[House Hearing, 105 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
HEARING ON OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEMS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS
of the
COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 30, 1998, WASHINGTON, DC
__________
Serial No. 105-106
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Resources
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house
or
Committee address: http://www.house.gov/resources
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
50-670 CC WASHINGTON : 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
COMMITTEE ON RESOURCES
DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman
W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana GEORGE MILLER, California
JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
JIM SAXTON, New Jersey NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia
ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan
JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland Samoa
KEN CALVERT, California NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii
RICHARD W. POMBO, California SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming OWEN B. PICKETT, Virginia
HELEN CHENOWETH, Idaho FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
LINDA SMITH, Washington CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California
GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California CARLOS A. ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto
WALTER B. JONES, Jr., North Rico
Carolina MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York
WILLIAM M. (MAC) THORNBERRY, Texas ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam
JOHN SHADEGG, Arizona SAM FARR, California
JOHN E. ENSIGN, Nevada PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island
ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon ADAM SMITH, Washington
CHRIS CANNON, Utah WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
KEVIN BRADY, Texas CHRIS JOHN, Louisiana
JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania DONNA CHRISTIAN-GREEN, Virgin
RICK HILL, Montana Islands
BOB SCHAFFER, Colorado RON KIND, Wisconsin
JIM GIBBONS, Nevada LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas
MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho
Lloyd A. Jones, Chief of Staff
Elizabeth Megginson, Chief Counsel
Christine Kennedy, Chief Clerk/Administrator
John Lawrence, Democratic Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans
JIM SAXTON, New Jersey, Chairman
W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii
WALTER B. JONES, Jr., North SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas
Carolina SAM FARR, California
JOHN PETERSON, Pennsylvania PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island
MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho
Harry Burroughs, Staff Director
John Rayfield, Legislative Staff
Chris Mann, Democratic Legislative Staff
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held July 30, 1998....................................... 1
Statement of Members:
Delahunt, Hon. William D., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Massachusetts................................. 14
Pallone, Hon. Frank, Jr., a Representative in Congress from
the State of New Jersey, prepared statement of............. 2
Saxton, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State
of New Jersey.............................................. 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 2
Young, Hon. Don, a Representative in Congress from the State
of Alaska, prepared statement of........................... 2
Statement of Witnesses:
Baker, D. James, Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere,
Department of Commerce..................................... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 40
Colwell, Rita, Director, National Science Foundation......... 9
Prepared statement of.................................... 48
Gaffney, Rear Admiral Paul G., II, Chief of Naval Research,
United States Navy......................................... 10
Prepared statement of.................................... 51
Gagosian, Robert, Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution................................................ 22
Prepared statement of.................................... 62
Grassle, J. Frederick, Director, Institute of Marine and
Coastal Science............................................ 25
Prepared statement of.................................... 70
Kennel, Charles, Director, Scripps Institute of Oceanography. 20
Prepared statement of.................................... 52
Watkins, James, President, Consortium for Oceanographic
Research and Education..................................... 26
Prepared statement of.................................... 59
HEARING ON OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEMS
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THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1998
House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Fisheries
Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans, Committee on
Resources, Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in
room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Jim Saxton
(chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
STATEMENT OF HON. JIM SAXTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Mr. Saxton. The Subcommittee will come to order.
I want to thank everyone for the extraordinary effort in
preparation for this morning's hearing. And it is primarily
because of that extraordinary effort that we are proceeding
with the hearing at a rather difficult time. It is at this hour
the funeral of one of the officers is being held over in
Virginia, so we debated in our mind about whether we should
move forward. But because of the distances that some of you
traveled, and because of the great effort that went into this
morning's hearing, in preparation for it that is, we decided to
proceed.
The Subcommittee on Fisheries, Conservation, Wildlife and
Oceans is meeting today to conduct an oversight hearing on our
nation's ocean observing systems. The importance of the ocean
is being recognized more each day for the role in the global
climate and environment and the potential uses of the
biological and mineral resources it harbors.
The United States needs to evaluate its marine observation
systems and determine if the facilities and the technology in
our current arsenal are sufficient to meet the requirements to
understand, conserve, and use resources in the marine
environment.
As some of you are aware, the Oceans Act of 1998, which was
also interesting this week, establishes a commission to
evaluate the state of our oceans research and technology and
the laws that govern marine issues. This bill was approved by
the House Resources Committee yesterday, and we expect it to
move quickly through the House. The input and interest of some
of today's witnesses has proved invaluable over these past
months, and I thank you for the input and the expert
information that you were able to provide us.
However, today's hearing was called to gain insight into
the status of the Nation's oceans observing systems and
determining the needs that exist for a further understanding of
the marine ecosystem. By hearing testimony from both the
administration and the scientific community, we hope to better
comprehend the direction that policy needs to be taken in order
to develop more sound policies when it comes to the ocean and
its inhabitants.
We look forward to hearing from each of you this morning
and hearing your perspective on a variety of current observing
systems.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Saxton follows:]
Statement of Hon. Jim Saxton, a Representative in Congress from the
State of New Jersey
Good morning. The Subcommittee is meeting today to discuss
the status of the nation's ocean observing systems.
The importance of the ocean is being recognized more each
day for its role in the global climate and environment and the
potential uses of the biological and mineral resources it
harbors. The United States needs to evaluate its marine
observation systems and determine if the facilities and
technology in our current arsenal are sufficient to meet our
requirements to understand, conserve and use the resources in
the marine environment.
As some of you are aware, the Oceans Act of 1998
establishes a commission to evaluate the state of our oceans,
research and technology, and the laws that govern marine
issues. This bill was approved by the House Resources Committee
yesterday, and we expect it to move quickly through the House.
The input and interest of some of today's witnesses has proved
invaluable over these past months, and I thank you for your
expertise.
However, today's hearing was called to gain insight into
the status of the nation's ocean observing systems and
determining the needs that exist to further our understanding
of the marine ecosystem. By hearing testimony from both the
Administration and the scientific community, I hope to better
comprehend the direction that policy needs to be taken in order
to develop more sound policies, when it comes to the ocean and
its inhabitants.
I am looking forward to each of your testimony and hearing
your perspective on a variety of current observing systems.
Mr. Saxton. As I mentioned earlier, because of other events
that are taking place at this time, I expect that I will be
here alone for most of the hearing; that is, without other
members. So I ask your understanding. And I ask unanimous
consent that all Subcommittee members be permitted to include
their opening statements in the record. And, obviously, that
will occur.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Young follows:]
Statement of Hon. Don Young, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Alaska
I would like to compliment Chairman Saxton for holding this
oversight hearing. In light of the fact that the Oceans Bill
was reported from the Resource Committee yesterday, this
hearing is very timely.
The science community's needs to study the widely unknown
ocean must be established in conjunction with the Ocean
Commission that we hope to pass. By coordinating the efforts of
the scientific community and the elected officials both here
and outside Washington, a more concerted effort can be
developed.
Without widespread understanding of the oceans, many
problems, ranging from fisheries conservation to those of
pollution, will go either completely unaddressed or
inadequately resolved. Therefore, through the testimony we will
hear today, I am optimistic that we will gain some perspectives
from the Administration and also some valuable insights into
the needs and hopes of the scientific community.
I look forward to hearing from this extraordinary group of
witnesses that have been assembled today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pallone follows:]
Statement of Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., a Representative in Congress from
the State of New Jersey
Mr. Chairman,
Thank you for holding this hearing today on such an
important and timely issue, the oceans. Our oceans are
critically understudied and while they cover roughly three
fourths of the planet, observations have lagged far behind
those on land.
If anyone doubts the importance of ocean observations, they
need only to look as far as our most recent El Nino
predictions. These predictions, based on models and ocean
observations, gave state and local managers the information
they needed to take precautionary measures before disaster
struck, saving millions of dollars and countless lives.
There are yet other ocean observations that have yielded
tremendous benefits. The Ocean Drilling Program has produced
sediment cores to study long-term climate variability.
Submersible observations have discovered hydrothermal vents
where entire communities of unique marine organisms flourish.
These organisms which live without sunlight, and under intense
heat and pressure, show tremendous promise in the cutting-edge
field of biotechnology.
Past ocean observations have also yielded exciting medical
benefits. Today over half of all new cancer drug discoveries
are coming from marine organisms. Further research in this area
could lead to even further breakthroughs.
At the National Ocean Conference in Monterey, California,
the President announced several initiatives to explore, restore
and protect our ocean resources. I am particularly interested
in two initiatives announced: Exploring the Last U.S. Frontier
and Monitoring Climate and Global Warming.
I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses on the
current state of our ocean observations, what areas need
additional research, and what partnerships are taking place to
meet these needs.
Mr. Saxton. We are going to hear something a little unusual
this morning. One of our witnesses, Dr. Gagosian, the director
of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, will be showing us a
film on some recent undersea research taken by the scientists
there. It will take about 5 minutes. Immediately following the
film we will introduce the first panel.
I would like to introduce the film. Are we all set? We have
two monitors. So it looks like we are all set. You might want
to dim the lights a bit, and we will go ahead and watch this
video.
Dr. Gagosian. Mr. Chairman, I have been asked today to
speak to the issue of the deep sea. For this video
presentation, I will present how we explore the deep sea floor
2 to 3 miles below the surface of our blue planet and what we
see down there. During my testimony, I will talk about why we
need to explore the deep sea and what technical improvements we
need to produce the best science.
But first, what tools do we need to explore this blue
planet? How do we explore our inner space where buoyancy is
important and gravity is not? We use human-occupied vehicles.
HOVs, like Alvin, with its support vessel Atlantis, Alvin is
part of the National Deep Submergence Facility located in Woods
Hole, Massachusetts. Alvin holds three people, two scientists
and a pilot, and can dive to a depth of 14,000 feet. It
averages roughly 180 dives a year. It can explore 86 percent of
the ocean floor.
The National Deep Submergence Facility also has remotely
operated vehicles and autonomous vehicles. You are all familiar
with the remote vehicle Jason. It was used to explore and
discover the Titanic. Jason has a depth capacity of 20,000
feet, can operate 20 hours a day, and is tethered to the ship
with a fiberoptic cable. It works by a team approach both on
the ship and on land. It is linked by satellite to a global
audience.
And there are autonomous vehicles, such as the autonomous
benthic explorer, Abe. It is untethered. It drops off the side
of the ship, goes through the water column, goes down to the
bottom of the ocean, goes into a cradle, and goes to sleep,
wakes up on command, and runs around the bottom of the ocean
sensing different events that occur down there.
Another example is REMUS, the remote environmental
monitoring unit. There are several in operation. This is a
cartoon, if you will, an animation of a futuristic robotic
colony on the sea floor. What you are seeing here in the black
sections are the areas covered by side scan sonar used to map
the sea floor topography. The use of these robotic colonies
clearly is for mine warfare and monitoring earthquakes, as a
couple of examples, as shown here; also to monitor waste dump
sites. You can also see from this particular animation the
autonomous benthic explorer involved in this surveying the
bottom of the ocean in this futuristic effort.
