The farsighted individuals who are responsible for the 

 creation of NODC had an entirely different kind of center in mind. 

 The single objective of the Center is that it become "the primary 

 source of ocean data required by the research oceanographer , by 

 the scientists in related fields, and by the maritime operational 

 interests." Any other statement in the charter simply describes 

 one of the means for achieving such an objective. I hope that in 

 a small way I can make you appreciate the magnitude of this 

 objective, and I also hope that I can impress upon the instrument 

 people the importance of the role they must play in the creation of 

 a successful long term operation. 



I want to point out with all the emphasis that I can muster that 

 the instrument designer and fabricator have it within their power 

 to completely swaoip the scientist with data beyond all hope of his 

 recovery. The constant addition of improved mathematical techni- 

 ques and powerful computing equipnnent can only serve to keep him 

 afloat for a short time longer but will never allow him to compete 

 on a "bit-for-bit" basis. 



A good example of the competition you afford us in this area is 

 provided by the common TV set in your living room. You may ask, 

 "What has this to do with oceanography? " A TV, as you know it 

 may not be an oceanographic instrument, but a TV scanning system 

 is and it has already had highly successful application in ocean sur- 

 vey work. If you have not already heard about the development, 

 I am not about to let you in on it. After all, we are going to have a 

 hard enough time keeping two junnps ahead of you fellows. 



But to get back to this TV set. It takes 4 x 10^ "bits" of 

 transmitted information per second to produce the black and white 

 picture on your screen with its customary resolution, and this 

 resolution is not nearly as high as it could be and it can be in color. 

 Now to store in digital form, let us say, the total information con- 

 tained in a two-minute commercial from an "I Love Lucy" show, 

 approximately 5, 000, 000 punched cards would be required. In fact, 

 it would be beyond our present capability in NODC to store meiny 

 such commercials in this form. Obviously, it would be foolish to 

 store this type of information on cards. A tape is the obvious 

 storage medium. But this reminds me of the Soviet experience 

 with last year's moon shot. I understand that the coded magnetic 

 and ionospheric data telemetered back from that flight are contained 

 on a tape which is of the order of 400 miles in length and packed 

 with digital information. Furthermore, it seems that the Soviets 



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