cooperation in the collection and exchange of data. This program and 

 the later International Indian Ocean Expedition were international in 

 that information about plans and results was shared, but essentially each 

 country carried out its own program and joint activities were minimal. 



During the IDOE a systematic effort has been made to develop truly 

 international projects, and while progress hais be^n slow, a number of 

 examples can be cited, such as MODE-POLYMODE,^ FAMOUS, and 

 thfe Nazca Plate study, in which bilateral or multinational participation 

 from planning through execution has occurred. 



A second significant characteristic of IDOE is that it represents an 

 instance of governmental initiative in defining a broad area in which 

 scientific knowledge is needed for long-term practical purposes, and in 

 establishing conditions which attract scientific interest and stimulate 

 scientists to take on the burdensome managerial and administrative 

 responsibilities that are required. Chief among these conditions is the 

 setting aside of funds for this purpose. Although the scientific community 

 had, since the late fifties,- urged a long-term international effort of a 

 somewhat similar nature, little progress toward that goal had been made 

 through the usual avenues of funding. Certain projects addressing a 

 portion of the need, such as NORPAX, GEOSECS, and the Deep Sea 

 Drilling Project, had some into being by dint of long and patient efforts 

 to obtain funding. IDOE, on the other hand, provided an "umbrella" 

 that greatly accelerated the process, and made it possible to develop and 

 implement a worthwhile new major project in a comparatively short 

 period of time. 



A third notable aspect of the IDOE program is that it is specifically 

 designed to fund and manage large projects — projects that involve investi- 

 gators from more than one institution and sometimes from more than 

 one country — in a way that, by utilizing existing resources and capabilities, 

 diminishes the need for additional capital expenditures and the creation 

 of new permanent institutions. Thus it provides a needed complement to 

 the programs in NSF's Research Directorate ^ which are set up to respond 

 primarily to proposals from individual investigators, or small teams of 

 investigators, working on small-scale projects within a single discipline. 



Program Content 



Those involved in the early planning were aware that comprehensive 

 assessment of ocean resources, together with related studies of the ocean 



1 Acronyms are defined in Appendix 1, and brief descriptions of IDOE projects 

 are given in Appendix 2. 



-See, for example, "Oceanography 1960-1970," National Academy of Sciences 

 Committee on Oceanography, 1959. 



^ See footnote on page 7. 



8 



