1066 
I appreciate the opportunity of appearing here this morning to dis- 
cuss the role of the National Oceanographic Data Center and to ex- 
press some of my personal views in the hight of the recommendations of 
the Commission report and H.R. 13247. 
As this is the first time I have had the pleasure of appearing here, 
sir, I have provided the chairman and each of the members of the 
committee with a résumé of my education and experience. I shall not 
comment on that. 
Mr. Lennon. Without objection it will be inserted in the record im- 
mediately preceding the doctor’s statement. 
Dr. Austin. I have also furnished each of you with a copy of last 
year’s annual report of the National Oceanographic Data Center called 
Highlights and a little brochure that describes the activities of the 
Center. I believe each of you has a copy of my statement that I would 
appreciate having in the record, and I will speak from it only. 
Mr. Lennon. All right, sir. Without objection the full text of your 
statement will follow your comments. 
Dr. Austin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will keep it brief. I no- 
ticed you looking at your watch earlier. 
Mr. Lennon. That is all right. Go ahead, sir. 
Dr. Austin. The National Oceanographic Data Center was estab- 
lished by an interagency agreement in December 1960. The Center’s 
basic mission is to receive, compile, to process, to preserve, and dis- 
seminate the oceanographic data it receives. 
As a personal aside, I consider the data as a national resource. I con- 
sider the problems of compilation processing, and archiving of oceano- 
graphic data are extremely important since they range the full gamit 
of the marine sciences. 
Like some other data perhaps, oceanographic data do not grow old. 
The oceanographers, the people concerned with the fisheries and in- 
dustry are interested in the compilation of the data over decades. They 
are interested in the changes that are going on in the oceans with time, 
as these changes may influence the distribution and abundance of the 
fisheries, the gloval weather, and so forth. 
The operations of the Center are funded by reimbursements from 
10 agencies participating in the support of the Center. The manage- 
ment and partial financial support of the Center are furnished by the 
Naval Oceanographic Office as amplified by the policies and proce- 
dures established by the Advisory Board. 
The Advisory Board was established to provide an effective means 
of formulating, expressing, and transmitting the joint policy and 
technical direction of the Center. 
The Board consists of representatives of the sponsoring agencies. 
These ayencies now are the Navy, the NSF, the BCF, the AEC, the 
Coast Guard, the Coastal Engineering Research Center, Geological 
Survey, the HEW, the ESSA, and the FWPCA. 
In addition, two nonvoting members are appointed by the National 
Academy of Sciences and are always scientists in their own right, and 
three observers, one from industry, one from the National Council, 
and one from the new National Oceanographic Instrumentation 
Center. 
Each of the supporting activities provides a pro rata share of the 
estimated costs for the operation of the Center, the acquiring, the 
compiling and the preservation of the oceanographic data. 
