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state of tlie oceans and the atmosphere is 

 presently limited by the technological capa- 

 bilities to observe the global environment. 

 But even if one could now observe the en- 

 vironment everywhere, the ability to predict 

 the future state of the oceans and the atmos- 

 pliere is seriously limited by incomplete 

 understanding. In particular, the ability to 

 predict the state of the oceans is limited by 

 the lack of knowledge of the motions of the 

 oceans, of their scale and of the cause of their 

 fluctuations. 



System Operations and Management 

 Arrangements 



In considering systems for environmental 

 monitoring and prediction, the basic com- 

 ponents required to meet multiple needs must 

 be distinguished from components required 

 to meet the needs of special classes of users. 

 The basic system is composed of facilities for 

 observation of air and oceanic data and 

 the data's communication, processing, and 

 dissemination. 



The historical evolution of environmental 

 monitoring and prediction activities, both in 

 the Nation and abroad, has brouglit the de- 

 velopment of separate organizations and 

 monitoring systems to deal with each major 

 class of phenomena. Thus, weather data are 

 collected and exchanged internationally 

 through one system ; some data on ice condi- 

 tions are exchanged through a second; and 

 so forth. 



Within the United States, the facilities 

 making up the basic system are operated 

 chiefly by agencies of the U.S. Departments 

 of Commerce, Defense, and Transportation. 

 These same departments also are responsible 

 for meeting the needs of most special users. 

 They are helped in this function by bureaus 

 of tlie Department of the Interior; the De- 

 partment of Health, Education, and Wel- 



fare; the Atomic Energy Commission; and 

 others. A detailed description of the func- 

 tions and programs of all the Federal agen- 

 cies is given in the Report of the Commis- 

 sion's Panel on Environmental Monitoring. 



The formation of the Environmental Sci- 

 ence Services Administration (ESSA) in the 

 Department of Commerce in 1965 was an 

 important step toward the integration of en- 

 vironmental monitoring and prediction ac- 

 tivities in the United States. In proposing 

 the reorganization which brought the U.S. 

 Weather Bureau, the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, and the Central Radio Propagation 

 Laboratory of the Bureau of Standards un- 

 der single management. President Johnson 

 stated that it would provide "a single nation- 

 al focus for our efforts to describe, under- 

 stand, and predict the state of the oceans, the 

 state of the lower and upper atmosphere, and 

 the size and shape of the earth." 



Within ESSA, steps are underway to in- 

 tegrate the systems under its management. 

 However, these constitute only a part of the 

 efforts within the Federal Government to 

 monitor the global air-sea envelope. The 

 Navy now has a coordinated system through 

 the Oceanographer of the Navy and the 

 Naval Weather Service Command, and the 

 Department of Defense coordinates all mil- 

 itary departments' environmental prediction 

 services through the Office of the Special As- 

 sistant for Environmental Services of the 

 Joint Chiefs of Staff. Coordination of the 

 overall Federal program is effected, insofar 

 as possible, through the Office of the Federal 

 Coordinator for Meteorological Services and 

 Applied Meteorological Research within the 

 Department of Commerce and the Inter- 

 agency Committee on Ocean Exploration 

 and Environmental Services of the National 

 Council on Marine Resources and Engineer- 

 ing Development. 