Now let's talk about other advances in technology. Cameras.
The Titanic was discovered in 1986 by Woods Hole Deep
Submergence Laboratory, headed by Bob Ballard. This is a low-
light video, high-altitude imagery of Titanic. Remember,
Titanic is 2\1/2\ miles below the ocean floor water.
In the early 1990's, broadcast quality three-chip cameras
came along, and as you can see, there is extraordinary clarity
with respect to the 1986 video. There are a lot of particles in
the water. And so these new camera systems have allowed
scientists to look at things and ask questions they were not
able to do just 5 years earlier. So due to progression in wider
area and angle views, clarity and resolution, and higher light
power, a scientist can do, as I mentioned, things they could
not even dream of doing 5 to 10 years earlier.
An excellent example of this is the telemotor. This is
linkage to the rudder of Titanic. The steering wheel is
attached to it. Note the clarity of the bolts. I would like to
remind everyone in the room that this is 2\1/2\ miles below the
ocean surface. It is not in my office.
One of my favorite pictures is this cup which is found in
the debris field of Titanic. If you look carefully, you will
not only see the white star, but you will be able to read
``White Star Line.''
Another example of the use of this technology is in a
forensic survey that was just completed of a bulk cargo carrier
named the Derbyshire, 964-foot, 2,000-ton iron ore and bulk
carrier which sank off Okinawa in a typhoon in 1980 in 14,000
feet of water. This, by the way, is HDTV of a half-inch cable
from that sunken carrier. Forty-four lives were lost. The
question is why and how did it sink?
One hundred thirty-seven thousand digital still images and
500 hours of color and HDTV video imagery were taken, and as
you can see, it is really quite extraordinary, the detail. This
is a fracture in the hatch cover at, again, 14,000 feet. This
is a plastic tie wrap. Those lines are 1 millimeter apart.
The synthesis of the imagery, and you will see in a moment
the bow section, has allowed the people that were working on
this project to understand why and how it sank. Now, that is
the technology.
Let me take you to a place where few people have been
before, where the heat of the earth drives this engine creating
a 40,000-mile-long volcanic mountain chain below the sea
surface at an average depth of 2\1/2\ miles, the longest
mountain chain on earth, moonless mountains. These are areas
where hot lava is entering the ocean from deep below in the
earth's interior creating underwater mountains. You probably
think this is a volcano on earth, but actually it isn't. It is
2\1/2\ miles below the ocean's surface. It is at the underwater
volcanoes where new sea floors are made. It is the most hostile
environment on earth.
This is the world of hydrothermal vents. They were
discovered just 20 years ago, where sea water circulates deep
below the ocean floor through cracks in the crust from previous
earthquakes, recycling and heating the water to 700 degrees
Fahrenheit as it rises to the surface. The pressure is 5,000
pounds per square inch. It is a world of metal sulfides, iron,
zinc, copper, and silver, as they condense in the cold water
creating chimneys that grow several stories high at the rate of
a foot a week.
It is also the world where bacteria is the basis of life.
And what you are seeing here is thick bacterial mat, not snow.
It is also where chemical reactions, not light, provide the
energy for life. It is a world of incredible diversity and
density, where over 300 species have been found, two-thirds of
which have never been seen before, with an overall growth rate
as high as the most fertile rain forest in the world.
It is a world of unusual animals, like these tube worms
that you are seeing here, which can grow up to 14 feet. They
grow at a rate of an inch a week. They are the fastest growing
invertebrates on earth. These organisms coexisted with the
dinosaurs. Vent organism fossils have been found in 400-
million-year-old ore deposits.
This never-dreamed-of oasis of life has created a whole new
thinking of the origin of life on this planet and the
possibility of life on others. The red tips, by the way, I
might add, are hemoglobin.
This is another kind of worm. This is an Alvinella worm,
named after Alvin. The tip of this worm is in 34 degree
Fahrenheit water, and the tail is in 175 degree Fahrenheit
water, and it is only 2 feet long, the highest known
temperature in which an animal has survived. And a 140-degree
Fahrenheit gradient over a 2-foot body length is extraordinary.
Higher up in the food chain, as you can see, are crabs.
The red light, by the way, is a laser from Alvin. It is
used to maneuver the submarine.
So these cameras are indeed our microscopes under the sea.
And this extraordinary picture of a shrimp actually is a great
example of that. Shrimp, I might add, on the midocean ridge of
the Atlantic are teeming in their masses as they feed on
bacteria. There are literally thousands of them. The light on
their backs is thought to be coming from light-seeking sensors
which attract them to the vent.
There are golden-colored mussels, as well. They do not feed
on the bacteria like the shrimp, but the bacteria reside inside
them, producing the mussels' food source. They grow as large as
a 12-inch dinner plate.
So, only 20 vent sites have been explored on this 40,000-
mile mountain chain. Many more have been hypothesized. Imagine
the discoveries to come. This is the earth at night, and it
shows pretty clearly how much more we have to explore on the
planet ocean.
Thank you.
Mr. Saxton. Doctor, thank you very much. That was
impressive, to say the least, and we thank you.
Doctor, we understand that you are going to be here with us
and be part of the second panel. And, so, we look forward to
chatting with you further.
Permit we to welcome Mr. Farr aboard, my ocean partner. I
am his ocean partner. One way or the other. Anyway, we work
closely together and have been, for the last several weeks,
seing a lot of each other.
Let me just introduce the first panel at this time. No
stranger to the members of the Committee, Dr. Jim Baker, Under
Secretary of Oceans and Atmosphere, Department of Commerce; Dr.
Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation; and
Rear Admiral Paul Gaffney II, Chief of Naval Research, United
States Navy.
We remind each of you that, for purposes of keeping things
going, we operate here under 5-minute rule. Obviously, your
entire written statement will be included in the record, but if
you would try to summarize it in the allotted 5 minutes, we
would be most appreciative.
Dr. Baker, why do not you begin.
STATEMENT OF D. JAMES BAKER, UNDER SECRETARY FOR OCEANS AND
ATMOSPHERE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Dr. Baker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to
testify on ocean observations and related activities and also
to highlight some of the details from the National Ocean
Conference.
Mr. Chairman, I know you had planned to attend the National
Ocean Conference. I am sorry your schedule would not allow you
to be there, but I would like to, in my short testimony here,
summarize some of the results that came out of that important
meeting.
But let me say first that this wonderful film that Bob
Gagosian just showed is a perfect example of the kind of
partnership that we have between the Federal Government, the
oceanographic institutions, and the academic community that
work so well.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, and you will also be hearing from
Rutgers, are three examples where Navy, NOAA, NSF and other
agencies all work together to make new things happen; and it
could not happen without that long-term partnership that has
worked very well.
Let me start by saying that the support of this committee
has been critical to the successful forecast of El Nino this
past year. Our array of buoys in the tropical Pacific called
the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array, the TAO array, provide the
key data for researchers and NOAA forecasters to provide the
first-ever forecast for El Nino.
This forecast has brought important economic returns to the
country and has introduced ocean and climate science to homes
across all regions of the United States. Just one example,
benefits to the Nation's agricultural industry alone of the
forecast are estimated to be somewhere between $240 and $266
million. That is just for one forecast.
But despite recent advances, our understanding of the
surface and interior ocean, the variability of the ocean, and
the interaction with the atmosphere and of the subsurface
processes and resources is just at the beginning.
Recognizing this fact, President Clinton and Vice President
Gore, at the recent National Ocean Conference, launched several
major initiatives for the exploration, restoration, and
protection of America's ocean resources. These measures will
provide new scientific insight into the ocean, open new
opportunities for jobs and economic growth, and also preserve
our oceans for all time.
We are proposing an additional $224 million through 2002 to
support these efforts beginning in fiscal year 2000. The
initiatives particularly relevant to ocean observations are
exploring the last U.S. frontier and monitoring climate and
global warming.
Understanding our ocean observation programs will require
some discussion of the tools and processes used for
observation. The tools include submersibles, profiling floats,
buoys, state-of-the-art satellites. They are all in a process
of almost constant evolution as our abilities to understand the
oceans deepen and our needs for scientific data expand.
In addition to these tools, NOAA has created various
partnerships with various agencies, oceanographic institutions,
universities, and other countries to share the responsibilities
of resources that ocean observations require. And I am pleased
that we have been able to start a new joint institute at Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution, an important new activity for
us.
The El Nino observing system is focused on the tropical
Pacific Ocean, but scientists recognize a climate variability
results from interactions among different oceanic regions. So
improved predictability requires the integration of observing
systems over all of the oceans which need to be combined to
create critical climate information for all of the U.S. and
foreign climates.
We need to have a system, Mr. Chairman, in the ocean that
is as good as the atmospheric system that we have today. Thus,
in 1998, the International Year of the Ocean, all of the
agencies are committed to participating in the building of a
global ocean observing system that is essential to improving
the basis for our climate forecasting. This observing system
will include what we have today provided by NOAA, Navy, the
National Science Foundation, and other agencies, plus new
profiling autonomous tide gauge circulation explorer floats.
These are floats that float in the midwater. They go up and
down. They are profiling. They are independent of any
connections, so they are autonomous and they float with the
currents. They promise a very cost-effective approach for
large-scale ocean measurements.
At the conference in Monterey, the President proposed an
additional $12 million to expand the array of these floats in
the north Pacific and north Atlantic. This new array will
provide the backbone of the sustained global ocean observations
needed to improve climate forecast skill.
In addition to these sea surface and satellite-based
platforms, NOAA has developed a suite of undersea ocean
observation systems. Submersible and hydroacoustic technologies
supported by all the agencies have brought scientists to a new
frontier in fields of underwater research. Recent advances have
allowed us access to thousands of square miles of virtually
unexplored sea floor resources. With strong congressional
support, NOAA has maintained sea floor observatories and is
providing significant new support for various efforts,
including the Aquarius, the long-term environmental observatory
off New Jersey, and the VENTS program in sites along the
Pacific coast.
The costs of ocean observation programs are high, and NOAA
is not fully able to fully underwrite the costs alone.
Therefore, we are working in cooperation with our sister
agencies and other nations on oceanographic research and
satellite observations.
Mr. Chairman, as we move to a more global ocean observation
system, we must learn enough about the ocean to design such a
system. The World Ocean Circulation Experiment was a good
start. Now scientists have proposed the next steps, which NOAA
is pleased to help with. The Global Ocean Data Assimilation
Experiment, called the GODAE, will create a means to provide
up-to-the-minute analysis of ocean conditions. We are committed
to supporting this effort through our Oceans Observation
Program.
Part of this will also be the Climate Variability and
Predictability Experiment, CLIVAR, the leading international
scientific program. These will the basis for the next step, and
NOAA will be a partner. A critical limiting factor for improved
climate and weather predictions is our limitation on computing
power. We need better computers, and we will be working to make
those happen.
