time Administration, serving as a field test and evaluation unit where pro- 

 {X>sed improvements can be fully tested under simulated operating conditions 

 before being recommended for installation aboard ships. It will also stimulate 

 the transfer of technical information among the various segments of the 

 industry. 



As noted in chapter II, the ever-increasing volume of cargo moved into 

 and out of the United States by sea demands continuing port and harbor 

 expansion. At the same time, radically different types of ships demand in- 

 creasingly sophisticated facilities. Ships of unprecedented size require water 

 depths practically obtainable in only a few U.S. ports. Studies initiated by 

 the Corps of Engineers in 1971 are focusing first on port and harbor facilities 

 for bulk cargoes, but will look later at other cargo movements. The Mari- 

 time Administration, with whom these studies are being coordinated, has 

 started design studies for deep-draft, offshore terminals. 



To prevent disastrous collisions, groundings, and pollution from tanker 

 spills, the Coast Guard is working toward improved ship design and con- 

 struction standards and is developing all-weather harbor approach and har- 

 bor navigation systems. Development of light buoys and buoy-support sys- 

 tems is also being undertaken to provide more responsive and more economi- 

 cal aids to navigation. Progress is also being made in the surveillance and 

 identification of ice distribution, type, features, and stresses by use of Side- 

 Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) and the penetrometer, the only proven 

 technique for the airborne remote measurement of ice thickness. 



In August 1971, the Department of Transportation awarded a contract to 

 the Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Co. for the first new polar ice- 

 breaker to replace the aging Wind-class icebreakers. Funds for another 

 icebreaker are included in the Fiscal Year 1973 budget. Polar icebreakers op- 

 erated by the Coast Guard constitute the entire U.S. polar icebreaking fleet 

 which is necessary for resupply of strategic outposts and the accommodation 

 of scientific missions in these remote areas. 



To improve winter navigation on the Great Lakes, the home port of the 

 Coast Guard's polar icebreaker Edisto was changed from Boston to Mil- 

 waukee, Wis., in December 1971. Her icebreaking capabilities, added to 

 those of the Coast Guard's Cutter Mackinaw, should go far toward increasing 

 the flow of commerce on the Lakes. 



Major Research Projects 



It has long been recognized that the time and space scales of the oceans 

 and atmosphere are such that they must be studied cooperatively, over large 

 areas and long periods, in programs requiring funding, talent, and equip- 

 ment far beyond those held by any single agency or nation. Recent advances 

 in theory, numerical modeling, data management, and technology have 

 encouraged the conduct of such investigations. 



Now, in the decade of the 1970's, plans laid in the recent past are being 

 transformed into an array of projects that range from studies of coastal 

 ecology to global investigations of the atmosphere and ocean. And, just as 

 emphasis has moved to the environment, so has experimental science. At all 



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