8. OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF OCEANOGRAPHIC 

 INSTRUMENTATION 



PART I. FOR THE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE (OPERATIONS) 



Captain R. D. Fusselman 



Navy Department 

 Washington, D. C. 



I would like to elaborate on the background which has shaped 

 both our requirements and approach for the instrumentation aspect 

 of oceanographic surveying. The military, scientific, and commer- 

 cial demands for a national effort to execute a broad ocean survey 

 program have been well established by the preceding speakers. 

 We are prepared now to concentrate on the tools or hardware with 

 which to do the job. 



My remarks are aimed at supplying background material sup- 

 plementary to the handouts which you have received. (See appen- 

 dices E, F, and G. ) I would like to pay tribute to the many people 

 who have participated in this effort on the Panel on Equipnnent, 

 Facilities, and Instrumentation of the Interagency Committee on 

 Oceanography -- and particularly to Captain C. N. G. Hendrix -- 

 whose dedication to this project has resulted in a clear-cut ex- 

 pression of our needs for instrumentation for oceanwide sxirveys. 



Our present, coordinated national effort to obtain better 

 instrumentation came about in the following manner: Last Novein- 

 ber, the Office of Naval Research and the Hydrographic Office 

 conducted an oceanographic instrumentation conference at which 

 some 45 specialists in the field were assembled to help determine 

 what oceanographic data was to be collected and to what accuracies. 

 In view of the many and diversified interests in all areas of oceanog- 

 raphy, the early phases of the conference were chaotic with little 

 agreennent. From this conference, however, working groups were 

 formed and patterns of requirements began to take shape. It was 

 an encouraging and significant sign of recognition of the problem 

 when Assistant-Secretary James H. Wakelin established the 

 above-mentioned ICO Panel to extend and coordinate the national 

 oceanographic instrumentation effort. Intensive liaison has been 

 carried out for 10 months to resolve the general ajid specific 



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