Mr. Chairman, let me conclude with a note about living
marine resources, a special interest of yours. More efficient
management of our Nation's living resources would result from
better information about the current status of biological and
physical components of the marine environment. We need to have
better fisheries stock assessment information to manage
fisheries.
On average, our fishery vessels, as you know, are more than
34 years old. We are looking for ways to replace the capability
of the vessels. We have a team that has been doing that.
Admiral Craig Dormand recently reviewed NOAA's plan and
strongly supported our need for acoustically quiet vessels. The
report supports construction of four dedicated fishery research
vessels. In Monterey, the President proposed $194 million to do
the design and construction of those new vessels.
Mr. Chairman, your timing for holding this hearing, after a
very powerful El Nino and before what we are forecasting to be
a La Nina event, the flip side of El Nino, underscores how
vital congressional leadership will be in ensuring the long-
term sustained investment that science requires for ocean
observations.
The CLIVAR experiment, the GODAE experiment are critical to
these; and we are prepared to be a partner. The President has
indicated his support for ocean observations. We are prepared
to undertake his specific proposals.
I commit to you that NOAA, through our laboratories and our
academic partners, will work with our sister Federal agencies
represented here today, we will work closely with NASA and DoD,
with satellites, and we will be looking closely to work with
the private sector in collecting, disseminating, and applying
ocean data. We will work with the Congress and the
administration to implement these plans.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Saxton. Dr. Baker, thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Baker may be found at end of
hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. Dr. Colwell.
STATEMENT OF RITA COLWELL, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SCIENCE
FOUNDATION
Dr. Colwell. Chairman Saxton, as the newly confirmed NSF
director, I am still sort of wet behind the ears, so I
particularly appreciate the opportunity to testify today on
this very important topic of ocean monitoring and assessment,
and in particular the substantial, very fundamental role that
the National Science Foundation plays in the Nation's
oceanographic monitoring and assessment capabilities.
In fact, this hearing speaks very directly to one of the
most exciting themes that has emerged from the past decade of
ocean sciences research, and that is the complexity and
variability of the oceans, so dramatically demonstrated in the
video Dr. Gagosian just showed us.
Frequently, we find significant physical, chemical, and
biological variations on very small spatial scales, as small as
a half a mile. It is clearly impossible to monitor the entire
global ocean or even coastal waters with minute spatial
resolution. For that reason, it is important to understand the
underlying processes sufficiently well to be able to interpret
them. This allows researchers to make a small number of key
observations that will very reliably tell us over time how the
system works. The research supported by NSF helps us determine
what measurements will best characterize changes in the ocean
and, more importantly, how many measurements are required and
where they should be located.
A good illustration, I think, is the NSF-funded Tropical
Ocean Global Atmosphere, the TOGA program. As its name implies,
this research program is focused on the physical processes
occurring in the tropical ocean and the atmosphere. TOGA
enabled us to recognize the forces that underlie the El Nino
phenomenon, which in turn led to the design and deployment of
the existing El Nino Southern Oscillation, the ENSO, observing
system.
The question is, how can we possibly monitor such a vast
and complex system as the oceans? A helpful way to characterize
the scientific requirements is to consider three classes of
monitoring systems. One is that we need sustained monitoring
that provides data to detect the subtle changes that occur over
a period of a decade or so in the short term. These
measurements can provide early warning of changes in the
earth's system.
Then along with that, we need selected long-term
observations that allow us to predict changes in the oceans and
weather systems and to be able to alleviate negative impacts.
For instance, this year's El Nino activity is a very good
example of the long-term observation that allowed us to make
predictions.
And finally, we need measurements, observations, and
experiments to help us understand the physical, chemical, and
biological processes that were responsible for the changes. An
associated challenge is tracking what is going on in the miles
and miles of ocean that exist between sensors. This is an area
in which we have seen remarkable innovation over the past 5
years. That innovation was primarily fueled by the needs of the
World Ocean Circulation Experiment, WOCE.
At this moment there are about 500 robotic vehicles
distributed over thousands of square miles of the north
Atlantic oceans. These drift along with the ocean currents
about a half a mile below the ocean's surface; and about every
2 weeks, each one of these small instruments pops up and rises
to the surface collecting data on temperature and salinity as
it moves up to the surface; and then, via satellite, these data
are transmitted, as well as the position of these instruments,
to investigators on shore. After being on the surface for about
a day, they are sent back down to a profiling depth of about
half a mile. And this cycle goes on month after month after
month.
So these examples, in conclusion, demonstrate how
technology is changing the way we do oceanography. Permanent
sea floor observatories, new optical and acoustical imaging
methods, long-term moorings, deep-diving manned submersibles,
satellite communications, robotic vehicles, these are all
vehicles for discovery that NSF supports.
I will conclude by saying we are in a time of very rich
opportunities for research in oceanography. We have seen, in a
very rapid series of events, hurricanes, droughts, floods,
destruction of coral reefs, coastal erosion, climate change, El
Ninos, fisheries decline and in some cases simply collapsing,
and also human health effects, an area of personal interest. We
can now use ocean monitoring to predict cholera epidemics. So
there is a very close linkage between what we study in the
oceans and the welfare of human populations. These are all
phenomena that are affected by, and in some cases controlled
by, the oceans.
The United States oceanographic investigators are world
leaders. We do not lack talent, ideas, or plans, and given the
adequate resources, the future is spectacular for discovery and
understanding.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the opportunity to
share with you and the members of the Committee the exciting
research that is being supported by NSF. The testimony will be,
of course, in the record; and I would be very pleased to answer
any questions you might have. Thank you.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much, Dr. Colwell. It does not
sound like you are wet behind the ears. Thank you for being
here. That was great testimony.
Dr Colwell. My pleasure.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Colwell may be found at end
of hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. Admiral Gaffney may proceed.
STATEMENT OF REAR ADMIRAL PAUL G. GAFFNEY, II, CHIEF OF NAVAL
RESEARCH, UNITED STATES NAVY
Admiral Gaffney. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Farr.
Thank you for the opportunity for me to appear before you this
morning to talk about a topic that is very dear to me, our
oceans. I would like to begin by showing you a graphic.
This graphic represents our planet. The green part is the
land, and the blue part is the water, a little more than two-
thirds of our planet. It is about 197 million square miles,
this whole disk. If you can see that little white square on
there, that is the amount of the water part of our planet that
has been imaged or completely explored since we have been alive
on this planet, or since anyone has been alive on this planet.
It is about 5 percent, a little bit more than that.
Again relative to the same size, this is the moon. It
represents all sides, top, bottom, backside, and front side of
the moon. It is equivalent to about 11 percent of the ocean,
twice as much as we have surveyed of our ocean. It has been
completely imaged, 100 percent, front side, back side, top, and
bottom.
I will leave this for your grandchildren.
Mr. Saxton. We would like to share that with some of the
folks that were here with us yesterday.
Admiral Gaffney. We have, in fact, characterized 100
percent of the ocean. We have used satellite altimetry to
characterize it at a resolution of about 15 kilometers. But 100
percent of the moon has been characterized at 100 times better
resolution than we have characterized our entire planet. This
concerns me, and I believe we should do something about it.
The Navy has long considered the study and exploration of
the oceans to be a required competency. We must do it. We do
not do it because we love it. We do not do it because it is
interesting. We do not do it because we have a charter. We do
love it. It is interesting. We do not have a charter. But we do
it because it is the foundation that provides information
required for every single Navy and Marine Corps operation that
you can imagine.
Over the past 50 years, we have invested billions of
dollars in research, instrument and technique development,
global ocean surveys, data archiving, and predictive
capabilities. The results of these efforts are seen in many
ocean monitoring tools and platforms used around the world in
civil and military oceanography.
For example, SWATH bathymetry, SWATH sonar, laser line scan
optical scanners, sensors, the global positioning system,
acoustic thermometry, long-range acoustic monitoring, deep
stable moorings, some of the people in this room and the
institutions that they represent have developed these for us,
to name just a few.
In the future, and I will make a commitment right now for
the future, for the Navy, we are committed to an ocean science
and technology program that is robust. It is a national
responsibility, we think, that the Navy has. It is a core
capability the Navy must foster. We will focus on understanding
the processes of the ocean and develop the tools to better
understand those processes.
We will continue to rely on ships and manned submersibles.
Frankly, I am quite worried about that part of our repertoire
of tools at this point. But long-term ocean monitoring and
assessment need other tools as well, companion tools, tools
like those that come from our investment in autonomous systems
that can either be moored or drifting or independently moving,
small unmanned systems, as Bob Gagosian showed you in his
videotape that started this session off.
We are currently working on networks of inexpensive
autonomous underwater vehicles through a program called the
Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network. Also on the horizon are new
remote sensing instruments, such at the Naval Earth Map
Observer Satellite, or NEMO, which will provide hyperspectral
images when it is launched in the year 2000.
NEMO is interesting because it is a partnership between the
Navy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and industry,
each sharing in the cost of about a $120 million effort, the
government coming up with about $60 million of that and
industry coming up with about $60 million.
It is interesting, because like most big oceanographic
programs, no one group or agency can support all the cost alone
for oceanographic research, ship operations, surveying, and
modeling that needs to be done on a global scale to address the
issue that we are testifying about today. We formed
partnerships with agencies and institutions like those
represented on this panel today and through programs such as
the National Ocean Partnership Program, which was actually born
out of a set of hearings that this Subcommittee participated in
a couple years ago. NOPP, the National Ocean Partnership
Program, is unique in that agencies that are working together
can actually create critical mass to address our neglected
ocean.
The Navy is proud to have taken an organizational and
financial lead in the early parts of the NOPP, but our partners
are strong partners in NOAA, and our vice chairman seated right
here at the table, Dr. Jim Baker, NSF, NASA and six other
agencies are stepping up to the plate with us.
At the National Ocean Conference, I mentioned a notion that
we should begin the millennium with a focused exploration and
mapping effort, 100 percent coverage of one important area near
our United States, a necessary baseline, a precursor to long-
term monitoring.
I hope to see the National Ocean Partnership Program
agenda, and its leadership council on their agenda, a
discussion about the coordination of Federal ocean monitoring
efforts, how they can be comprehensively sustained, and how we
can comprehensively baseline them before we start.
It will take decades to understand the majority of our
water planet as well as we understand the moon today, but we
need to begin.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here. My formal
testimony is submitted for the record, sir; and I am looking
forward to answering any questions you may have.
Mr. Saxton. Admiral, thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Gaffney may be found at
end of hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. Since you referred to the National Ocean
Partnership Act in the latter part of your testimony, let's
just begin by exploring that some.
The National Ocean Partnership Act, obviously, was
established pursuant to legislation that passed the Congress in
1995. I am just curious as to generally how you view it in
terms of how successful it has been, how has funding worked
out, how much was requested by the partnership, how much was
added by Congress.
Just in general, can you fill us in on the details, what
your level of resourcing is, what you need, and how well you
think things are going?
Admiral Gaffney. Yes, sir.
