1. Preserve the ocean environment by accelerating scientific obser- 

 vations of the natural state of the ocean and its interactions with 

 the coastal margin — to provide a basis for (a) assessing and 

 predicting man-induced and natural modifications of the charac- 

 ter of the oceans; (b) identifying damaging or irreversible efTects 

 of waste disposal at sea; and (c) comprehending the interaction 

 of various levels of marine life to permit steps to prevent deple- 

 tion or extinction of valuable species as a result of man's activities; 



2. 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; 



3. Expand seabed assessment activities to permit better management 

 — domestically and internationally — of marine mineral exploration 

 and exploitation by acquiring needed knowledge of seabed topog- 

 raphy, structure, physical and dynamic properties, and resource 

 potential, and to assist industry in planning more detailed in- 

 vestigations ; 



4. 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 

 platforms; 



5. Improve worldwide data exchange through modernizing and 

 standardizing national and international marine data collection, 

 processing, and distribution; and 



6. Accelerate Decade planning to increase opportunities for interna- 

 tional sharing of responsibilities and costs for ocean exploration, 

 and to assure better use of limited exploration capabilities. 



Project Descriptions 



The NSF program, following the lines suggested in ''An Oceanic 

 Quest," is organized in four program areas: Environmental quality, 

 environmental forecasting, seabed assessment, and living resources, each 

 responsive to one of the goals enumerated by the Vice President. 



Table 1 lists all past and current U.S. IDOE projects in each of 

 these programs, their starting dates, expected duration, number of scien- 

 tists participating, expected total cost, and other Federal agencies in- 

 volved. There is a range of possibilities for interagency cooperation, from 

 nearly equal sharing of the total funding, as in the case of MODE and 

 NORPAX which are funded jointly by IDOE and ONR, to minimal 

 involvement in some aspect of data collection, such as the use of NOAA 

 data buoys (funded by ONR and IDOE) in NORPAX and ISOS. Joint 



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