However, with a minimum of additional effort, 

 mapping and charting undertaken for specific 

 near-term objectives can, in many instances, satisfy 

 certain needs of basic science. 



The science community has used the forum of 

 the National Academy of Sciences Committee on 

 Oceanography to express its needs for mapping 

 and charting. Progress in carrying forward many of 

 that committee's recommendations has been pain- 

 fully slow due to lack of adequate funding, both 

 for ship operations and especially for shore based 

 data processing. 



There is a need for mechanisms whereby the 

 Federal mapping and charting efforts are kept 

 under frequent review by appropriate representa- 

 tive bodies of the scientific community, to insure 

 that all mapping and charting efforts are respon- 

 sive to the needs of the science. This recommenda- 

 tion is particularly timely in light of the U.S. 

 proposal for an International Decade of Ocean 

 Exploration which will involve extensive mapping 

 and charting of the deep ocean as well as the 

 Continental Shelf. 



Recommendation : 



The mapping and charting activities of the Federal 

 Government should be made as responsive as 

 possible to the needs of basic science and mecha- 

 nisms should be established whereby mapping and 

 charting operations of the Federal agencies can be 

 reviewed to insure responsiveness to science needs. 



II. NAVIGATION 



Accurate all-weather navigation on the high seas 

 is now possible through the Navy's Transit satellite 

 system. Fixes are obtainable about every 90 

 minutes everywhere on the earth's surface. Eco- 

 nomical, reliable receivers for the Transit system 

 are not yet generally available, but the procure- 

 ment efforts now under way through the Office of 

 Naval Research are expected to remedy this 

 situation in the near future. This important de- 

 velopment will have far reaching results in increas- 

 ing the ability to gather information pertinent to 

 developing the seas' resources. We urge the Navy 

 to proceed with all speed to make this system 

 available to all and to encourage development of 

 low-cost receivers and navigation devices to span 

 between fixes. 



The situation with regard to navigation over the 

 continental shelves of the United States and in 

 coastal waters beyond the capability of visual 

 methods of position-fixing is not as favorable. 

 Although the present LORAN systems are gen- 

 erally useful for the navigation of commercial 

 shipping and aircraft, systems are available which 

 will provide continuous position information of an 

 accuracy of several tens of feet at ranges up to 200 

 nautical miles. Such a system is critically needed 

 for basic research, for surveying, for navigation in 

 congested shipping lanes, and for resource develop- 

 ment and commercial fishing. We recommend, as 

 did NASCO and PSAC before us, the establish- 

 ment of such a system; the needs grow more 

 critical each year. 



A requirement also exists for the precise naviga- 

 tion of research submersibles. Absolute accuracy 

 of position is required at least comparable to what 

 one now achieves with LORAN-A, in conjunction 

 with a system with a relative accuracy of a few 

 tens of feet. It seems unlikely that available 

 systems which depend on the receipt of electro- 

 magnetic transmission can be readily adapted for 

 the use of small submersibles. Instead, they will 

 require a system based on some other principle, 

 most probably inertial or acoustic. The Navy's 

 Deep Submergence Systems Project has such a 

 development underway. Close liaison between that 

 office and the U.S. scientific community is there- 

 fore recommended, with the aim of making Navy 

 developments in this field available in the form of 

 unclassified, moderately-priced devices for general 

 civilian use. 



Recommendation : 



The Department of Transportation should proceed 

 at high priority with the installation of a precise 

 electronic navigational system sufficient to cover 

 the entire coasts of the continental United States 

 and Hawaii by the early 1970's and of Alaska and 

 the Bering Sea by the late 1970's. 



III. DATA CENTERS 



Oceanographic data are collected at great ex- 

 pense and with great difficulty, not only by the 

 Federal Government but also by private institu- 

 tions and foreign governments. These data are 

 indispensable for many research investigations. 



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