Well, we started out, of course, with initial--some initial
Navy money and money added by the Congress that was not in the
President's budget for the first couple of years. The Navy has
increased its contribution from $5 million to $10 million, and
we intend to have, for as long as we can imagine, $10 million
or so in the President's budget as our contribution to the
National Ocean Partnership Program.
We have a different budget development process in the other
agencies, and we are able to, I would say, react faster, not to
be pejorative, but to act faster to the opportunity of the
partnership act. So we got our money in, and the other agencies
are adding money out of whole cloth, if you will, not separate
line items yet. But we note that there are requests in from
several agencies to add to that program.
We have had great cooperation among the several agencies.
While it has been principally Navy money or Navy money plused-
up by the Congress but put in the Navy line item, all of the
agencies have worked to select the programs. It would be hard
to imagine any oceanographic program that would not be Navy-
relevant. So we are very happy to spend our money in a
deliberate way, debating it with our fellow agencies.
Good results have come out in education, in data exchange
and ocean monitoring, and a great dialogue has gone on that I
have not seen in my 25 years in this town involved with
oceanography.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you.
Dr. Baker, Dr. Colwell, would any of you like to comment?
Dr. Baker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think this has been a wonderful example of pulling
together the agencies and having an interaction also with the
academic community. And the role of Admiral Watkins has been
absolutely critical in making this happen, and I would like to
thank him for that, because this gives us a formal structure to
work from, the partnership program, which has started in the
Navy. And the Navy has done a very good job of accepting the
leadership there.
Other agencies, like NOAA have proposed funding for the
partnership program and, hopefully, will be able to make that
happen. And the National Ocean Leadership Council, which
involves a variety of different members, I think, is another
piece of this proposal or this current structure which I think
can be very useful in helping advance the ocean's agenda.
Dr. Colwell. I would add that the National Science
Foundation is pleased to be one of the Federal partners in the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program, in NOPP. In fact,
the NSF is contributing half a million dollars to its funding
the awards that came out of the NOPP interagency program
announcement.
And in addition, NSF has contributed about $200,000 toward
the NOPP Educational Drifter program and $100,000 to the Ocean
Science Bowl, which is a nationwide high school science
competition.
NOPP is really a very critical component of bringing
resources together. We are very pleased to be active in it, and
I also commend Admiral Watkins for his leadership.
Thank you.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you.
Before I ask my next question, let me just observe that Mr.
Delahunt has joined us. And I am supposed to ask unanimous
consent that he be permitted to sit. So asked.
The gentleman from Massachusetts, Cape Cod and Martha's
Vineyard and Nantucket, to us sailors known as the land of fog.
Mr. Delahunt. And Woods Hole.
Mr. Saxton. And Woods Hole. And incidentally, if you have
never tried to sail past Woods Hole in the fog, you need to try
that.
Also, I might note that Karen Steuer is now working for Mr.
Delahunt, and, also, I understand there is a close association
with the Woods Hole folks.
Mr. Delahunt. May I, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Saxton. Please.
STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
Mr. Delahunt. I was just having this chat with Mr. Farr.
Mr. Saxton. That is ``Farr.''
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you for the translation, Mr. Chairman.
And he said, ``Boy, this is real exciting stuff.''
Let me just compliment Mr. Farr, who also had an
opportunity to visit Woods Hole, for the work that he is doing
in terms of these issues. And particularly I want to compliment
Chairman Saxton, who has really exhibited great leadership in
this area. And it is really exciting to look out and to see
representatives from disparate agencies.
It is exhilarating to really have a chance to visit WHOI to
see what is occurring down there. I am sorry I missed the
testimony of Bob Gagosian. But this really is the future. And,
you know, I think oftentimes the public is skeptical about what
is happening here in Washington, DC, but if they only could
participate in hearings such as this, they would see that we
are on the verge of doing some wonderful things.
I want to thank you, Mr. Saxton, and you, Representative
Farr, for really leading this effort in the U.S. Congress.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you for being with us this morning.
Let me just ask one further question. Then I will pass the
baton over to Mr. Farr.
The Administration recently promised $12 million through
fiscal year 2002 to assist in the exploration of the ocean.
Included in this proposal were expansion to two shallow-water
observing programs, to the development of two deep-sea
observing programs, and the development of two submersibles.
How will these funds be spent? What will the research goals
be? And which agencies will be involved? Of course, I am
particularly interested as to whether or not LEO-15 will be
included.
Dr. Baker. Mr. Chairman, let me answer that question.
That money was aimed at NOAA to expand our ocean
observation capabilities, something that we have been trying to
do for a long time and, as you know, have been urged by
Congress to expand our activities centered on the NURP program
and also, hopefully, trying to look at some other areas also.
We will be, in fact, coming forward, hopefully, in the year
2000 budget with an initiative that reflects what the President
has identified there. And, yes, all of the above are included
at the moment. So we expect to see a substantial expansion of
what we have had in the past, and each of those items is
something that we have committed to, and we are working the
process at the moment.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much.
Mr. Farr.
Mr. Farr. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I am excited about where we are going, because I think,
sitting here in late July, that when this Committee convened at
the beginning of the year, we were starting to speculate, the
Year of the Ocean, we are the Committee with the ocean
responsibility, perhaps we can make something of the year. And
looking back, it is not even over yet, and look at what the
Year of the Ocean has done. It has got the best-seller in the
New York Times with A Perfect Storm as a book, and the Academy
Award went to Titanic, and Dr. Baker produced the El Nino. So
we have been able to accomplish something in this year and at
least get our people to think about us.
Monterey was the kind of the bringing together of the clan.
Yesterday we passed in this room the Oceans Act, and I think
that there is a momentum gained. And then the excitement is to
see that momentum gained and a kind of interest in the issue.
And I think Admiral Gaffney pointed out how much we have to do
by that graph there.
I guess this is where I am concerned as a politician is how
you keep that momentum going. The President pledged some new
money in Monterey. I would like to talk to Dr. Baker about
that. But I think it is more than just the bill has not yet
been passed off the floor. It has not gone through the
conference committee, and the President has not signed it, and
we only have a few days left of really much work to get done
here before it all kind of breaks apart to go into elections.
So the concern I have that I want to ask the panel about is
really how do we take this momentum and really build it up?
Because what we have learned in the process is that we have an
awful lot of governments out there, governments and government,
trying to do ocean work. There is a need for better
coordination. There is scarce dollars when you compare it to
even the amount of money that NSF puts into ocean research
versus others, it is still a small amount. The Navy, I do not
think, has put as much resources where I think Admiral Gaffney
says they need to be.
So how are we going to keep this momentum going so that we
can start changing our funding priorities in this country to
really match the challenge that each of you bring? And the
questions I have about it are to want to know how NOAA, with
the $224 million that the President pledged, how is that going
to be used to revitalize not only the structure within, but to
better coordinate visits and buy equipment that is necessary to
do the research? Have you focused on that specifically?
Dr. Baker. Congressman Farr, thank you for that question,
and thanks for your leadership in the oceans arena and for the
National Oceans Conference. I think it was a pivotal activity
for getting commitment from a variety of stakeholders,
including the Administration.
The largest amount of money that was identified at the
National Ocean Conference was $194 million to build sustainable
fisheries, and the largest part of that, about 75 percent, is
aimed at providing for us new, very capable fishery vessels
that would replace the more than 34-year-old vessels which we
currently have in NOAA so that we can improve our stock
assessment and fishery research, a key element of building
sustainable fisheries. The acoustically quiet ships are going
to be a very important part of that.
That was an important new commitment. We have been trying
for several years now to get the Administration to commit to
new seagoing capabilities for NOAA. This will be the central
piece of that. We will be doing this design. We are doing
design in conjunction with experts from the Navy, with experts
from abroad, so that we have the best possible activity there.
The fisheries vessels were the biggest piece of the commitment.
We also have a commitment for new ocean technology to
expand our deep sea exploration for ocean monitoring, for
navigational charts. As you remember, there were nine specific
initiatives that were identified, and I think we got a good
start in each of these. But I think also, very importantly, at
the conference, the President committed to bringing together
all of the Cabinet agencies that are responsible for oceans
issues to report back to him in 1 year about how we were
cooperating to keep the momentum going. And I think that,
together with the passage of the Oceans Act, will provide us
the context to work in the Federal Government and the private
sector to keep this momentum going on the ocean. So I think we
have a very good start here.
Mr. Farr. Dr. Colwell, at NSF, a part of your testimony was
sort of all the needs that need to be looked at. Do you see a
shifting of priorities to address those needs and the funding
at NSF?
Dr. Colwell. I think there is a need at NSF to be more
heavily investing in environmental research overall, and
certainly the oceans are a major part of it. But let me point
out that I think what is happening in recent years is that
there is a clear set of evidence that demonstrates the
relationship of human health to the health of the oceans and to
ocean events. That is, by being able to measure sea surface
temperature, to correlate sea surface height, temperature,
nutrients, we are better able to show a relationship, for
example, to toxic algal blooms, to microorganisms that may
cause human disease.
And so, as we improve our ability to develop predictive
capacity for demonstrating this very close linkage to human
health, as well as economics, through fisheries and so forth, I
think a more dramatic case can be made for increased resources;
and NSF certainly supports expanded research.
Mr. Farr. Admiral Gaffney, thank you for your leadership in
being able to host this conference at the Naval Postgraduate
School at Monterey. I was really proud and pleased that that
was the venue.
However, I have to tell you that I am a little concerned
because the language was inserted in the bill that we passed
yesterday that excludes all military operations, I think it
says specifically all Navy military operations and training
measures, from consideration by the Ocean Commission. It
specifically moves the Navy out. And I am wondering if you
think that that is going to hinder the ability for the
Commission and the Navy to move toward the things that you said
need to be addressed?
Admiral Gaffney. No, sir, I do not think it will.
In the research area and in the collection of oceanographic
information in an operational sense, we are so tightly coupled,
these agencies, the agencies at this table and others, and we
will stay coupled just to survive so we can leverage each
others' dollars and do what we need to do, that we will by
necessity continue to work regardless of what happens. So I
think we will do just fine.
We have other mechanisms. The people seated in the back
four rows here that actually get their hands dirty with
oceanography talk to one another all the time without any help
from the people seated at this table, and they will continue to
do that by the best people performing and bringing the right
critical mass of money together to get things done.
Dr. Colwell. May I add just a comment to that which you
pointed out very succinctly, Mr. Farr; that there is
insufficient funding?
Let me note that NSF now provides more than two-thirds of
all the Federal resource support for the Nation's universities
and ocean research institutions. Clearly, an increase in
funding is necessary.
Mr. Farr. I appreciate that. But of your total funding, of
your total pie, of outflow, what is the percentage of ocean
compared to----
Dr. Colwell. I will have to get back to you on that, I am
not sure.
Mr. Farr. When you compare it to all the ocean funding.
Because this is the problem. We have always said we have
committed much more. We argued the space station last night.
Space station has more funding than all of the program.
