NODC was also responsible for the Biology Information Retrieval 

 System (BIRS), a part of NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Scientific 

 Information System (OASIS). BIRS, which includes over 30,000 arti- 

 cles on marine biology indexed in depth, was discontinued with the 

 adoption of the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System 

 (ASFIS) sponsored by the United Nations. 



376. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE SERVICE: NESS 



Established in the Environmental Science Services Administration 

 as the National Environmental Satellite Center (NESC), it was renamed 

 in 1970. It operates the Nation's environmental satellite system and 

 ensures that the masses of data acquired are disseminated to those who 

 need it. It is responsible for developing new techniques for acquir- 

 ing environmental satellite data and applying these data to improved 

 programs of environmental monitoring, prediction, and warning, and for 

 the Spacecraft Oceanography Project (SPOC) originally the responsi- 

 bility of the U.S. Navy until its transfer to NESS in 1972. Among 

 the systems operated by NESS is the series of Geostationary Opera- 

 tional Environmental Satellites (GOES) that are in Earth-synchronous 

 orbit. NESS developed and is responsible for the operation of SEASAT, 

 a satellite designed to measure oceanic phenomena. Launched in 1978, 

 SEASAT developed problems, and communications with it failed shortly 

 after it was in orbit. SEASAT-A Scatterometer System (SASS), an ac- 

 tive microwave instrument that illuminates the sea surface to provide 

 estimates of surface wind magnitude and direction, was developed. A 

 project to consider possible application of SEASAT data to the admin- 

 istration of the 200 mile fishery zone, the work of the International 

 Ice Patrol, studies of fish production in the coastal zone, etc., was 

 conducted by Econ, Inc. for NESS is known as Economic Verification 

 Experiments (EVE). NESS cooperates closely with the National Aeronau- 

 tics and Space Administration, and together they sponsored the Coastal 

 Zone Color Scanner Study (CZCS) held in 1977-78 using data taken by 

 ships and satellites to relate color of seawater to both physical and 

 biological properties. NESS also developed the Global Ocean Sea- 

 Surface Temperature Computation Program (GOSSTCOMP). 



377. NATIONAL OCEAN SURVEY: NOS 



Antecedents of NOS date back to 1807 when a survey of the coast 

 was authorized by Congress and officially established as an agency 

 in 1816. In 1878 it was renamed the Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS 

 or USC&GS), a title that was changed to National Ocean Survey in 

 1970 when the C&GS, a part of ESSA, was absorbed by the newly created 

 NOAA. Its prime mission is the compilation and provision of charts 

 for mariners and navigators. It conducts surveys and performs inves- 

 tigations and analyses to accomplish this mission. Most of its work 

 is in the U.S. coastal regions, territories and land possessions, and 

 the Great Lakes. It also publishes the Coast and Great Lakes Pilot 

 series, tidal current charts, and tide and tidal current predictions. 



The National Geodetic Survey (NGS), responsible for establishing 

 and maintaining national geodetic networks, the precise positional 

 reference for all local, regional, and national surveys and maps, is 

 a part of NOS. It maintains a National Geodetic Information Center 

 (NGIC) and a Geodetic Research and Development Laboratory (GRDL). 



NOS field operations are conducted through two centers, the 

 Atlantic Marine Center (AMC) and the Pacific Marine Center (PMC). 



NOS conducts many services and projects. Among these are two to 

 which acronyms have been applied: SCOPE — the Southern Coastal Plains 



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