Palfrey- 



Secretary Class cutters, the 255' Lake Class cutters, and the 311' 

 converted AVP Class cutters. The CGC HAMILTON, which was recently 

 commissioned and is the first of a new 378' Secretary Class cutter, was 

 designed and built for oceanography and will be manning North Atlantic 

 Ocean Stations in the near future. 



Since early 1963, when CGC CASCO demonstrated the feasibility 

 of oceanographic observations by Coast Guard Ocean Station vessels, 

 through successful completion of a pilot project at Ocean Stations 

 DELTA and ECHO in the North Atlantic, the program has been greatly 

 expanded. At present the Ocean Station program is functioning at 

 forty percent of its goal of continuous observations at all six 

 stations. The achievement of the ultimate goal has been limited solely 

 by the availability of deep-sea reversing thermometers. A problem 

 which is not unique to the Coast Guard. Oceanographic observations 

 are made at all stations except ECHO on an alternate patrol basis; a 

 patrol being twenty-one days duration. The ECHO project is currently 

 being accomplished on a seasonal basis. 



The oceanographic observation program at each Ocean Station 

 requires a daily oceanographic station to a depth of 1500m and at 

 least once during the patrol a daily station is extended to as near 

 the bottom as practicable. Accepted sampling techniques and proced- 

 ures are adhered to rigidly. 



In 1964, the Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit was permanently 

 established in Washington, D. C. with the mission to develop and 

 support the total Coast Guard oceanographic program, including the 

 time-series program at the Ocean Stations. This support includes data 

 collection, processing and dissemination, instrument development and 

 calibration; establishing oceanographic techniques and procedures; 

 and liaison and cooperation with other agencies. 



It was recognized quite early that the large number of 

 vessels of opportunity involved in the Ocean Station program would 

 prohibit scientific manning. In order to control the quality of data 

 collected and to afford guidance to a vessel when deployed a two-fold 

 program was established. An eight-week school was established at the 

 Coast Guard Training Center, Groton, Conn, to provide two trained 

 enlisted technicians as a part of the permanent crew of each Ocean 

 Station vessel. In addition, a program of real-time quality control 

 of data by radio was initiated. 



All observed data is transmitted by radio, generally radio 

 teletype, to the Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit where it is corrected, 

 processed by a digital computer and checked by a trained oceanographer 

 on a twenty-four hour a day basis. This permits rapid feed-back to 

 the vessel so that the sampling frequency can be adjusted to better 

 observe changing phenomena and poorly performing instruments replaced. 

 Over 1100 oceanographic stations were handled in this manner during 

 1966 and a total of over 1500 is anticipated for 1967. An analysis 



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