Dr. Colwell. I think as a Nation we need a greater
commitment.
Mr. Farr. So what you are talking today is we need a space
station for the ocean.
Dr. Colwell. I would agree, in general.
[Information submitted by Dr. Colwell follows:]
----------
FUNDING FOR OCEAN SCIENCES RESEARCH
The National Science Foundation provides most of its
support for ocean sciences research through the Division of
Ocean Sciences (OCE) of the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO).
In FY 1997, OCE's budges totaled $200 million, approximately 8
percent of the Research and Related Activities (R&RA) Account.
Total ocean sciences support for the Foundation, including
funding through the Office of Polar Programs and the
Directorate for Biological Sciences, equaled approximately 10
percent of the R&RA Account in FY 1997.
Dr. Baker. Mr. Farr, I am not sure I would agree with that
exact statement, that we need a space station for the ocean,
although I agree with the amount of funding. Maybe that is the
point you are making.
Mr. Farr. Well, the point is exactly, you caught it, the
emphasis and the concern and the passion for putting money into
research in the ocean. We can do it, I think, more cleverly. I
think that the space station has international collaboration,
which is something else we support.
My last question, back to Admiral Gaffney, does the Navy
support the exemption that was in the oceans bill?
Admiral Gaffney. I believe that the Navy does. I am not an
expert on that, I will have to admit, sir, but it is my
understanding that the Navy does support the exemption that is
in the legislation. But I am not sure it is an issue for this
particular group of people in this room. We will work together.
We will take a leadership role.
If I can go back to your question about funding, I will
give you a little personal example. I raised my right hand and
went to the Naval Academy in 1964, and basic research, Navy
basic research, which started this whole basic research out, by
the way, at the end of World War II, was $2.2 billion in
today's terms. Basic and applied research, I am sorry. Basic
and applied research. Today, it is .8 billion in today's terms.
Now, in the past few years, despite that decline, we have
given most favored nation status to the ocean sciences, ocean
and related sciences; ocean remote sensing, marine meteorology,
that all work together. But if we don't get some growth, if we
don't turn up that curve, as has been proposed by Secretary
Dalton, to get that turned around the other way, then we are
going to be in worse trouble than we are today. And I think
that we will also start to disincentivize people from getting
into the research sciences as a career in the Nation.
Mr. Farr. One of things I thought was very interesting, in
talking to Dr. Ballard about the Jason Project, which the Navy
supports, in fact, its largest Federal funding comes from the
Navy, but Dr. Ballard said that the majority of the money that
Jason raises comes from American corporations. And I asked why
would they put so much money, these are millions and millions
of dollars that are put into this project, and he said that
some of the businesses in this country really understand the
need to have ocean research. We need the science, we need the
technicians, and they are not being produced because there is
not enough ground interest. And the Jason Project certainly has
been able to bring that around.
I have been always accused of being a big spender. If I can
be a big spender in the ocean, I would love that title, and I
would try to support more and more efforts to get money to the
entities that are going to do good work. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Saxton. Mr. Delahunt, do you have some questions?
Mr. Delahunt. No, I don't have any questions. I would just
make one comment, Mr. Saxton, listening to both you and to Mr.
Farr and the testimony.
I think that if the public awareness is such that they can
easily and readily understand the potential benefits of ocean
research and what is occurring today, that the funding for the
technologies for which you have called this hearing--I think
there would be great public pressure to secure that funding.
And I think that the community at large, the stakeholders in
that community, really have an obligation.
You have two tremendous advocates here in Mr. Saxton and
Mr. Farr. But if you have a capacity to transmit the potential
to the public at large, to the American people, the funding
will be there.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much, Mr. Delahunt.
Let me ask one final question for the record. The
administration has announced that it intends to build at least
three new fisheries research vessels. The assumption seems to
be these vessels will be built with government funds and owned
and operated by the government.
A recent report prepared by the Office of Management and
Budget praises the design of the vessels, but raises
significant questions about whether these are the most cost-
effective alternatives for providing the necessary fishery
data. The report also raises significant questions about
whether NOAA will fully use the technological abilities of
these ships and whether it generally uses the best available
technology when conducting fishery research.
Will the administration look at the build and charter
contract operations or contracts for data to meet the fishery
research needs? How does NOAA intend to assure the use of best
available technologies in fishery research?
Dr. Baker. Congressman Saxton, we are very concerned about
getting at the most cost-effective way of doing business at
NOAA. We have not committed to any particular way of getting
that capability. The thing we have focused on is the
capabilities that are required, the acoustically quiet
capabilities.
But at the moment, whether we build and charter, whether
private industry offers this, whether it is something that is
government owned and operated is something that has to be laid
on the table and worked out in terms of cost-effectiveness. All
of this is open. We have not made any commitments to the way we
would do that.
All we are looking at, at the moment, is the scientific
capabilities, and we will make sure we work with you and the
private sector to provide the most cost-effective way of
getting the capabilities that we need.
Mr. Saxton. Well, thank you very much.
I would just like to make one final comment. The exemption
in the Oceans Act for exemption for operation and training,
Admiral Gaffney is the Chief of Naval Research, and we would
just like to point out that he did not seek to be exempt. Thank
you.
Dr. Baker. Congressman Saxton, let me answer one question
of Dr. Delahunt, who mentioned the public education aspect of
oceans. I think it is absolutely critical, and I wanted to say
the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has done a wonderful
job of public outreach, which is done also by the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, and some of the other academic
institutions, has been a very important aspect of public
outreach.
And we look forward to working on the Federal side with our
counterparts in the academic community to get this public
outreach and enhance it, as you say. I think it is a critical
point.
Mr. Saxton. One follow-on question. The report that was
recently completed for the Office of Management and Budget
noted the need to better integrate fisheries and oceanography
research. These two areas of research have been conducted
largely separately over the last 20 years. To manage fisheries
wisely, it is becoming clear that we need to understand the
physical systems in which those fish live and the
interrelationships between species, particularly the predator
and prey relationships. Just counting fish is no longer
sufficient.
How can we improve the interaction and our knowledge
thereof between fisheries scientists and oceanographers?
Dr. Baker. Congressman, this is a very important aspect of
fisheries, and we have some very nice joint programs with the
National Science Foundation and NOAA. There is a program called
the GLOBEC, the Global Ecosystem Study, where, in fact, we are
looking at how all of these factors interact; and then there is
a NOAA-led program called FOCI, Fisheries Oceanography
Cooperative Investigation, that is looking at the impact of
climate on fisheries.
And, in fact, as we look at salmon migrations right now,
they are very much impacted by these long-term changes in the
north Pacific Ocean. And through these programs, GLOBEC, FOCI
and other related programs, we are starting to get some
understanding of how the physical and chemical aspects of the
environment affect the ecology. It is an important, complex
aspect of fisheries, and I think we have made a good start,
and, hopefully, some of this new funding can be applied there.
We are looking forward to the leadership of Dr. Colwell,
who is a person who has been a scientific leader in these
areas, as she directs the foundation to help us move these
programs forward.
Mr. Saxton. Well, thank you very much. I would like to
thank all of you for your testimony this morning and for your
statements. We appreciate very much that you are here. Members
may have some additional questions for the witnesses, and we
ask that you please respond in writing. The hearing record will
be held open for that purpose. Thank you very much for being
with us.
[The information referred to may be found at end of
hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. Now, let me introduce our second panel. Panel
two, we have Dr. Charles Kennel, Director of Scripps Institute
of Oceanography; Dr. Gagosian, who opened our hearing this
morning, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Admiral
James Watkins, President of the Consortium for Oceanographic
Research and Education; and Dr. Fred Grassle, Director of the
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.
And let me remind you of our 5-minute rule, for purposes of
moving the hearing forward. I am going to leave the chair for a
moment and ask Mr. Farr if he will please take over.
Mr. Farr [presiding.] Dr. Kennel.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES KENNEL, DIRECTOR, SCRIPPS INSTITUTE OF
OCEANOGRAPHY
Dr. Kennel. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the
opportunity to testify. I am the new, somewhat wet-behind-the-
ears Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La
Jolla, California.
When NOAA makes its weather forecasts that reach almost
every home in the United States, they rely on a whole variety
of observing techniques, mostly of the atmosphere, including
balloons, aircraft, radar, ground measurements, and satellites.
They integrate all of these observations, and feed them into
the most advanced computer models available.
And when NOAA makes forecasts that extend beyond 2 days, it
has been known for the last 30 years that global coverage is
needed. So now it is time for the community to move forward, to
go from forecasts of 5 days to forecasting next year's weather
and, ultimately, the climatic conditions of tens of years from
now. As we do that, a broader range of physical effects and
scientific issues will need to be included in the observing
strategy that started with the weather.
Now, scientists have known for more than a century, that
the ocean is the primary driver of climate through its
interaction with the atmosphere. Now the public understands
that in a way that they never did before.
The 1997-1998 El Nino led to an understanding in the minds
of the average person that events in the middle of the tropical
ocean actually have an important effect on their day-to-day
lives. This is new public understanding. And we believe that
this new understanding can be translated into the support
needed as we develop an integrated observing strategy to
predict climate over a longer period of time.
What we need right now is a strategy to get started. We
know some of the things that the strategy would have to
achieve. It would have to integrate local measurements in the
ocean and of the ocean with space-based measurements. The
space-based part of the integration has already begun with an
international process through the Committee on Earth
Observation Satellites.
If we had the beginnings of our strategy in place, we would
also be able to identify those areas of critical technology
development that we could focus on to increase the capability
of and lower the cost of the integrated system. And we would,
at the same time, identify those variables--we can identify
some now--which need long-term monitoring.
Finally, we would begin to relate these two developments to
the dramatic improvement in climate models and computing power
that is needed and possible. There are new initiatives at the
National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy being
contemplated to address this problem.
I would like to point out from a recent visit to Japan,
that they have developed a very impressive Frontiers program
that links together their marine agency, their space agency,
and their universities to develop and devote major computing
power to an integrated observing strategy for the climate.
As has been mentioned earlier many times, it is essential
to improve, strengthen, and direct in a more focused way the
cooperation and the coordination of the activities amongst
government agencies and institutions. I think the beginning of
a clear strategy of how to get started at the national level
will enable us to show leadership on the international level.
So the strategy and getting started is very important.
The first thing we need to do is to integrate the various
ocean observing techniques. The first poster shows some of the
many different ways of observing the ocean that have been
developed, many of them over the last 10 years. We now need to
think about how to meld this capability into a system. We will
need leadership, cooperation, and coordination.
We need to support research that demonstrates the value of
integrating observations from different sources into computer
models with the goal of predicting climate. Scripps is involved
in three such experiments. One is an experiment on acoustic
tomography, in which we relate these results to satellite
measurements from TOPEX-Poseidon, and the combination of the
two measurements creates an improvement.
You have already heard of the Global Ocean Data
Assimilation Experiment, initiated by the international
satellite community to relate satellite and in situ data to see
the extent to which the combination will improve predictions of
ocean state.
