and to apply new knowledge and technology to improving the total na- 

 tional MAREP system. 



In February 1971, the Federal Coordinator issued a Federal Plan for 

 Marine Environmental Prediction, Fiscal Year 1972. This first full descrip- 

 tion of what America has in the way of MAREP services, what is under 

 development, and what will be needed in the near and middle-distant future 

 laid a framework for the further development of predictive services. 



Specific objectives of the MAREP plan include development of : An inte- 

 grated environmental monitoring system that will fulfill the need for physical 

 and biological data from the oceans and their boundary regions and for 

 predictive service programs, including those for control of pollution; inte- 

 grated marine prediction and information services that include timely re- 

 ports, forecasts, and warnings of natural and manmade hazards on the high 

 seas, in coastal waters, and on the Great Lakes; and methods that assess 

 and predict the abundance and distribution of the ocean's living resources. 

 Although these exist in some form now, MAREP will endeavor to advance 

 them to the very threshold state of their respective arts. 



Today, a broad range of civil services are available. NOAA's prediction 

 of sea and swell, storm surge and seiche, tropical and extratropical storm tides 

 and tidal currents and the Corps of Engineers' channel and harbor activities 

 do much to support marine navigation. The USGS water-quality stations, the 

 Coast Guard expanding coastal-zone monitoring activities, and NOAA re- 

 search into the dynamics of estuaries advance the fight against water pollu- 

 tion. The seasonal and short-term forecasts of fisheries abundance issued by 

 the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service aid fishermen and the man- 

 agers of America's fishery resources. MARMAP (Marine Resources Moni- 

 toring, Assessment, and Prediction), described in chapter III, represents a 

 kind of predictive subsystem of MAREP which should lead to a compre- 

 hensive view of the locations, populations, and relative abundances of the 

 ocean's living resources. 



A permanent network of tide gages is operated along the coasts and within 

 the major embayments of the United States, Puerto Rico, other territories 

 and possessions, and the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. There is 

 also a water-level monitoring network on the Great Lakes. In addition, 150 

 temporary secondary stations were occupied during hydrographic surveys 

 in 1971 to increase the coverage. In the next year, tide and tidal current 

 predictions will be improved through the automation of 50 coastal stations. 



The Pacific Tsunami Warning System, headquartered in Honolulu, Ha- 

 waii, and the Regional Tsunami Warning System at Palmer, Alaska, use 

 data from a network of seismograph and tide stations around the Pacific 

 Ocean Basin to generate timely warnings of destructive earthquake- 

 generated tsunamis ("tidal waves") . During 1971, the warning network was 

 strengthened by the addition of six seismograph stations and one tide sta- 

 tion. No oceanwide tsunamis occurred last year, although tsunami watches 

 were issued following large earthquakes centered in the New Guinea- 

 Solomon Islands, Alaska, and Kamchatka, U.S.S.R., areas. A regional 

 tsunami watch was issued by Palmer Observatory following Cannikin, the 

 AEC's underground test on Amchitka Island, but no measurable tsunami 

 action was observed. Plans continue against the time when the operational 



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