports are received. The 

 Weather Bureau started development of automatic stations several 

 years ago but soon found that the Navy was going ahead with ocean 

 buoys in this field. Now the Navy and the National Bureau of Stand- 

 ards are currently testing automatic weather stations for use at sea. 

 The Weather Bureau has assisted in the tests by monitoring radio 

 messages from these stations, and also by contributing a small portion 

 of the funds in connection with hurricane research. 



It is the Bureau's intention to procure service test models of the 

 automatic stations for installation during fiscal year 1961. l^pon 

 successful completion of final tests, location priorities will be estab- 

 lished and specified numbers of automatic stations should be procured 

 annually thereafter. 



Port marine services. — ^In carrying out its program of services to 

 domestic and overseas maritime interests, the Weather Bureau^ has 

 established Port Marine Offices at eight major ports of call. These 



