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34 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE NEXT DECADE 



Oceanographer of the Navy sponsors all its new oceanographic 

 ship construction, including Navy-owned research ships that are 

 operated by academic institutions. As part of the modernization 

 of the Navy's 1960-vintage oceanographic fleet, the Oceanogra- 

 pher of the Navy ordered three new ships (AGOR class) for the 

 academic research community. The first of these 275-foot-long, 

 multipurpose, deep-ocean-capable research ships (R/V Thomas 

 Thompson] was delivered in 1991 to the University of Washing- 

 ton. One of the remaining two new ships will be operated by 

 Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the other by Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution. 



An important initiative begun by the Oceanographer of the 

 Navy in 1990 was the sponsorship, in cooperation with the Chief 

 of Naval Research and the OSB, of a tactical oceanography sympo- 

 sium to familiarize the academic community with the Navy's 

 operational needs and requirements. This initiative has become 

 an annual event, and the Office of Naval Technology joined as 

 one of the sponsoring organizations in 1992. The Oceanographer 

 of the Navy is striving to facilitate closer links between the op- 

 erational side of the Navy and the research community. 



National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was 

 formed in 1970 from a combination of existing government enti- 

 ties. Its mission is to explore, map, and chart the global ocean 

 and its living resources and to manage, use,, and conserve those 

 resources; to describe, monitor, and predict conditions in the at- 

 mosphere, ocean. Sun, and space environment; to issue warnings 

 against impending destructive natural events; to assess the conse- 

 quences of inadvertent environmental modification over several 

 scales of time; and to manage and disseminate long-term environ- 

 mental information. 



Several partnerships now exist between NOAA and the aca- 

 demic community. The National Sea Grant College Program pro- 

 vides support for the study of estuaries and coastal regions, ma- 

 rine applied research, and the application of research to practical 

 problems. Sea Grant is different from most other government- 

 funded research programs in that it is a mandated partnership. 

 Every two dollars of federal funds must be matched by at least 

 one dollar, often from state agencies. Because of this mandated 

 fiscal partnership, policy makers at the state level are generally 

 more aware of Sea Grant research than of research sponsored by 



