24 



national competence in oceanograjihic research 

 so that the basic knowledge, trained personnel, 

 and technical proficiency will be available to 

 meet the jjresent and future needs of the Na\y. 

 Toward this end, the Office of Naval Research 

 has encouraged the establishment and growth 

 of laboratories and educational facilities through- 

 out the United States, and has supported well- 

 qualified investigators with grants for reseaich 

 proposals of merit. The Office has enhanced 

 research capabilities at institutions by providing 

 funds for the construction or conversion of ships. 

 (For the 24 major oceanographic ships cj]3eratecl 

 by private laboratories in FY 1966, and jointly 

 funded by Federal agencies, more than half the 

 support came from ONR). Many specialized facili- 

 ties ha\e been de\eloped by, or made available to 

 research personnel: e.g., FLIP, a highly stable, 

 mobile research platform: the deep research 

 vehicle, ALVIN; four-engined research aircraft: 

 telemetering buoys; stationary towers; Arctic 

 drift stations; and manv special facilities for 

 biological research. 



While building up and maintaining a broad, 

 institutional capability, ONR has stressed con- 

 tinuity of research support in an efi^ort to provide 

 stability in a field of science where capital and 

 operating costs are higher than in most other 

 fields of science. In recent years, however, the 

 growth of support for oceanography, by the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation and other Federal 

 agencies, has allowed ONR to shift a larger amoimt 

 of its support from fostering and maintaining 

 oceanographic capabilities at private laboratories, 

 to using these new capabilities to systematically 

 increase om- knowledge of ocean phenomena, 

 especially in those problem areas of immediate 

 concern to the Navy. Thus the Navy is shifting 

 emphasis from broad institutional support (with 

 laboratory programs developed largely along lines 

 determined by the directors and their staff) to 

 a stronger research program directed toward the 

 solution of well-defined scientific problems of 

 immediate Navy concern. 



With past exploratory work as backgroimd, and 

 recent advances in technology available for re- 

 search at sea, we are now in a position to design 

 significant experiments in the ocean. Among the 

 most obvif)us opportunities (and most rewarding 

 from both the scientific and the Navy points of 



view) are programs that will take advantage of 

 our new technology to understand the dynamics 

 and variability of the ocean through the use of 

 time-series experiments. Since some time-series 

 studies must be made in large areas over long 

 periods {e.g., in\estigation of major circulation 

 patterns in the Eastern Pacific), they will be ex- 

 pensive; some will be beyond the capability of a 

 single institution. 



The pursuit of knowledge by lumierous inde- 

 pendent groups has been historically productive 

 in science in general and notably in oceanography. 

 A point is reached, however, when a concerted 

 attack on definable problems is required. A num- 

 ber of scientists under ONR contract are docu- 

 menting critical experiments in physical ocean- 

 ography which are feasible and which promise to 

 enlarge oia- understanding of the ocean. In FY 

 1967, ONR intends to marshall its resources 

 behind some of the most attractive of these 

 experiments. 



Proposed FY 1967 Program 



Through contracts with over 125 universities, 

 nonprofit institutions, and a lesser number of 

 industrial laboratories, and by means of an active 

 in-house program at the Naval Research Labo- 

 atory, the Office of Naval Research will continue 

 long-range siqiport of oceanographic studies in 

 areas of known relevance to the Navy. Parts of 

 the program are directed toward filling gaps in 

 knowledge that bear on recognized operational 

 problems; other portions explore the applica- 

 bility of existing knowledge to the Navy's use 

 of the marine environment. 



Problems in Basic Oceanography — Major program 

 support will continue to go to the following 

 institutions: 



Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 Scripps Institution of Oceanogra]3h) , 



University of California, San Diego 

 Lamont Geological Observatory, 



Columbia University 

 University of Washington 

 Chesapeake Bay Institute, 



Johns Hopkins University 

 Texas A&M University 