And Scripps itself, with the strong support of the National
Science Foundation, has been involved in an experiment called
the Indian Ocean Experiment. This is a comprehensive experiment
involving the efforts of 25 nations, ships, balloons,
airplanes, and satellites. Their data will be combined into a
single information stream that will be available to all.
Finally, I think we must support the basic technology
development of our observing systems, including the NOAA global
drifting model initiative, DOE's comprehensive earth modeling
efforts, and the Navy's strong support of technology
development.
In conclusion, the most important question in environmental
science is ``What is going to happen to me?'' And until we can
help you give scientifically reliable answers on that issue to
your constituents, they will not know whether to repair their
roof because an El Nino is coming or what to believe about
scary issues, like the greenhouse effect.
Mr. Chairman, we have many of the tools at hand to start
improving our answer to that question. We need leadership, a
strategy, and investment in those things that pull the system
together. Thank you.
Mr. Farr. Thank you very much, Dr. Kennel. We will be
asking questions after the panel finishes.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Kennel may be found at end
of hearing.]
Mr. Farr. Dr. Gagosian, welcome back.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT GAGOSIAN, DIRECTOR, WOODS HOLE
OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
Dr Gagosian. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Farr, Mr. Delahunt, thank you for
inviting me here to speak with you about deep sea research. As
you could see from the video presentation, I tried to give you
some examples of how we get to the deep sea and what we see
when we get there. Now I would like to address why it is
important to the Nation that we continue to be there and what
is needed to continue to improve our research, monitoring and
assessment capabilities.
Through our association with, and the long-term investments
of, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science
Foundation, and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic
Administration, we have made significant scientific advances in
understanding the ocean's processes and properties. With that
investment, we have been able to support an infrastructure for
ships, vehicles, instrumentation, education programs and, above
all, human talent that is the envy of the world.
But what do we mean by the deep ocean? Why do we want to do
research in such a formidable and hostile place? The deep ocean
is a world of slopes and canyons, of abyssal plains with depths
greater than 9,000 feet, and of midocean ridges rising as much
as 12,000 feet. These ridges are linked around the world into a
40,000-mile underwater mountain range, the longest one on
earth, 2\1/2\ miles beneath the sea. There are approximately
2,000 sea mounts on the sea floor, which rise from 3,000 to
10,000 feet. There are also valleys and trenches that vary to
extreme depths. The deepest spot in the ocean is about 7 miles,
roughly the distance you see when you look down from an
airplane. Yet only a few percent, as Admiral Gaffney pointed
out, of the ocean floor has been explored.
Now, there are many reasons why we go and must continue to
go to the deep ocean. It is where our planet earth is presently
being formed, contorted, stretched and quaked right now. A
clear example is the tsunami that recently struck Papua, New
Guinea, that was caused by an offshore earthquake.
Samples of ocean sediments, which contain the shells and
skeletons of previously living ocean creatures, provide us with
a history of previous climates and life forms. The deep ocean
is not quiet, nor is it unchanging. Deep ocean currents hold
the key to understanding the workings of the global conveyor
belt that carries warm surface water to the north polar region
in the Atlantic and returns cold water to fill the deep ocean
throughout the world. Understanding this circulation is
critical to our understanding changes in the earth's climate,
which will ultimately lead us to predictions of what
environmental changes the ocean can sustain from the
atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide input.
A very new and exciting application of deep sea observing
is in the forensic study of modern shipwrecks. As noted in the
video presentation, our institution has just completed a task
for the British Government by mapping the remains of the M/V
Derbyshire, which sank in 14,000 feet of water in 1980. The
Derbyshire is one of 120 bulk carriers lost at sea since 1980,
with the aggregate loss of 1,300 lives. Our equipment and
talented oceanographers determined why and how it sank, which
led to recommendations on how to prevent future failures on
these ships, thus potentially saving many precious lives and
millions of dollars. The results of this work were not only the
subject of a TV documentary, but were acknowledged by the
highest levels of the British Government.
I would be remiss, Mr. Chairman, if I did not speak about
one of the most important discoveries of this century, and that
is the world of the hydrothermal vents, which you saw on the
video I presented. These vents not only churn hot seawater
through them and alter its chemistry, but also provide habitats
for amazingly abundant exotic life forms, as you saw. Ancient
as this life may be, its existence provides a significant leap
in our knowledge about life itself. Two-thirds of these life
forms have never been observed before. Perhaps more
importantly, what this may likely provide is the key to our
definition of the origin of life on our planet, and the
possibility of life on others. The environment is also where we
believe new pharmaceuticals and biotechnological opportunities
exist.
I will close with some remarks about the future,
particularly with regard to human occupied vehicles. The Navy's
deep submersible Sea Cliff has just been transferred to the
custody of the National Deep Submergence Facility at Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution. As a matter of fact, it should be
crossing the Bourne Bridge right now on a flatbed truck as I am
speaking.
It is understood that the Federal agencies intend to
underwrite the expense of an engineering study that will
analyze the cost, feasibility and technical alterations
required to merge the most capable features of Sea Cliff and
Alvin. Depending on what the engineering studies produce, and
the availability of funds, we hope this will lead to an Alvin
upgrade to give it a 7,000-meter depth capability, almost 4\1/
2\ miles. It has currently a 4,500 meters capability. This
would give our human occupied vehicle access to 98 percent of
the ocean bottom. It would also give the United States the
international leadership role in HOV exploration, something
that we lost 10 years ago.
In summary, Mr. Chairman, that is how I see where deep
ocean science has been and where it should proceed. We need to
capitalize and build on the expertise of today's people and
technology to produce a robust capability for tomorrow. There
is a tremendous amount we still do not know about our own
planet. We have the minds, the questions and the technology at
our doorstep.
If the last 30 years is any indication, future discoveries
will have great benefit to the Nation and the world. If we want
to manage, protect, and use our planet wisely, we need and must
understand how it works. We are ready to go, we need a national
plan to accomplish this, and we need your support and help.
Thank you.
Mr. Saxton. [presiding.] Dr. Gagosian, thank you so much
for your very enlightening testimony.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Gagosian may be found at end
of hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. I would like to skip over Admiral Watkins at
this point, if I may, and introduce my friend and one of my
heroes, Dr. Fred Grassle, from New Jersey, and let me just say
a word to Mr. Farr and to Mr. Delahunt about why Fred Grassle
is my hero.
Fred is a guy who seems to be able to make things happen
that wouldn't normally happen. Fred acquired an old--it was
Rutgers University, and through Fred's leadership and a couple
of other people, they acquired an old Coast Guard facility at
the end of an old road called Seven Bridges Road, on a point of
land adjacent to Little Egg Inlet and at the mouth of the
Mullica River. They transferred it into a fisheries research
facility, transformed the upstairs into a dormitory, and became
so busy they subsequently built a dormitory at the other end of
Seven Bridges Road to house the multitude of students that
became interested in the facility.
They decided they needed to look under the ocean outside of
Little Egg Inlet and established the first permanent undersea
observatory in the world. They got private industry to help
fund it. They got Bill Hughes and I to become involved in the
issue, and now we are among the proudest to have in my
district, at the end of Seven Bridges Road, this facility known
as LEO-15 and the research facility.
And I am very proud to be able to introduce Fred Grassle,
one of the people that made it all happen. Fred.
STATEMENT OF J. FREDERICK GRASSLE, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF
MARINE AND COASTAL SCIENCE
Mr. Grassle. Thank you, Mr. Saxton, for those very kind
comments. Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting
me to testify on the status of oceanographic monitoring
assessment. I particularly want to thank the chairman for his
long-standing interest in the subject.
On land we take for granted continuous, real-time, high
resolution information provided by our senses; what we see,
hear, or smell. Our presence in terrestrial environments
provides us with a high proportion of the information needed to
assess fundamental environmental and ecosystem processes. We
are not so fortunate when we try to predict ocean processes,
lacking the common-sense view of our environment that is
readily available on the land.
The ocean is a relatively unknown, dangerous and
unpredictable place. The livelihood and security of nations has
long depended on their seafaring abilities. Efficient, safe sea
transportation is a requirement for the economic success of our
ports and coastal economies. We need better prediction of
coastal hazards, including storms, coastal erosion events,
harmful algal blooms, and oil spills, or even when and where to
spend a pleasant day fishing or swimming. Naval commanders need
to understand as much as they can about their surroundings, as
you heard from Admiral Gaffney, at all times, especially in
initially unfamiliar environments.
Natural variability is poorly understood so that it is
relatively difficult to measure the effects of pollutants or
other human-induced change. Ocean ecosystems are said to
provide the greater part of the services needed to sustain our
society, yet the mechanisms controlling the delivery of these
services are poorly known. We have made a commitment to obtain
high resolution, long-term measurements from a broad corridor
of marine and coastal habitats from the watershed of the
Mullica River to the deep sea, as you just heard, using a
series of long-term ecosystem observatories or, LEOs, off New
Jersey.
Our most intensive study has been at LEO-15, a site at 15
meters depth on the inner part of the continental shelf off
Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. This has been a
joint project with Chris von Alt's group at Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution and industry, as you have heard.
Just as meteorologists monitor present weather conditions
and use a combination of observations and computer models to
generate weather forecasts, Rutgers oceanographers are using an
observation network to monitor the coastal ocean and computer
models to forecast its daily changes. The observing system is
serviced by an electro-optical cable that runs under the
coastal waterway and under the ocean floor to connect two
underwater nodes to the Rutgers University Marine Field
Station, and from there to the Internet, where it is available
to all.
The system transmits video, sound and data on light,
temperature, salinity, currents, wave height and period,
sediment transport, plankton blooms, and a broad variety of
chemical characteristics from numerous sensors that move up and
down in the water or are plugged into the nodes at the bottom.
Docking stations, developed at Woods Hole, allow autonomous
robotic vehicles to sample along transects away from each fixed
site and to return to download data and repower batteries.
You saw this vehicle in the video from Woods Hole.
Yesterday, the REMUS vehicle did a 60-kilometer run, measuring
currents, temperature, salinity and depth over the whole
distance of LEO-15. It has repeatedly docked and sent data back
to land and over the Internet at LEO-15 during the past 3
weeks.
Boats and divers visit the site on days when the weather is
good, and the satellite dish provides broad coverage of sea
surface characteristics, temperature, ocean color, and surface
roughness. Shore stations, using high-frequency radar, provide
patterns of surface currents and provide data on weather in the
immediate vicinity of LEO-15.
I have attached a schematic representation of LEO-15 to my
testimony, and I hope you all have copies of that.
We expect to add additional observatories at intervals
across the continental shelf and into the deep sea. Additional
observatories along the coast, such as that proposed off
Martha's Vineyard, will add another dimension to what we hope
will eventually become a global system.
This work has been supported by the National Science
Foundation, NOAA, the National Undersea Research Program,
Office of Naval Research, and the last year by three grants
from the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Our most
recent grant will transfer the lessons learned from LEO-15 in
1998 and 1999 to a program using a combined observation and
modeling system to predict harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of
Maine in the year 2000.
