NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
537 
APPENDIX B 
UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION 
IN THE 
INTERNATIONAL INDIAN OCEAN EXPEDITION 
Prepared by John Lyman, Indian Ocean Coordinator, National Science Foundation 
ORGANIZATION AND HISTORY 
The International Indian Ocean Expedition 
(IIOE) was conceived at the first meeting of the 
Special Committee of Oceanic Research (SCOR) 
of the International Council of Scientific Unions 
(ICSU) in September 1958. United States par- 
ticipation was initially planned by the Commit- 
tee on Oceanography of the National Academy of 
Sciences (NASCO). The preliminary plan was 
presented to the Federal Council of Science and 
Technology in May 1960, and approval for United 
States participation was announced by the White 
House on June 13, 1960. Scientific responsibil- 
ity for the United States participation was as- 
signed to the National Academy of Sciences - 
National Research Council, and the National 
Science Foundation was directed to plan and 
coordinate Federal support for United States 
participation in the program. 
At the request of the Director of the Na- 
tional Science Foundation, other Federal agen- 
cies with potential interest in the IIOE appointed 
representatives to serve as single points of 
contact and facilitate communication among the 
agencies. As a result of meetings of these rep- 
resentatives held during the summer of 1960, it 
was determined that the preliminary plans were 
inadequate to carry out the stated aims of the 
IIOE, particularly in the areas of biological 
oceanography and of air-sea interaction, and 
following international meetings held by SCOR 
at Copenhagen and Helsinki in July 1960, NASCO 
enlarged its Indian Ocean Expedition Panel, 
set up five Working Groups (Biology; Geology, 
Geophysics, and Bathymetry; Meteorology; 
Physical and Chemical Oceanography; and Ex- 
pedition Data, respectively), and drew up an 
enlarged program for U. S. participation. 
During the spring of 1962 it was agreed be- 
tween SCOR and the new International Oceano- 
graphic Commission (IOC) that henceforth the 
Secretary of the IOC would have responsibility 
for coordination of the IIOE. Simultaneously 
NASCO, as the United States adhering body to 
SCOR, has felt it inappropriate for it to continue 
39 
to coordinate the United States participation in 
the IIOE, and full responsibility for the United 
States program thus has been assumed by the 
National Science Foundation. 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT 
The original Presidential directive in June, 
1960, provided that United States participation 
in the ITOE would be funded by normal budgetary 
process. Accordingly, the United States Navy, 
historically the chief Federal sponsor of basic 
research in oceanography through its Office of 
Naval Research, agreed to permit vessels whose 
operations it finances through research con- 
tracts at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and 
Lamont Geological Observatory to undertake 
cruises to the Indian Ocean. Likewise the data- 
processing facilities at the Navy Oceanographic 
Office were put at the disposal of the U. S. par- 
ticipants, and survey vessels in the Indian Ocean 
were assigned to make oceanographic observa- 
tions in support of the IIOE. 
The National Science Foundation, which 
supports research through grants made as the 
result of applications proposing specific re- 
search projects, encouraged United States re- 
search institutions to submit proposals for re- 
search connected with the IIOE, and took steps 
to augment its available research funds by the 
inclusion of a special item for the IIOE, com- 
mencing with its Fiscal Year 1962 budget. 
Other Federal agencies have been less 
successful in obtaining the additional funding 
required to permit them to operate themselves 
in the Indian Ocean or to support research there 
in fields related to their specific missions, and 
in some cases the National Science Foundation 
has transferred funds to enable these agencies 
to carry out urgent programs related to the 
IIOE. 
The following tabulation, extracted from 
the 1963 National Oceanographic Program, 
