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Background 



In the 19th century, oceanography was placed in a position of high visibility by a Naval 

 officer named Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury, in service as the first Director of the 

 Depot of Naval Charts and Irxstruments, recognized the value of standardizing the 

 measurement of oceanographic properties, especially winds, currents and water depth. 

 Maury knew that such measurements, while of obvious value to the Navy, were clearly 

 useful to a diverse range of applications, including shipping, fishing and transportation. 



Similarly, the bold model of public support for basic research developed by Vannevar 

 Bush, subsequent to the end of World War n, ultimately demonstrated the rich return on 

 federal investment of dollars in science and technology. This vision was the foundation 

 for the highly efficient modem tools of public support for academic research programs, 

 such as the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation. 



The Stratton Commission in 1969 extended many of these same concepts into defining a 

 national imperative for supporting research and development in the marine 

 environment. The outcome of that exercise was the establishment in 1970 of a highly 

 visible National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administiation (NOAA). The foresight of 

 this visionary effort has been strengthened by the research over the last two decades. We 

 now know that a focused research program including the interactive elements of oceanic 

 and atmospheric dynamics is critical to addressing a wide range of society's needs. 



Clearly, the main need addressed v/ith the Federal investment in oceanography since 

 World War II has been in the area of national defense. Basic research into the 

 fundamental physical, chemical, biological and geological properties of the sea was 

 successfully exploited during the Cold War. Our nation became a leader in the 

 development of operational systems which could detect Soviet submarines, while 

 conducting our own missions in a marmer of lowest detectability. Such successes would 

 have been impossible (and the consequences unimaginable) without the investments 

 made possible by the visions of Bush and the Stratton Commission. 



In the post- Vannevar Bush era of the late 1960s through the mid 1980s the Federal 

 investment in basic research in the ocean sciences amounted to 7% of the Federal basic 

 research budget. It was during this time that we developed the "tool kit" of skills that 

 now allow us to: 



• Predict El Nino and its devastating effects on regional cUmates and fisheries, 



- through understanding the 'coupling', or connectivity between the ocean and 

 atmosphere in terms of heat transfer, winds and currents 



• Maintain superiority in undersea surveillance and antisubmarine warfare, 



- by virtue of knowledge gained from experiments in sound transmission through the 

 ocean, allowing detection at longer distances, and lower sound levels 