We can provide the observations needed to maintain
ecosystem services from the ocean, enrich science education in
our schools, and bring a greater consciousness of the ocean
into our daily lives. I strongly urge you to support, through
individual agencies and the National Oceanographic Partnership
Program, the further development of a national and global ocean
observing system. Thank you.
Mr. Saxton. Fred, thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Grassle may be found at end
of hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. And now we will go to our cleanup man, Admiral
James Watkins.
STATEMENT OF JAMES WATKINS, PRESIDENT, CONSORTIUM FOR
OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Admiral Watkins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; thank you,
members of this Committee, for inviting me here today.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, I am President of the Consortium
for Oceanographic Research and Education, the acronym we call
CORE, consisting of 52 of the Nation's marine institutions. We
represent those institutions here in Washington and have also
initiated or undertaken a number of national projects,
including the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, and we won the ONR
bid for the program office for helping them run the National
Oceanographic Partnership Program.
Previous witnesses have described to you several
outstanding examples of the kinds of capabilities we have or
will soon have and some of our priorities to better understand,
monitor and predict the greatest natural force on earth. They
have told you what we need to do and why. What I would like to
do today is to provide a conceptual road map for how to do what
they suggest; that is, how we might transition from the ideas
of our researchers, working with the decisionmakers here in
Congress and the administration, to an actual system which
integrates our national needs and priorities.
We have come to an important juncture in the development of
ocean science. More than ever our progress is limited by the
lack of important ocean observations. As the Ocean Studies
Board of the National Research Council has clearly stated in
their new report, ``Opportunities in Ocean Sciences: Challenges
on the Horizon,'' the questions of marine resource management,
climate prediction and the role of oceans in human health
require extensive and long-term observation of the oceans on
global, regional and local scales.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit a copy of this report
for the record.
Mr. Saxton. Without objection.
[The information referred to may be found at end of
hearing.]
Admiral Watkins. The merits of a variety of independent
observing and predictive system proposals, many of which were
presented here today, are well understood and accepted. But
what we do not currently have is the strategic framework within
which we can chart a course to final realization of an
integrated ocean observing and predictive system.
We need to couple an analysis of the mission
responsibilities of the various Federal agencies with our
current and planned observational capabilities to determine the
best opportunities for predictive success. From this analysis
we can build a plan detailing exact requirements for a
comprehensive ocean observing system and address questions on a
variety of time and space scales, assimilating, infusing
information from these various sources, much like the well-
established practices of the defense intelligence community.
Analysis and interpretation would then provide the products
which we will rely on for better prediction and decisionmaking.
Let me give you an analogy. Early in the cold war, from
many prior years of ocean research in deep ocean sound
propagation, we developed a highly capable and integrated
system called SOSUS, the sound surveillance system. This is a
giant series of listening arrays in the Atlantic and Pacific,
which eventually contributed significantly to our winning the
cold war. Observations from these fixed arrays were highly
integrated or fused with multisource observational and
predictive data from satellites, ships, aircrafts, human beings
and other sensors over a wide geographic area.
Notable is, one, the definition of a national need, with a
full understanding of the cost and benefits; two, the
commitment to develop a system, not just a collection of parts;
and, three, the contribution of all sectors, each bringing
their own strength to meeting a complex challenge; and, four,
predictions with high probability of success.
The resultant $16 billion investment was repeatedly
justified.
I should also note that the first SOSUS array went from the
blackboard in 1949 to full-scale operation in 1952, only 3
years later, and at a $1 million initial investment.
Let me now shift to the graphic, which the Committee
members have been provided, and the graphic is displayed up
there on the first easel. The graphic is an attempt to place
into context what I would call a strategic framework for ocean
predictions. You will see in the center of that framework what
is called the Ocean Observational System. It is a meld of
sensors and platforms, including remote sensing, that would be
satellites, SOSUS, aircraft; fixed sensors and platforms, that
is the TOGA mooring that gave us additional predictive
capability for El Nino, the LEO-15 we just heard about, and
seismometers. Then there are drifting and unmanned sensors and
platforms, including surface drifters, autonomous underwater
vehicles, and remote operating vehicles. Then there are ships
and submarines, called the UNOLS fleet, which is the academic
fleet, University National Oceanographic Laboratory System, the
deep submergence vessels, vessels of opportunity, which might
include the last of the nuclear submarines that have the
capability of going under the ice and can explore areas of
surface that no other platform and no other sensor can reach.
Then, inside those, are the information exchanges, with
each of those, what I would call subsystems of a larger system,
for data access, archival, storage of information, data
assimilation and computation. Each of those adds value in
itself to our society.
But what we miss, then, is taking that and moving it into a
product and benefit, which you see on the right side of my
chart, which goes through what I would call a virtual common
data center, where all this is brought together in analysis and
interpretation and doing the kinds of things that the Congress
challenged the National Ocean Research Leadership Council to
come up with.
They told us, the Congress told us to address that issue
and try to do the analysis and interpretation to give us the
products and benefits of climate forecast; sustainable
resources which would be the fisheries, as an example; human
health, which Dr. Colwell talked about this morning; military
readiness, which is an essential part of it.
And by the way, while I have the greatest respect for
Admiral Gaffney, I think it is a mistake to leave the Navy out
of anything, to exclude them from anything. They are a key part
of ocean science and technology. They used to be 40 percent of
the entire ocean science investment in the Nation. They have
now gone to 20 percent. And to leave them out is absolutely
preposterous. What we heard from Admiral Gaffney was a work-
around; that despite what exclusion you put in, we are going to
work it any way. That is just an aside, Mr. Chairman.
At any rate, what we need now, though, you have seen this
graph, and on the left is the mission statement for the Nation,
and that doesn't come out of my head. That is what the Congress
told us in the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, to
horizontally integrate these agencies by national security,
economic development, quality of life and education. And that
is what we are doing. And those cut across all lines.
And so, therefore, for the first time, we have a thematic
approach to horizontally integrate research and development in
this Nation in the oceans, and that is a paradigm for any other
scientific endeavor, in my opinion. So we have on this chart,
then, what I would call the total framework for ocean modeling
and predictions that can really give society something new.
Now, what we need from the Congress is your assistance to
move aggressively in this framework to an integrated strategic
science and technology plan. We in the academic community are
asking the Congress to task the administration to work with
them to develop such a strategic plan in the form of a
comprehensive and integrated ocean observing system that can
lead to more useful products and benefits for all, as shown on
my chart.
We believe, in addition, that to carry this out the
Congress should request the administration to employ the
National Ocean Research Leadership Council, consisting of the
leaders of each of the nine Federal ocean research agencies, to
define components, priorities, research requirements, and some
sense of time lines that might be anticipated. This plan should
show how an integrated system would optimize the Federal effort
to meet specific objectives within those time lines, making
clear the products and benefits expected. The plan should
address the involvement of other maritime nations with whom we
share mutual objectives and can expect some equitable share in
the enhanced investments which will be required. This plan
should build upon the volumes of well-thought-out agendas
developed by the individual agencies, the National Academy of
Sciences and other national and international bodies in past
years.
Mr. Chairman, this will certainly require both Congress and
the administration to come together to make some new resources
available. I think so often when we talk about partnerships, we
forget the fact that we need a partnership between the Congress
and the administration on this issue. We cannot do it alone.
There has to be close leadership cooperation here to try to set
some new standards here for this kind of integrated science and
technology plan.
So often we talk about, well, the Federal Government has to
have partnerships with academia and so forth. We need a
partnership with the Congress on all this. As you know, we have
tried to work that way through the National Oceanographic
Partnership Program and its development. We need to continue
that, with perhaps joint hearings up here between the Resources
Committee, the Science Committee, the National Security
Committee, not to talk about budget, not to talk about program,
but to talk about strategy. What are we doing? How are we
pulling this together? So when the agencies come through with
their budgets, you can see them inside a broader strategy. I
think that is a worthy objective that the Congress should set.
So on the horizon we can envision greatly enhanced coastal
weather and longer-term climate forecasting, more efficient
shipping, more informed decisionmaking for difficult
environmental and resource management questions, just to name a
few benefits.
For the last 50 years of this century we devoted our
national attention on outer space, and properly so. We need to
focus our attention in the next 50 years, in the next century,
to understanding how inner space, the ocean, can assist mankind
in meeting its burgeoning challenges.
The Congress has already set in place a perfect mechanism
for implementation of this kind of initiative by creating the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program. This program
provides a platform for collaborative work by the U.S., as well
as international ocean research agencies who are looking to the
United States for leadership, but they want to know where to
plug in. They have a place to plug in now, and we have to
engender that to leverage these dollars.
There ought to be a 50-50 share line with the United States
and other nations, and we know how to do that. The academic
institutions know how to work with them. But we have to have
the leadership of the Nation, and that includes the State
Department in S&T and foreign policy. You know, I have been
clamoring for that, to improve that, and I know the State
Department has asked the National Academy to come back and give
them a recommendation, but that is a year from now. We need to
move it now. We are talking about potentially large investments
in an ocean observing system globally, and that means we have
to start now with people involved at the front end of the
design of such a system.
Anyway, Mr. Chairman, I hope you will consider my
recommendations. I look forward to continuing to work with you
to ensure we are doing everything we can to make wise use of
the greatest natural resource on earth. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Watkins may be found at
end of hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. Mr. Delahunt has some time constraints. Would
you like to ask a question before you go?
Mr. Delahunt. No, I don't need to ask a question, Mr.
Chairman, but I do thank you for the invitation, and I hope to
participate. It has been very informative, and I particularly
appreciate the sense of urgency that Admiral Watkins has
brought, and I think that the ideas forthcoming from all the
panelists lead me to the same conclusion reached by Mr. Farr;
that this really is an exciting time.
And I personally do want to work with Chairman Saxton and
Mr. Farr and others in these potential breakthrough initiatives
we are talking about. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you, Mr. Delahunt. I look forward to
visiting your district this August.
Admiral Watkins, you touched on a subject that is near and
dear to the hearts of many of us, in particular Mr. Gilchrest,
who talks about the diffusion of responsibilities for ocean
issues, and, in particular, not just between the administration
and the Congress, but even here in Congress.
I have forgotten the number, but it is unbelievable. It
seems to me like there is something like 17 or 18 committees.
Admiral Watkins. Forty-seven committees, Mr. Chairman;
forty-seven committees of authorization, appropriation, in both
House and Senate. Yes, sir.
Mr. Saxton. That even goes beyond what I think we had
anticipated. But when we established this Subcommittee,
Chairman Young was kind enough to agree to the suggestion that
we ought to have a committee that's named as being responsible
for the oceans, and finally the title became partly
subcommittee on oceans.
So we are hopeful that we will be able to work with the
House leadership. And we have, under the leadership of Mr.
