NSF Office for IDOE has encouraged foreign Institutions and researchers to 

 participate in IDOE directly and through the Intergovernmental Oceanographic 

 Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. IOC recognizes IDOE as an important part of 

 its long-term program, and the United States has invited IOC to endorse a 

 number of NSF-sponsored projects as hey elements of the IOC's overall IDOE 

 program. These projects include among others, the Mid-Ocean Dynamics Ex- 

 periment (MODE), the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS), and 

 the survey of the Southwest Atlantic Continental Margins. 



Over 35 nations, including many in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South 

 America, have scientists and institutions already participating in IDOE projects, 

 and their level of involvement in these projects Is Increasing. NSF's Office 

 for IDOE and the Department of State are working to encourage and facilitate 

 such participation, both directly and through IOC and the other specialized 

 agencies of the United Nations system. To assist in this effort, the U.S. IDOE 

 Office has given IOC a 2-year grant to enable IOC to convene international 

 scientific workshops to consider and, when appropriate, to recommend new 

 projects for IDOE. 



We are looking forward to an active period of oceanographic research 

 under IDOE in which the International aspects of the program will receive 

 increasing emphasis. We hope that in years to come the IDOE will be 

 remembered as a program that benefited all mankind and set a pattern for 

 many other mternational ventures to follow. 



Feenan D. Jennings, Head 

 Office for the International 

 Decade of Ocean Exploration 



III 



