One of the major oceanographic efforts of the Coast and Geodetic Survey is dedicated toward 

 carrying out its assigned portion of the National Academy of Sciences ocean-wide survey program. 

 In addition, comprehensive oceanographic programs are carried out on all Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 hydrographic survey ships during normal coastal survey operations in order to acquire basic information 

 on the oceanographic characteristics of our nearshore environment. Alt of these oceanographic data 

 are submitted to the National Oceanographic Data Center. 



The Department of the Navy, represented by the U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office, the Office of 

 Naval Research, and other departmental components, is the largest financial contributor and is 

 responsible for the management and support of the Data Center. 



The U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office, the largest governmental oceanographic agency, has had an 

 expanding program in oceanographic data collection and oceanographic research since World War II. 

 It has pioneered in the development of oceanographic prediction methods. The data uhich had been 

 processed by the Oceanographic Office were contributed to form the nucleus of the Data Center's 

 collection. 



The oceanographic program of the Office of Naval Research consists of numerous basic and applied 

 research projects largely carried out by contract with universities and nonprofit organizations. 



More than 16 oceangoing research ships and numerous coastal vessels are employed in 

 these projects which contribute data to the NODC and draw heavily on its facilities. 



