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United States- Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, 

 which includes the use of SHINKAI 2000 and SHINKAI 6500 - 

 presently the world's deepest diving capability. 



There are six regional Undersea Research Centers, associated with 

 marine schools, that carry out the NURP mission: the Northeast 

 and Great Lakes (University of Connecticut, Avery Point); the 

 Mid-Atlantic Bight (Rutgers University) ,- the Southeast and Gulf 

 of Mexico (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) ; the 

 Caribbean (Florida State University, University of South 

 Carolina, Oregon State University, College of William and Mary- 

 Virginia Institute of Marine Science) ; West Coast and Alaslta 

 (University of Alas)ca, Fairbanks) ; and Hawaii/Western Pacific 

 (University of Hawaii, Manoa) . Investigators from 108 colleges 

 and universities, and 31 state and federal agencies participated 

 in 670 manned submersible dives, 360 remotely operated vehicle 

 dives, and over 12,000 mixed gas dives conducted with NURP 

 support in 1994. There were no serious accidents during these 

 activities . 



NOAA SATELLITE OCEANOGRAPHIC REMOTE SENSING (NSORS) 



Through the National Environmental Data and Information Service 

 (NESDIS) , NOAA operates the world's largest constellation of 

 environmental observation satellites. Although the NOAA Polar- 

 orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and 

 Geostationary-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites 

 (GOES) were designed primarily as meteorological satellites and 

 their sensor suites are, therefore, optimized for weather 

 observations, warning and predictions, these satellites are 

 global observing systems and have several important applications 

 in ocean monitoring. 



A program is under development within NESDIS to exploit the very 

 large financial investment in oceanographic satellites being made 

 by the U.S., European nations and Japan. This effort is called 

 the NOAA Satellite Ocean Remote Sensing (NSORS) initiative. 

 NSORS will provide an opportunity to access oceanographic data 

 from non-NOAA spacecraft, create products and services based on 

 those data, and distribute data and data products to users, 

 including use of the NOAA CoastWatch program. NSORS has four 

 principal thrusts: 1) all-v;eather sea/ice/land observations, 

 2) multispectral ocean color measurements, 3) wind direction and 

 speed observations, and 4) utilization of un-classif ied data to 

 enhance existing civil capabilities. 



JOINT INSTITUTES 



The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research supports 10 Joint 



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