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the MEDEA project. Rear Admiral Paul Gaffney, Commander of the 

 Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, supported a study 

 released in June 1995 about the scientific utility of 

 environmental data gathered and archived by the Navy. As a 

 result of his and MEDEA'S efforts, many classified data sets were 

 identified as useful to the civilian ocean community. Now these 

 data sets are being reviewed for possible declassification, and 

 some data has already been released. These data, and other ocean 

 data which are to be declassified are, and will be, available 

 through NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center. For example, 

 beginning in March, 1985 the Navy carried out an 18-month, $80 

 million project (the GEOSAT Mission) to measure gravity from 

 space as a means of improving the accuracy of submarine -launched 

 ballistic missiles. It was discovered that perturbations in the 

 gravity field over the oceans could reveal sea-floor topographic 

 features. (The gravitational influence of these masses also 

 produces variations in local sea level that can be measured by 

 satellite-borne radar altimeters.) Following the study, the Navy 

 released worldwide GEOSAT data and NOAA scientists, working with 

 scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, compiled 

 GEOSAT data with data from other sources to produce an impressive 

 12 X 8 foot, multicolored map that shows previously unknown 

 geological features over the 71 percent of the earth's surface 

 covered by water. The map is a major advance in our 

 understanding of the oceans, and it may force revision of plate 

 tectonic theory, because plates making up the earth's crust do 

 not appear to be as rigid as previously thought. NOAA scientists 

 may benefit from other data sets if they are declassified, such 

 as: sea ice (historical morphology and keel depths), salinity and 

 temperature with depth profiles (real-time and archived), ocean 

 optics and bioluminescence, geomagnetics, and sea-floor sediment 

 (thickness and type) . These data sets will be available through 

 NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center and National 

 Geophysical Data Center. 



NOAA established an early relationship with the intelligence 

 community for the use of national technical means (NTM) imagery 

 to assist in shoreline delineation for coastal mapping. The use 

 of NTM imagery has expanded into other proper use applications 

 for NOAA. In order to facilitate NOAA's access to NTM imagery, 

 an officer represents NOAA on the Civil Applications Committee 

 which is the civilian interface with the intelligence community. 



CONCLUSION 



I thank you again for this opportunity to relate how NOAA is 

 working in concert with the national and international ocean 

 community to increase knowledge of and benefits from the oceans. 

 No other agency has such a broad responsibility for research, 

 measurement, monitoring, and the delivery of products and 

 services related to the oceans as does NOAA. This work has large 



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