shore support facilities. Overall costs are greatly 

 influenced by the maintenance requirements. 



A. Navy Developments 



The Navy has invested considerable effort in 

 development of automatic reporting ocean- 

 ographic and meteorological buoys. ^ One is the 

 20-foot long, 10-foot beam boat type "NOMAD" 

 (Navy Oceanographic and Meteorological Auto- 

 matic Device), on which are mounted sensing 

 devices for air temperature, wind, pressure, and sea 



Figure 14. Navy's NOMAD (Naval Oceano- 

 graphic and Meteorological Automatic De- 

 vice). This buoy, the N3S, is powered by the 

 SNAP- 7D nuclear power device and is deep 

 moored in the Gulf of Mexico. (Navy photo) 



temperature. The buoy has been successfully 

 moored at a depth of 11,000 feet. Underwater 

 temperatures and pressures to 1,000 foot depths 

 have been measured and transmitted to shore 

 stations. A device to measure sea state is under 

 development. Tests have been conducted of a 

 version powered by the SNAP-7D nuclear power 

 generator, engineered for a two-year service in- 

 terval and an estimated 10-year Ufetime. 



The Navy has also sponsored the development 

 of a small-scale NOMAD, with dimensions about 

 one-half the original. Its quantity cost is estimated 

 at about one-half the cost of the larger buoys. 



The so-called MONSTER buoy, now referred to 

 as the "Ocean Data Station," 40 feet in diameter, 

 has been developed primarily for oceanographic 



See the following reference for a non-technical 

 review of the Navy's buoy developments: Mottem, 

 Captain R. E,, USN, E. F. Corwin and A. F. Pyle: The 

 Meteorologicail Buoy Programme of the U.S. Navy. The 

 Marine Observer. Vol. XXXVII, 1967, pp. 178-185. 



Figure 15. The Monster buoy (Ocean Data 

 Station) leaving San Diego on July 29, 1 968, 

 under tow, to a test site in the North Pacific. 

 The buoy is now successfully moored. 

 (General Dynamics photo) 



research, but is capable of measuring and trans- 

 mitting surface meteorological data. It can remain 

 unattended in the deep ocean for up to one year. 

 Present plans call for two buoys to be on station in 

 the North Pacific for approximately a year begin- 

 ning in the summer of 1968, as part of an air-sea 

 interaction experiment. Meteorological and ocean- 

 ographic data wiU be transmitted to shore stations; 

 sateUite relay of data wall also be tested. 



The Navy deployed a network of buoys in the 

 "Navy Acre"— an area bounded by 33°N-34°N and 

 73°-74°W; during the period September 1966- 

 early 1968. Several buoy types were included, 

 with considerable success reported for the 

 NOMAD; its mooring and communications 

 checked out. Some difficulty was experienced in 

 getting data from the submerged oceanographic 

 sensors. At present two operational NOMAD 

 buoys are on station in the Gulf of Mexico. 



B. ESSA Developments 



The ODESSA (Ocean Data Enviroimiental 

 Science Services Acquisition) Systeiii consists of 

 two main instrument assemblies. The first is the 



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