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measurements that will be a key indicator of climate change. 

 (The latter is accomplished by precise determination of 

 transmission time for low-frequency acoustic signals) . The value 

 of SOSUS data to advance marine mammal studies, sea- floor studies 

 (such as hydrothermal venting, volcanic activity, sea-floor 

 spreading, and earthquake research), climate change studies, and 

 fishing enforcement is clear. The Navy has allowed NOAA 

 scientists access to SOSUS data from arrays that the Navy 

 continues to operate in support of their mission. For example, 

 Dr. Christopher Fox, with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental 

 Laboratory, won a 1994 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for his 

 work using SOSUS data from an array off the Washington/Oregon 

 coast. However, another array in Bermuda, which had great 

 potential for marine mammal studies in the North Atlantic, has 

 been closed. The Navy took caution to close the facility in a 

 manner that will permit future access. NOAA is now working other 

 groups to permit reactivating the Bermuda SOSUS array for 

 scientific use. Success in this endeavor will depend upon 

 funding of arrays and implamenting of security screening 

 procedures prior to release of the data. 



An interagency working group on lUSS Dual Use, in which NOAA 

 participated, was chaired by an official from the Office of the 

 Director of Defense Research and Engineering. The group issued a 

 report in December, 1994 that found scientific utility in the 

 lUSS, especially the SOSUS. It recommended a 3-5 year focused 

 research effort to develop this scientific value. However, it 

 found that civil agencies participating in the study would not 

 fund long-term operation of SOSUS arrays no longer needed by the 

 Navy. The scientific use of SOSUS has been a limited success. 

 The Navy has been cooperative where it has maintained arrays; the 

 scientific value of SOSUS data has been proven; and much valuable 

 scientific work has been accomplished already. However, where 

 SOSS arrays have been shut down, as in Bermuda, they will degrade 

 in an unpowered condition and a unique opportunity to gather 

 scientific data by leveraging a multi-billion dollar defense 

 investment will be lost. 



OTH-B 



Following the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force had no mission 

 requirement for two multi-billion dollar Over-The-Horizon - 

 Backscatter (OTH-B) radars, located in California and Maine. 

 These powerful radars achieve great detection ranges by bouncing 

 high-frequency radio waves off the ionosphere. For example, the 

 east coast radar can look across the Atlantic to Europe, North 

 Africa and northern South America. The west coast radar can look 

 over the entire Aleutian Islands and past Hawaii. Designed to 

 detect aircraft, the radars can also detect sea-surface 

 conditions and the radial component of ocean surface current. 

 From sea surface conditions, wind field patterns over the entire 



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