470 
ress, and to progress in cooperative plans with 
other nations. The present estimate is that the 
ultimate share of the United States in the world 
ocean survey will be approximately 30 percent (to 
be prosecuted mainly by the Naval Oceanographic 
Office and Coast and |Geodetic|Survey with assist- 
ance from other agencies). 
The program planned here is expected to run 
about $260 million over the decade. 
B. The National Oceanographic Data Center 
The need for a centralized repository for the 
Nation’s oceanographic data has been recognized 
for many years. Action began about four years 
ago to establish such a facility and the 86th Con- 
gress originated, but failed to pass, a bill estab- 
lishing a National Oceanographic Data Center. 
At the.same time, the federal agencies through the 
Interagency Committee on Oceanography rec- 
ommended a jointly sponsored center to the Fed- 
eral Council for Science and Technology and this 
was approved in June of 1960. In November, the 
NODC was established as an administrative com- 
ponent of the Navy’s Hydrographic (now Ocea- 
nographic) Office, and began work under the pol- 
icy guidance of an interagency Advisory Board 
representing the six supporting agencies* and the 
National Academy of Sciences. Steps are being 
taken to assure close communication with ICO by 
having the NODC Advisory Board Chairman re- 
port the activities of the Center to the Chairman 
of the ICO. 
NODC functions as a service activity for all 
segments of the Nation’s scientific community 
-with respect to marine environmental data and 
information requirements. It also makes these 
data accessible to the general public free of charge 
or provides copies at cost. 
In performing this function NODC must, of 
course, receive, compile, process, and preserve 
oceanographic data in a form permitting rapid 
retrieval. It thus establishes procedures for in- 
suring that the accuracy and general quality of the 
data meet the criteria established by an Advisory 
Board. Finally, it prepares data summaries, tab- 
*Navy, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, 
the National Science Foundation, the Atomic Energy Commission, 
and the Weather Bureau. 
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
ulations, and atlases showing annual, seasonal, 
and monthly oceanographic conditions. The tech- 
nical problems in carrying out these functions 
adequately are formidable, and all the resources 
of modern data handling technology as well as an 
informed understanding of the oceanographic 
community's needs are being brought to bear. 
Housed in downtown Washington in the former 
Naval Weapons Plant, the National Oceanographic 
Data Center has a staff of approximately 80. Its 
budget during the next ten years is expected to 
total approximately $15 million. About half of this 
is presently borne by the Navy, and most of the 
remaining half is evenly divided among the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey, the National Science Foun- 
dation, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 
The Weather Bureau, the Atomic Energy Com- 
mission, the Coast Guard, the Geological Survey, 
and the Department of Health, Education, and 
Welfare each contribute about two percent. 
C. The Navy’s Oceanographic Instrumentation 
Center 
Although the Oceanographic Instrumentation 
Center is a Navy activity, it cooperates with 
other government agencies, private industry, and 
the academic community to bring about improve- 
ments and refinements in instrumentation, serv- 
ing their needs to the extent possible. It is an 
attempt on the part of the largest user of oceano- 
graphic instruments to assure that the data it ob- 
tains about the oceans is precise and accurate. 
After a slow evolution in the 1950’s, the Navy’s 
Oceanographic Office Instrumentation Division 
blossomed into the present Center in November 
1962. It has a staff of about 100 engineers, scien- 
tists, technicians, and supporting personnel. It 
contains engineering facilities for laboratory and 
contractual development, test, and evaluation, and 
the maintenance of instruments. It is developing 
such new instrumentation as improved electronic 
bathythermographs, shipboard wave recorders, 
a shipboard survey system, submerged buoy 
systems, and sound velocimeters. 
Its test equipment is extensive and modern, in- 
cluding pressure test vessels, shock and vibration 
test equipment, tensile test facilities, pressure 
and temperature tanks, reversing thermometer 
calibration equipment, a 60-foot clear-water in- 
strument test tower, and a.small craft for environ- 
37 
