(b] identifying damaging or irreversible 

 effects of waste disposal at sea; and (c) 

 comprehending the interaction of various 

 levels of marine life to permit steps to 

 prevent depletion or extinction of valu- 

 able species as a result of man's activities; 



• Improve environmental forecasting to 

 help reduce hazards to life and property 

 and permit more efficient use of marine 

 resources — by improving physical and 

 mathematical models of the ocean and 

 atmosphere which will provide the basis 

 for increased accuracy, timeliness, and 

 geographic precision of environmental 

 forecasts; 



• Expand seabed assessment activities to 

 permit better management — domestically 

 and internationally — of marine mineral 

 exploration and exploitation by acquiring 

 needed knowledge of seabed topography, 

 structure, physical and dynamic proper- 

 ties, and resource potential, and to assist 

 industry in planning more detailed in- 

 vestigations: 



• Develop an ocean monitoring system to 

 facilitate prediction of oceanographic and 

 atmospheric conditions — through design 

 and deployment of oceanographic data 



buoys and other remote sensing plat- 

 forms; 



• Improve worldwide data exchange 

 through modernizing and standardizing 

 national and international marine data 

 collection, processing, and distribution; 

 and 



• Accelerate Decade planning to increase 

 opportunities for international sharing of 

 responsibilities and costs for ocean ex- 

 ploration, and to assure better use of lim- 

 ited exploration capabilities. 



Shortly after receiving the Vice-President's 

 charge, the National Science Foundation set 

 up the Office for the International Decade of 

 Ocean Exploration and began to define the 

 United States program. In the first year of the 

 Decade's existence, three areas were chosen 

 for priority attention: (1) environmental qual- 

 ity: [2) environmental forecasting; and (3) sea- 

 bed assessment. In 1971 living resources was 

 added as a fourth program area. The remain- 

 der of this report describes the status, accom- 

 plishments and plans for the projects within 

 each of these major program areas, as well as 

 the technological and international aspects 

 that are integral parts of the IDOE concept. 



