Chapter 8 Institutional Needs 



Implementing a materially expanded program 

 of basic research in marine science will require the 

 proper mix of manpower, money, and institutional 

 arrangements. If the funding is forthcoming, the 

 manpower outlook is favorable. In this section, the 

 panel addresses the institutional and facility needs 

 of such a program. 



The institutional arrangements available to the 

 Nation today for the conduct of the programs 

 outlined are extremely diverse. They represent a 

 sound base on which arrangements adequate to 

 growing needs can be built. But they are not now 

 adequate to a task of the magnitude envisioned. 

 Basically, there is an emerging need for institu- 

 tional arrangements designed to cope with the 

 problems of "big science" on the one hand and 

 highly specialized local problems on the other. 



Basic ocean science requires large and complex 

 facilities. While they are relatively modest com- 

 pared to those the Nation maintains for space, 

 nuclear, and health science programs, they are large 

 compared with ocean facilities presently available. 

 It is important for the continued health of basic 

 marine science that university laboratories be able 

 to operate major facilities comparable to those 

 operated in the Federal establishment. 



The problem of assuring adequate and stable 

 support for institutional facilities was the one 

 most often emphasized in the panel's hearings, in 

 interviews, in letters received, and in a formal 

 response from the National Academy of Sciences 

 Committee on Oceanography to a panel query. In 

 this general area of facility support lies one of the 

 most troublesome obstacles facing the research 

 community today. 



The problem of facility support is a difficult 

 one. Twenty years ago the requirements were for a 

 few small general purpose research vessels. Today 

 the needs range from conventional research ships 

 to platforms such as FLIP, deep-drilling vessels, 

 deep submersibles, underwater laboratories, large 

 buoy arrays, experimental coastal engineering 

 structures, and large open areas where it is possible 

 to practice limited enviroimiental control. 



As the need for specialized facilities has grown, 

 so has the size and complexity of the institutions. 

 The three largest oceanographic research institu- 



Figure 18. Floating Laboratory Instrument 

 Platform (FLIP) at Dabob Bay. This platform, 

 requiring no surface support ship once it is on 

 location, may be towed as a ship and then 

 ballasted to a vertical position. Able to sup- 

 port scientists at sea for long periods, its 

 unique depth allows precise scientific measure- 

 ment to be obtained. (Navy photo) 



tions over the past 1 5 years have been the Scripps 

 Institution of Oceanography of the University of 

 California, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu- 

 tion, and the Lamont Geological Observatory of 

 Columbia University. Some measure of their 

 growth can be seen in Table 13. Today there are at 

 least five additional academic institutions which 

 are comparable in size to Scripps and Woods Hole 

 in 1950. But it is obvious that the Nation cannot 

 provide a full complex of facilities to all labora- 

 tories or groups which would want them. More- 

 over, the program envisioned would not require 

 them. 



Institutional arrangements must be established 

 to provide for the necessary concentration of 

 expensive facihties and still make sure they are 

 available to all who need them. The Nation has 

 confronted this problem before, in atomic energy, 

 space, astronomy, and atmospheric science pro- 

 grams, through the establishment of certain na- 

 tionally designated facilities. 



At the other end of the scale, some of the most 

 urgent marine science problems are those of the 

 coastal zone, which are highly localized and highly 

 specialized. Present institutional arrangements do 

 not provide for the necessary facilities and institu- 

 tions to attack these problems. 



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