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TE§] 



DR. NEAL LM 

 DIRECTOR. N>TtOnfSCSCIENCE FOUNDATION 



BEFORE THE 



HOUSE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



HOUSE COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES 

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES. WILDLIFE AND OCEANS 



HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE 

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT 



January 25. 1996 



Chairman Weldon, Chairman Rohrabacher, Chairman Saxton, and members of 

 the committees, I very much appreciate the opportunity to testify on national 

 oceanographic research capabilities. 



I would like to begin with an overview of ocean sciences research at the National 

 Science Foundation, and follow with some examples the types of projects we 

 support before I address some of the broader national oceanographic poiicy 

 issues 



At NSF, ocean sciences research and education is largely supported through 

 our Geosciences Directorate, which also supports research in the related fields 

 of Earth Sciences and Atmosphenc Sciences. In 1995, the Ocean Sciences 

 subactivity was funded at $193 million, which represents just over 8 percent of 

 the agency's total research budget. Among other things, these funds provided 

 support for more than 3,000 scientists and graduate students, 27 research 

 vessels, and over three thousand operating days at sea. An additional $29 

 million for ocean sciences research comes from our Office of Polar Programs 

 which supports ocean science research in the arctic and Antarctic regions. 



