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signatory agency to the MOA, screens invited scientific proposals 

 for participation. The Navy asks only that agencies sponsor 

 principal investigators with contributory funding related to the 

 cost of their scientific equipment and data handling. 



HYP ICE 



NOAA is participating in an MOU with the Central Intelligence 

 Agency (CIA) and several other agencies to design, test, and 

 exploit an unclassified, advanced, airborne, electro-optical 

 remote sensing instrument with ocean measuring capability. This 

 project, called the Hyperspectral Digital Imaging Collection 

 Experiment (HYDICE) , is being headed by the Naval Research 

 Laboratory (NRL) . A prototype HYDICE instrument has been 

 completed and in-flight testing is well underway. From early 

 flight data, representatives from participating agencies, all 

 experts in different applications of remotely sensed information, 

 agree that HYDICE will have both civilian and military 

 applications. The participating civilian agencies will gain 

 access to hyperspectral data from an unclassified system that 

 they could never afford to develop on their own. HYDICE data 

 will be useful to NOAA for such missions as sustaining coastal 

 ecosystem health, and discussion is underway to fly HYDICE on 

 NOAA aircraft. 



ACTIVE LIAISON 



The NOAA Corps is an effective cadre promoting NCAA's liaison 

 with other agencies, especially DoD and the intelligence 

 community. For example, NOAA officers are assigned to liaison 

 with the Oceanographer of the Navy (N096) , the Naval Meteorology 

 and Oceanography Command (NMOC) , the Naval Postgraduate School 

 (NPS) , the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) , the National Ice Center 

 (NIC) , the National Polar Orbiting Satellite Convergence Office, 

 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the U.S. Coast Guard. 

 One officer is assigned specifically to coordinate NOAA access to 

 military and intelligence systems. The NOAA fleet, operated by 

 the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, has acquired two ships from 

 the Navy. These ships are the T-AGOS ships RELENTLESS and TITAN 

 that were previously operated as part of the U.S. Navy's 

 Integrated Undersea Surveillance System. 



WORK WITH THE AIR FORCE - GPS 



NOAA further has advanced ocean studies through its cooperation 

 with the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Mapping Agency. The Air 

 Force operates the Global Positioning System (GPS) and NOAA was 

 one of the first civil agencies to be granted access to its 

 classified, very precise P-code. Using GPS P-code for horizontal 

 control has permitted NOAA to minimize its reliance on geodetic 

 shore control and expensive, specially-deployed medium- frequency 



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