142 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
this objective and the use of standardized forms will facilitate: data 
processing and thus enhance the early usefulness of the data, to 
scientists. 
Another objective concerns the development of new and exotic in- 
strumentation, producing new and different types of data output. The 
NODE will continue to work with the Navy’s Instrumentation Center, 
and the Interagency Instrumentation Panel, and others concerned with 
the development-of new instrumentation to insure that the data. prod- 
ucts on one hand and data processing and archiving facilities on the 
other hand arecoordinated. 
NODC will continue to develop its capabilities for handling physica] 
and marine biological and geological-geophysical data in cooperation 
with leading scientists in all fields, and with respect to both digital 
data and nondigital information. 
NODC will continue to develop quality control procedures designed 
to enhance the quality of its data products. 
The NODC must discover funding procedures and manpower re- 
sources to reduce the accumulated backlog of oceanographic data, the 
bulk of which was inherited at the time of its establishment in Janu- 
ary 1961. 
NODC will strive to improve its communication systems with the 
leading oceanographic laboratories and organizations in the United 
States and to expand its exchange programs with foreign organiza- 
tions. It will continue through Intergovernmental Oceanographic 
Commission and the World Data Center system to improve acquisition 
and exchange of data. Regular exchange of data began in 1961 with 
activities in some 18 countries; now our exchange program includes 
activities in some 40 countries. 
NODC will continue to explore better means of information retriev- 
al, mechanical, photoelectronic, manual, and combinations: thereof, 
which will speed up the availability of data and information to the 
user. 
This concludes my report, Mr. Chairman, and. I am now available 
for any questions you may have. 
Mr. Petuy. Thank you, Mr. Dubach. I was wondering when you 
were referring to the problem of. funding procedures and of man- 
power resources reducing the backlog, how are you, as against the back- 
log which you inherited in 1961? Have you reduced the backlog, or 
are you just keeping up with the present data that comes in, or are you 
actually making progress ? 
Mr. Dupacu. I think in some areas we are holding our own. By 
this I would restrict this to the station data and in some measure BT 
data. In the areas like geology and biology these have never been 
touched in any volume before and so we are beginning to make a little 
impact in these areas. 
Regarding station data, when we ere business in 1961 there was 
an estimated 300,000 oceanographic stations of which we had roughly 
100,000 in our. files. As you can,see from the record we have now 
250, 000, approximately, but the volume has increased; there are now 
estimated to be around 350,000 to 400,000 oceanogr aphic stations. Our 
first priority in all of our processing is applied to contemporary data 
over historic data simply because, from the response in the oceano- 
graphic community, this is where the current interest lies primarily. I 
