Large errors exist today in predicting wave heights for optimum 

 ship routing because the forward velocity of weather fronts that 

 generate the waves cannot be accurately predicted. ASW sonar 

 performance predictions require the wave history in an area to 

 provide mixed layer depth and the sound velocity gradients below 

 the mixed layer. Scientifically, the new insight into the growth and 

 decay of sea state will provide better understanding of atmospheric 

 and oceanic momentum and heat exchanges leading to better long- 

 range weather forecasts. 



While a large volume of scientific data has been gathered on the 

 character and distribution of marine sediments, the technology for 

 determining their engineering properties has not advanced to the 

 point of soil testing procedures frequently used on land. A major 

 problem has been to obtain in situ acoustical data and sufficiently 

 undisturbed samples of marine sediments to perform reliable 

 engineering tests. However, an experimental sound velocimeter 

 mounted in a deep sea gravity corer has recently made possible the 

 first in situ velocity measurements. These measurements have been 

 correlated satisfactorily with laboratory velocity measurements on 

 the same sample. 



The NOAA Data Buoy Office located at the Mississippi Test 

 Facility,* is developing instrumented, unattended buoys to collect 

 and relay data on the marine environment for operational and 

 research use through telemetry to earth satellites and shore stations. 

 The U.S. Coast Guard provides logistic support, particularly ships 

 and shore facilities, high-frequency communications, and personnel. 



NDBO has extended the reliability of buoy components and 

 subsystems in unattended operations, thus reducing related 

 maintenance and logistic costs. The office is now working to improve 

 sensors, shallow water moorings, at-sea buoy handling and 

 servicing, and to adapt ultra-high-frequency communication 

 equipment to buoy applications. 



Five severe-environment buoys were in operation in 1973 for 

 evaluation, two off the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast, two in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and one in the Gulf of Alaska. Despite their experimental 

 nature, reliability was sufficient to collect routine synoptic data for 

 dissemination on the national environmental data networks. These 

 buoys form the nucleus of other mission-oriented buoys that will be 

 selectively located in data-sparse regions in support of such pressing 

 national programs as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. They will 

 also serve marine environmental monitoring and prediction 

 (disaster warning) purposes. 



* To be renamed the National Space Technology Laboratories. 

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