THE NODC - ITS HISTORY AND MISSION 



Scientists of the United States recognized the need for a centralized National reposi- 

 tory for oceanographic data where the data would be available for everyone desiring to use 

 them. Approximately three years ago, formal action was begun to establish such a facility. 

 At about the same time, members of Congress wished the Nation to have this capability to 

 enhance its scientific research and defense potential, and introduced bills in the 86th 

 Congress to establish a National Oceanographic Data Center. 



In April, 1959, the Working Group on Data Recording and Standardization of the 

 Coordinating Committee on Oceanography reported on the needs for an oceanographic data 

 center and the means by which it should be established. Acting on this report, the Inter- 

 agency Committee on Oceanography (ICO) recommended to the Federal Council for Science 

 and Technology that the National Oceanographic Data Center be established and be 

 sponsored, financed, and its policies determined jointly by the Navy, the U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the National Science Foundation, 

 and the Atomic Energy Commission. These recommendations were approved unanimously 

 by the Federal Council on June 28, 1960. 



On July 8, The Honorable James H. Wakelin, Jr., took the first steps to implement 

 the Data Center, requesting the Chief of Naval Operations and the Hydrographer to 

 undertake this new responsibility. On July 19, the Chief of Naval Operations directed the 

 Hydrographer "... to establish at the earliest practical date a National Oceanographic 

 Data Center." NODC was established as an administrative component of the Hydro- 

 graphic Office on November 1, 1960, and the Interagency Agreement was signed by the 

 Secretaries of Commerce, Navy, and Interior, and the Director of the NSF and the 

 Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission on 23rd of December 1960. 



The oceanographic data holdings of the Hydrographic Office, consisting of more than 

 20 million machine punch cards, data logs, reports, and other forms were al§o contributed. 



The significance of the establishment of the Data Center was expressed by Presi- 

 dent John F. Kennedy in his Executive Communication #734 of March 29, 1961, when 

 discussing the need for an accelerated program in oceanography, he stated the following: 



"... shore facilities are urgently required to pro- 

 vide laboratory space for analysis and interpretation 

 of data and to train new oceanographers. 



" . . . An essential part of the shore establishment 

 Is the new National Oceanographic Data Center 

 which will begin its first full year of operation m 1962, 

 This Center will make available to the scientific com- 

 munity data collected throughout the world." 



In this communication the President also mentioned the need for 10 new oceano- 

 graphic vessels to add to the present United States oceanographic fleet. When these 

 ships become operative they will contribute vast amounts of marine environmental data 

 to our ajready voluminous archives. 



