38 



Proposed FY 1967 Program 



NSF support of oceanography involves two 

 broad areas of study: biological and physical. The 

 oceanographic institutions receive support for 

 research in these two areas primarilv from the 

 Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, the 

 Division of Environmental Sciences, and the Office 

 of Antarctic Programs. Over the past several 

 years, there has been a special item in the budget 

 for the International Indian Ocean Expedition. 

 Funds for supporting this expedition have been 

 essentially devoted to biological and physical 

 oceanography in their broader sense. 



Biological Oceanography 



The Di\ision of Biological and Medical Sciences 

 has, in addition to the general support of biology, 

 the specific task of funding in biological ocean- 

 ography. This funding is made in support of seven 

 programs: Developmental Biolog\ , En\ironmental 

 Biology, Genetic Biology, Metabolic Biology, 

 Regulatory Biology, Systematic Biology, and Spe- 

 cial Programs. It is handled in this manner as 

 biological oceanography and diflPers from biology 

 in no significant way; it is Cjuite simplv the biology 

 of that part of oin- globe which constitutes the 

 sea — the study of all life from shore to shore. As 

 such, it spans the gamut of biology from the 

 consideration of the biophvsiochemical activities 

 within parts of indi\idual cells to the complex 

 metabolic functions of cells and tissues, the physio- 

 logical responses of organs, and the study of whole 

 organisms, many of which display patterns of 

 organization and development unrepresented 

 elsewhere than in the oceans. The functions, 

 locomotion, and behavioral traits of marine 

 organisms include exotic and strange adaptations 

 to the peculiarities of the aqtiatic en\ironment, 

 warm or cold, shallow or deep, bright or per- 

 petually black, rich or poor in nutrients, crowded 

 or open, clear or muddy, still or turbulent. The 

 factors that govern evokitionary rates of change, 

 dispersal of organisms, relationships between 

 producers and consumers, predators and prey, 

 and the organisms and their environment are 

 often distinctly diff'erent in the sea from those 

 on the land. Because of this difference, they 

 require special study. Finally, the Foundation 



supports the investigation of the fantastically 

 complex system that represents the integration of 

 li\ing organisms to the physical elements of the sea 

 and the relationship of the sea to the atmosphere 

 abo\e. 



The support of biological oceanography in the 

 Division of Biological and Medical Sciences has 

 shown a marked increase since 1958, the year 

 selected as the base for all comparisons. The 

 funding for research has gone from $765,000 to 

 almost $5.8 million in FY 1965 with an approxi- 

 mate 2.6 fold increase in the number of grants. 

 In FY 1967, the Foundation will continue to re- 

 spond to proposals from in\estigators working 

 in biological oceanography, with approximately 

 $6,700,000 budgeted for this purpose. 



Physical Oceanography 



Physical aspects of oceanography are supported 

 primarily within the Division of Environmental 

 Sciences. Here, a specific program has been 

 formed for administering the Foundation's 

 oceanographic endeavors in physical ocean- 

 ography. Since oceanography is not a single 

 discipline, there is some contribution from the 

 Geophysics Program on some phases of marine 

 geophysics and from the Meteorology Program 

 on air-sea interaction. However, the bulk of all 

 university support by the Foundation in physical 

 oceanography is conducted imder a specific 

 budget item for the Oceanography Program. 



The study of the oceans as a physical entity 

 has had a rather slow development in the United 

 States, but finally it has attained stature within 

 the scientific community and the vital role it 

 plays in our welfare is now recognized. Physical 

 oceanography, which embraces a number of 

 widely divergent scientific investigations, is con- 

 cerned with the water covering the earth's surface 

 as well as the floor of the ocean basins, which 

 the great depths have shrouded from our view. 

 Investigations reach into the circulation of the 

 oceans and the processes promoting the movement 

 of water. Studies are conducted to determine the 

 energy flow between the sea and the atmosphere. 

 The formation and dissipation of waves and their 

 energy is a perplexing problem to which the 

 oceanographer is devoting much of his effort. 

 The chemistrv of water and the mo\ement of 



