Expedition, an environmental survey in 1972-74 off the southeastern 

 coast from Cape Hatteras to Cape Kennedy, and SEAMAP — Systematic Ex- 

 ploration and Mapping Program, conducted in the Pacific to determine 

 and describe physical properties related to the crust, mantle, and 

 core of the Earth, with particular emphasis on the deep ocean basins. 

 Two systems developed for or by NOS are known by acronyms: SWORD- 

 Shallow Water Oceanographic Research Data, a system for continuous 

 recording of temperature, salinity, and currents designed for use on 

 lightships; and TICUS — Tidal Current Survey System, a telemetering 

 data gathering system. 



The U.S. Lake Survey (USLS) of the Corps of Engineers was trans- 

 ferred to the newly created NOAA in 1970 where it was placed in the 

 National Ocean Survey and renamed the Lake Survey Center (LSC). Sub- 

 sequently, many of the research activities of LSC were transferred to 

 other components, principally the Great Lakes Environmental Research 

 Laboratory (GLERL) , leaving the LSC primarily responsible for survey- 

 ing and charting the Lakes. 



NOS operates a Current Meter Data Base (CMD), an information gath- 

 ering mechanism for preparing and updating the annual publications, 

 Tidal Current Charts and Tidal Current Tables, which also document 

 estuarial circulation so that the data are available in the event of 

 environmental emergencies such as oil spills; a tide data base (TIDES) 

 containing reports of hourly tide heights from a national network of 

 about 130 tide stations and other stations included as a part of the 

 Marine Boundary Surveys and used in the publication Tide Tables; and 

 a Tidal Constants (TC) data base, which, using CDM and TIDES, predicts 

 harmonic constants of tides and currents for use in the preparation 

 of the annual publications Tide tables and Tidal Current Tables. 



Other acronyms associated with NOS are BSSS — Bathymetric Swath 

 Survey System; CDMS — Current/Depth Measurement Subsystem; CMICE — 

 Current Meter Intercomparison Experiment; and NOSTS — National Ocean 

 Survey Tide Station; ODESSA — Oceanographic Data for the Environmental 

 Science Services Administration, a telemetering data gathering and 

 processing system developed by the USC&GS in the 1960's and COSMOS — 

 Coast Survey Marine Observation System — a large stable platform buoy 

 developed in 1968. 



378. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: NWS 



Originally established in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army 

 in 1871 as the Weather Bureau (WB) and later assigned variously to 

 the Departments of Agriculture or Commerce until its transfer to the 

 Environmental Science Services Administration in 1965, it was renamed 

 the National Weather Service (NWS) in 1970 when ESSA was absorbed by 

 the newly created NOAA. NWS provides comprehensive weather forecast- 

 ing, issues warnings of impending severe events, and provides special 

 services to weather-sensitive activities. It operates Weather Service 

 Forecast Offices (WSFO's) in each of the 50 States to provide fore- 

 casts for coastal waters as well as Land areas; a network of Port 

 Meteorological Officers (PMO) to provide meteorological information 

 to navigators; and National Hurricane (NHC) and National Severe Storm 

 Forecast Centers (NSSFC). 



Its WFSO in Seattle, Wash, has developed a prototype marine service 

 unit called the Seattle Ocean Services Unit (SOSU), which is develop- 

 ing products for use of marine navigators. One of its experimental 

 products is a series of Ocean Thermal Boundary Analysis (OTBA) charts 

 for the nort west coast from southern Oregon to Vancouver Island and 

 extending about 400 miles seaward. It developed State Emergency Com- 

 munications Committees (SECC) and the Emergency Hurricane Information 

 Center (EHIC). The Seismic Sea Wave Warning System (SSWWS), formerly 



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