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 leader of the Ocean Planet exhibit scheduled to tour America as pan of the 150th 



Anniversary celebration of the founding of the Smithsonian Institution, can testify to the 



potential value of public interest in the ocean as a stimulus to increase scientific literacy. 



Physical- 



The United States possesses an oceanographic fleet composed of ships owned and 

 operated primarily by academic institutions, the Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration (NOAA), and private corporations. However, aging of some key components 

 of the fleet, coupled with a strong demand for ship time, dictates that greater coordination 

 between academia and the federal sector will be necessary to ensure that the needs of ocean 

 scientists and the nation are met. 



The success of completed or ongoing satellite missions, such as TOPEX-POSEIDON 

 and GEOSAT, demonstrates that spaced-based missions need to be an integral and 

 increasingly significant component of our nation's ocean science effort. In the case of 

 satellite resources, an important component of many modem oceanographic projects, the 

 capabilities of U.S. platforms has declined in recent years, and many planned ocean missions 

 have been delayed or cancelled. 



Fiscal 



Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Panne rships demonstrated that from 

 1982 to 1992 federal funding for ocean science remained essentially constant (when adjusted 



