OCEANOGRAPHY 1961 — PHASE 3 251 



I think that we should look for every oppoitimity to collect data 

 for all agencies iiwolved with the most modern instruments that we 

 can get. Only in this wslj do I think we will get into the enormous 

 data- collecting job. 



Specifically, I think there is a large part which our merchant fleet, 

 our tanker fleet, and even our fishing fleet, can play in the collectioR 

 of data. 



Mr. Drewry. Are instruments sufficiently advanced to be able to 

 fit out these merchant ships and ships of opportunity, so that they can 

 effectively collect useful data without interfering with their regular 

 operations? By that I am thinking particularly in terms of speed, 

 rather than availability of space on board. 



Admiral Stephan. Currently some of our instruments lend them- 

 selves to that sort of use. But they have almost archaic read-out. The 

 problem of handling the data and putting it in a usable form in the 

 data center would be very heavy. We have got to get more modern 

 instruments that lend themselves more readily to be operated by a ship 

 which has speed to make, and which will read out in such a way as 

 to facilitate our handling at the data center. We cannot continue the 

 archaic methods, or we will simply find that we have a tremendous 

 amount of data that we cannot rapidly process, and we have got to go 

 to more modern methods, both of collecting data and of handling it 

 through the data center. 



Mr. Dreiwry. Are the Hydrographic Office or others working on 

 this problem right at the present time ? 



Admiral Stephan. Yes, sir. In connection with the collection of 

 all types of data, both by the agencies whose principal business is the 

 collection of data, such as the Hydrographic Office, the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, the Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Comm_ercial 

 Fisheries, we are working on basically three suits of instruments. 



We want, first, a modern suit of instruments for the ship, whose 

 primary job is the collection of oceanographic data, such as our hydro- 

 graphic office survey ships ; second, a suit of instruments for ships of 

 opportunity, whether they be merchant fleet, U.S. ISTavy, Coast Guard, 

 fishery, or other ; and, third, a suit of instruments for a synoptic net- 

 work of data collection, where your objective is not to simply put it 

 into the data center to be later digested but to get this data out 

 promptly to the fleet so that they can have what is, in effect, something 

 comparable to what the Weather Bureau does in getting weather in- 

 formation today for use today. It has to be handled rapidly, so that 

 we understand the weather of the ocean in our operations at sea. 



Mr. Drewry. Have the Hydrographic Office or others in the Navy 

 interested in this subject had any discussions with the merchant 

 marine or tankers or dry-cargo carriers toward what they can do by- 

 way of cooperation with the ships-of -opportunity program ? 



Admiral Stephan. Yes, sir. We have had discussions with the oil 

 companies and with the geophysical industry. There is a great deal 

 more to be done in this area. I think that I learned a lot up here in 

 the testimony of Dr. Blake. I think there is more to be done. 



To date, we have more or less concentrated on our effort to deter- 

 mine from all of the agencies involved what data is needed to be col- 

 lected. I think we could have done more with industry than we have 



