28 MARINE SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACT 
of such information as sea surface temperatures, currents, and 
meteorological data. 
This recommendation was greatly amplified in the Committee’s 
subsequent report titled: “(Ocean Resources.’ In states in part: 
One of the Federal agencies already concerned with the 
collection, preparation and dissemination of scientific and 
technical data should be given the means and the responsi- 
bility of operating a center for preparing and disseminating 
all kinds of oceanographic and closely related data for public 
use. 
For data already centrally located (such as the hydro- 
graphic station data and bathythermograms at the U.S. 
Navy Hydrographic Office, the sea level data at the U.S. 
Coast and Geodetic Survey and the sea temperature and 
related marine meteorological data at the U.S. Weather 
Bureau’s National Weather Records Center), the task of the 
oceanographic records center would include only its further 
preparation and dissemination for oceanographic research and 
other public use; for data not now centrally located, it would 
also become the central depository. Dissemination should 
include periodical publication of summaries (such as mean 
monthly sea temperature charts, catalogs of data, etc.) and 
specially prepared data to order at cost. 
The need for this service has become acute because a great 
volume of physical and biological oceanographic data which 
has continually been collected in various areas, by different 
groups for different purposes, remains unpublished, stored 
in the files of many institutions. Hence, much of it is 
inaccessible to any individual scientist or institution. 
No provision in S. 2692 has received more favorable comment 
from individual scientists, scientific organizations, and industry 
than that looking toward the establishment of a National Oceano- 
graphic Records Center. 
The center would be placed in the Department of Commerce for 
these reasons: 
The center was authorized to be placed in the Department of 
Commerce for these reasons: 
1. It is a civilian department. 
2. Two agencies in the Department, the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey, and the Weather Bureau, already have extensive collections 
of oceanographic and related data. 
3. It is centrally located. 
4. The Maritime Administration, which has a direct interest in the 
seas, and the National Bureau of Standards, which has a close con- 
nection with many branches of science related to ocean research, are 
in the Department. 
5. Those engaged in ocean commerce and navigation, and in- 
dividuals and industries with a need for information and charts of 
coastal or estuarine waters, are accustomed to look for such data 
at the Department of Commerce. 
