264 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 



program into meaningful new linowledge. This group will be expanded at the 

 rate of one man per new ship. 



A second phase where new resources are needed is in the area of bathymetry. 

 This function will serve not only the ocean survey program of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, but the entire Federal and nongovernmental oceanographic 

 community. Currently the collection of hydrographic fbathmetric) data at sea 

 is the only large-volume data accumulation program that is not completely auto- 

 mated, and the data must still pass through the stage where men hunch over 

 chart tables to put down by hand the information that is continuously recorded 

 from depth sensors and in a short time will be continuously recorded from 

 accurate navigation systems. The new ships planned by the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, the steadily increasing numbers of ships becoming available to the 

 private oceanographic institutions, and the imminent availability of an all- 

 weather, all-ocean navigation system of high accuracy demands that a system of 

 automatic recording, storage, and contoured printout of deep-sea soundings be 

 developed and made operational in the very early stages of the program. Dis- 

 cussions with industry have already shown that such a system is feasible. It 

 remains only for some agency with foresig'ht to estalilish such a system. It is 

 planned that such a system be developed and operated under the aegis of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey and as a part of the ocean siirvey program. Pre- 

 liminary feasibility-study funds are programmed in fiscal year 1967, and based 

 on the results of this study the funds for the whole system will be requested as 

 appropriate in subsequent years. 



An additional resource that must be developed is a small planning staff within 

 the Office of Oceanography whose efforts are devoted solely to the planning for 

 the ocean survey program. The work performed by Operations Research Inc. 

 has developed a whole series of planning tools that must be utilized for an effec- 

 tive prosecution of the survey program. (See especially ORI Technical Report 

 No. 316, Summary Report of the Operations Research Study of the National 

 Ocean Survey Program.) This will require a minimum of three persons as a 

 planning staff hy fiscal year 196S. Other requirements for shipboard and shore- 

 based personnel are detailed in ORI Technical Report No. 296, but in brief these 

 requirements are geared to the delivery of the new ships. 



6. Mechanism for changes. — No plan should be so locked in concrete that 

 it cannot be changed as the conditions wan-ant. The present plan is merely 

 intended as a spelling out of the goals and the presently planned mechanism 

 for achieving these goals. There has been in the past, and there will imdoubtedly 

 be in the future, slippage in the proposed ship-construction schedule. As the 

 present schedule changes, all of those factors which are geared to this schedule 

 win change accordingly. 



The various mathematical models prepared by Operations Research will 

 enable the planning staff in the Office of OceanogTaphy to make the necessary 

 modifications in the plan. As the survey itself progi-esses, there will be neAV 

 criteria developed and, for example, the spacing of survey lines will change 

 as a function of Avhat has been found to date. These changes can also be accom- 

 modated by the mathematical planning models. By the same token, as the 

 small grid of oceanographic buoys developed its data on the ranges and 

 spectrum of oceanic variables, the relative proportions of the task to be ac- 

 complished by ships and buoys can also be modified with the models. It is 

 anticipated that there will be continuing advisory com.mittees fspe ICO pamph- 

 let 7. National Plan for Ocean Surveys) which will continually monitor the 

 results of the work at sea and offer advice on the general conduct of the sur- 

 veys. This group will work in conjunction with the Ocean Surveys Advisory 

 Panel of the Interagency Committee on Oceanography in the planning of each 

 year's operations. In this manner the surveys will continue to be responsive to 

 the overall requirements of tlie oceanographic community — both Federal and 

 nongovernmental. 



Sivynmary 



In summary, the ocean survey program of the Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 is devised to provide within a reasonable amount of time accurate base mans 

 of the topography of the sea floor, of its geophysical and geological characteris- 

 tics, and to provide for the systematic collection, compilation, and presentation of 

 statistically significant data for a wide I'ange of users. The resources required 

 are geared to the rate of delivery of the requisite new shijis. and these include 

 personnel and shore facilities. The total task as now envisioned will require 

 37 years to complete if the United States is to do it alone. It will require 14 



