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We believe that ESSA should continue to give high priority to air- 
sea interaction reasearch and use its capabilities in cooperation with 
other Federal agencies, universities, and foreign scientists to mount 
needed major field experiments. ESSA was assigned such lead agency 
responsibility for Federal air-sea interaction programs by the Federal 
Council for Science and Technology. 
The Barbados oceanographic and meteorological experiment 
(BOMEX), the largest and most complex experiment of this type ever 
undertaken, is an excellent example of interagency cooperation in the 
pooling of resources so as to accomplish a task that no single agency 
could undertake alone. 
We in ESSA are confident that the experience gained from BOMEX 
can be applied to similar experiments in other areas. 
In any national move to explore and develop the seas the sine qua 
non will be an adequate description of the physical and geophysical 
characteristics of the ocean floor. We must map and chart not only the 
areas adjacent to our shores but also the deep ocean. ESSA, as the civil 
focus for ocean mapping and charting, sees this as an urgent first step. 
ESSA annually distributes more than 2 million nautical charts, of 
which nearly 300,000 are small craft charts for boatowners. ESSA now 
provides over one-half of all its nautical chart products to the Navy. 
ESSA has begun the systematic mapping of the deep ocean and has 
mapped over 1 million square nautical miles in the North Pacific. To 
accomplish these mapping and charting tasks, ESSA-Coast and Geo- 
detic Survey operates a fleet of 14 modern vessels from marine centers 
on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and two aircraft. 
At the present rate of effort our mapping and charting activities, 
extensive as they are, are almost overwhelmed by the present and grow- 
ing needs for our products. We have not been able in the past few years 
to meet the national needs for adequate maps and charts of the oceans. 
The Commission has accurately highlighted the problems and needs 
of ESSA to insure up-to-date charts of the U.S. coastal waters. Our 
present plans for additions to the ESSA hydrographic survey fleet 
and supporting facilities, particularly automated methods for data 
collection and construction of charts, need to be accelerated. 
The Commission also has recommended that ESSA undertake the 
systematic mapping of the bathymetry and geophysics of the U.S. 
near-shore waters and the continental shelves and slopes in order to 
provide 1 :250,000 scale maps of these regions within 10 years. 
We are engaged in producing such maps. Our own schedule has 
called for a more moderate rate of survey to accomplish this task by 
the late 1980’s. We have already begun both the production of maps 
from existing survey data and a program to accomplish the additional 
field surveys required. 
I am pleased to report that ESSA and the Geological Survey, 
through joint field operations in Norton Sound, Alaska, have developed 
a cooperative mode of operation that can serve as the example for con- 
ducting the recommended bathymetric, geological, and geophysical 
surveys of our Continental Shelves. 
The Geological Survey’s capabilities in geological exploration com- 
plement our capabilities in bathymetric, geophysical, and oceano- 
graphic surveys. Together the combined capabilities provide for the 
