INTRODUCTION 



In ICO Report No. 3, The National Oceanographic Program for FY 1963, 

 representing activities of eight Federal departments or agencies, is 

 set forth in broad functional areas of research, instrumentation, ship 

 construction, surveys, facilities and support of the International 

 Indian Ocean Expedition . This current report contains details of the 

 research program itself. It has been prepared primarily as a medium 

 for exchanging information on current as well as planned research, 

 to implement coordination between different agencies engaged either in 

 the sponsorship or active conduct of this program, and as a compendium 

 of on-going activity, to serve as a guide to participating scientists. 



The report has been organized around six major research objectives, or 

 fundamental questions about the sea. Within each category, projects 

 have been grouped by sponsoring Federal agency, with budget data for 

 FT 1962 and FY 1963. Needless to say, many research programs may 

 simultaneously attack more than one scientific objective. In this 

 event, the project description has been repeated, but funding has been 

 split so that amounts listed are mutually exclusive. In those cases 

 where an agency lends personnel or equipment in support of research, 

 but without specific budget allocation, the funding amount is simply 

 shown as zero. Totals, delineated by objective and by agency, are 

 tabulated at the end of the report. 



Because the missions and roles of individual agencies do not coincide 

 identically with the various scientific objectives, more than one 

 agency may be obliged to engage in the same type of research. The 

 problem of describing and determining the factors governing oceanic 

 circulation is an example. Currents govern the distribution of 

 salinity, temperature, and other characteristics affecting underwater 

 sound transmission - a principal concern of the Office of Naval Research. 

 Currents are important in Bureau of Commercial Fisheries studies of the 

 distribution of larval fish, commercial fish populations, and nutrient 

 materials involved in marine food cycles. Information about the 

 velocities and directions of currents is important to the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey for use in navigational studies. As a consequence, 

 the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the Navy Hydrographic Office, the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, and several other agencies are all 

 involved in research concerning ocean currents. 



Through programs of mutual support by these different agencies, an 

 understanding of the sea may be achieved far more swiftly than with 

 only a single agency's efforts, focused on a more limited set of 

 objectives. In fact, only by such cooperation can this program 

 advance at a satisfactory pace, and without duplication. 



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