Gilchrest, begun to talk about how to or whether it is
possible, given turf battles, et cetera, to restructure the way
we do business in the House to focus more clearly on ocean
issues someplace. And, of course, I think it ought to be here,
but I am sure everybody has their own idea.
But it relates very much to the objectives of the National
Oceanographic Partnership Program. And I guess I would just
like to ask you each, have your institutions seen a change in
the level of cooperation subsequent to the establishment of the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program? Is it working? Does
it need any refinement, or is it just fine the way it is and
working well?
Dr. Grassle.
Dr. Grassle. I would like to comment on that. In building
LEO-15, a lot of people were involved. The National Underwater
Research Program funded a lot of science out there, which
enabled us to begin to understand the environment well enough
to really develop the LEO-15 concept. The National Science
Foundation actually funded the infrastructure of the system.
But more recently we feel that the possibilities for using
something like LEO-15 can only be realized through the kind of
broad partnership that our funding from the National Ocean
Partnership has allowed us to develop.
We have oceanographic equipment companies coming down and
finding out things about ocean instrumentation that is off the
shelf that we didn't know about, because we are comparing these
instruments in the field. Any instrument of any sort can be
plugged into LEO-15 and compared with any other instrument. The
REMUS underwater vehicle, in its 60-kilometer run yesterday,
was running the same route that a towed vehicle from a boat was
running with similar instruments. So we have direct comparisons
to be made.
We also had Navy SEALS visiting, just because they were
curious. They were working with Chris von Alt in another area,
and they really wanted to see what was happening at LEO-15 and
were very interested.
In the education area, one of our grants is in education,
and we are working with school systems in New Jersey. LEO-15 is
available on the Web page. That would not have been possible
without the kind of broad approach to thinking about observing
systems that the National Ocean Partnership has allowed us to
develop.
The Office of Naval Research has been supporting the
modeling that relates to these coastal systems. And through the
National Ocean Partnership, we have fully integrated the
modeling with the observing system so that the models are
assimilating data, and we are making actual forecasts of the
ocean. And we were pleased last week that the weatherman in our
local area, in your district actually, referred to the
upwelling and what it was like for the people going to the
beach.
So I think that the National Ocean Partnership has really
helped us develop the kind of crosscut all of us envisioned. I
think I had the opportunity to testify before this Committee
once before, in discussing something that I know has been
foremost in your mind, as to how to get crosscutting
information more available to make decisions about the
environment. For the oceans, the National Ocean Partnership has
been an important step in that direction.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much. Anybody else want to
comment?
Dr. Gagosian. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a couple
of comments with respect to the collaboration. If one looks at
the list of principal investigators, and the projects they have
been involved with, and the sums of money over the period of
time, it is very difficult to do that with just one Federal
agency. So there is a tremendous leveraging capability that the
partnership program allows for. And in many ways it is an
initiation of that collaboration, and I will just give you an
example.
The LEO-15 exercises that Fred was talking about has led,
as he mentioned, to Chris von Alt's work in wanting to
establish another site on Martha's Vineyard, where there is
open water all the way to England. The National Science
Foundation has funded that. On the other hand, there is a
significant amount of cost-sharing that is involved.
Because of the success at Rutgers in New Jersey, we were
able to obtain over a third of a million dollars in cost-
sharing from someone that actually lives on Martha's Vineyard
who is very interested in this kind of facility being on the
island. So the collaboration extends beyond the Federal
agencies and the principal investigators. It actually extends
to some of the private citizenry.
And if everyone participates in contributing to these
projects, the Federal agencies, the private sector, and then
obviously the scientists and engineers at the different
institutions, then you really will have a very successful
program.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you.
Dr. Kennel.
Dr. Kennel. I have a couple of comments. I am too new to
tell you whether there has been a change, but I will say the
following: That if you look at Scripps funding in order of
importance, our funding comes from the National Science
Foundation, the State of California, the Navy, NOAA, NASA, DOE,
various other agencies. And the surprising thing to me is how
distinct the activities are that are funded by each agency and
how critical they are.
This diversity of funding has made Scripps into a diverse
institution, and we have been very pleased with it, but I think
as we look forward, the community has an important new
obligation, which is to think about how to construct these
integrated observing systems, both regional and global. And at
this point the diversity begins to get in the way--without the
further coordination that could be provided by an organization
like the Ocean Partnership Program.
The things that need to be done are, first, to be able to
develop a plan, a strategy; be able to settle amongst the
different kinds of ocean technologies that have been supported
by different agencies and institutions, how they ultimately
will fit into at least the first steps of a global observing
system. How will we reach a decision on how to balance the
contributions of each of these very capable technologies? In
light of that strategy, where will we put our technology
investment funds? Who will be the system integrator? Who will
do the basic technological studies that would bring forth an
integration at the technical level, the integration that we
know that we need?
So I think it is at this level that partnerships, a strong
plan and leadership is needed to do those tasks that we cannot
do by ourselves in the present configuration.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much.
Mr. Farr.
Mr. Farr. Well, thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman. I
wanted to thank both panels. I just got out of a meeting, and I
had to tell everybody I had to leave because I had four science
directors, an admiral, a secretary and a president waiting for
me. So thank you for being who you are.
I look at today as sort of in two categories. One is the
existing funding category that comes essentially through the
public sector, and Dr. Kennel kind of mentioned the State of
California, the NOAA, the Navy, National Science Foundation.
Dr. Kennel. Department of Energy, NASA.
Mr. Farr. Department of Energy and NASA. All of those are
public-funded entities, taxpayer dollars. And it seems to me we
ought to be getting--from the importance that the panel has
told us, we ought to be getting a better share of the pie.
Then the other side is how do you expand the politics, the
lobbying effort, the public's interest in making this a
priority? Really, I think we need to focus a little bit more on
that.
First of all, on the public side, I believe that each of
you have financial officers in your entities. You ought to be
taking a look at the requirements of that funding and come back
to us as legislators and show us where the bureaucracy just
doesn't make any sense, where there is duplication and overlap.
Secondly, I think we need to have some messages that we are
not making, and, Admiral Watkins, I was interested in your
comment on that. Dr. Gagosian talked about all the things we
needed to do and explore and how we sort of lost the lead. I
guess it is the Japanese that are really putting the money into
equipment. We still have the know-how, as I understand, but
they have the better machinery.
If we are so unexplored in the ocean, and there is so much
to learn, and it really has to do with, in a sense, national
security, knowledge about the planet, why hasn't this moved
more into a national security issue, particularly in a post-
cold war era, where we are sort of converting to do things we
need to do? We have not done very much to put the exploration
into a national security issue.
Admiral Watkins. No, we have not, Mr. Farr.
The United States Navy used to command 7 percent of the
national research budget in the old days when it was $8
billion. This is 15 years ago. Today it is 3\1/2\ percent of a
budget which has almost doubled to $14 billion. I am talking
basic research now of the R&D component, the R component that
is seldom broken out from D. D disguises the R many times
because in D you can have prototype development of a new B-2
aircraft or a nuclear submarine, so it disguises what is in R.
R is the research component. That is what I am talking
about. It went from $8 to $14 billion. In oceans it stayed
constant in constant dollars, and everybody says, well, that is
pretty good, staying constant in constant dollars. Now we are
3\1/2\ percent of the investment. That is totally inadequate,
and we should be building back over the next 5 to 7 years to
something of the order of $800 or $900 million.
So we are not talking about billions of dollars, we are
talking about going up at about $15 million a year, And if they
have not explained to the Congress how critically important
this is right now, then we are not very articulate.
So we have to start growing, and there has to be a deal
between the Congress leadership and the White House to say, Mr.
President, if you put in another $250 million over the next 5
years as a kick-start for getting this thing really going, get
international cooperation through your Secretary of State at
the high level, start leveraging these dollars up so we can do
the kinds of prediction modeling we desperately need right now,
then we in the scientific community come back to Congress with
a plan telling you exactly how we are going to spend that money
in peer-reviewed research that is integrated. We know how to do
that. And so, that deal has to be made, and we ought to do it
for the year 2000 budget.
And the Feds that the come up here today, they have to stay
within the OMB rules. They cannot come up and demand more
dollars. So they are going to try to live with what they are
given, and I understand that. But you-all have to reach beyond
that and have to help get that leveraged dollar up and have us
get back to you by the first of next year. So when you open
again in the new session of Congress, and ask ``where are you
going to spend the $250 million,'' if you put it in there? We
will tell you exactly where. It will be valuable all in itself,
and we know how to do that. We have to be tasked, though. It
will not come out of the nine Federal agencies. They cannot do
it.
Mr. Farr. I understand that, and I accept that challenge. I
think it is a great challenge. It is one that I accept, and I
hope we can commit with the Chairman and our Committee to
accept that.
My statement back to you is we also need to move this into
a sense of national security priorities, because if we do not--
I do not mean this black box security, I mean the fact that the
money around here that is being appropriated still is in that,
that is where the discretionary dollars are. And we ought to be
able to move some of those discretionary dollars and make those
a priority.
Admiral Watkins. I could not agree more. I think this whole
issue of national security, unfortunately, has been swept
somewhat under the rug in the aftermath of the great win in the
cold war. And while that is a big plus, I think what we did at
the same time was decide to say deep ocean research is no
longer necessary, the Russian submarines are not there. And we
did not pick up on the fact that that is not the only reason we
do ocean research. It is life. It is full of life, and we need
to know more about it.
So the national priority needs to be reestablished. And I
think everything you mentioned earlier, what we are doing now
to take advantage of the Year of the Ocean and put all these
things in place is a critical time to say, wait a minute, we
have got a new national mission of some import. Whether you
have the equivalent of the old Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
up here or whatever you do, you have to do something up here to
send that signal to the administration as well. And I believe
we are on the verge of setting a new national priority for
oceans and how they contribute.
You heard Dr. Colwell talking about the importance of human
health and the ocean. We are just beginning to see that El Nino
has brought a new dimension. I am not talking about biomedical
research. That will take care of itself. That will be the self-
interest of pharmaceuticals. I am talking about what is the
impact of temperature growth, whether it is anthropogenic or
natural, on human health as the population doubles in the
world? If we do not start that research now, 50 years from now
we are not going to be in a very good position to deal with
disease.
So national priority has to be put on this and at the
Presidential level and congressional level, both in cooperation
with each other.
Mr. Farr. I look forward to working with you and maybe even
actually shaping that letter. I am writing it as you talk. We
need to tighten that up and get it out and get our Members
committed to it now even before the election.
Then the second part of that is how we sort of increase
this public buy-in that I think is out there. The excitement is
there. I watch the kids who when I grew up, you know, the space
area, you had to get space camp started and we got all excited.
Now we have the opportunity for sea camps, which I think the
demand out there is just really keen. And frankly, there are
more places where we can do those than we can do space camps.
But Dr. Kennel talked about it had to become personal. And
how can we start personalizing; how can we take the information
that you-all are getting and kind of turn that in? I always
kidded, we have the fleet numerical, the Navy's center for all
the weather data coming to Monterey. The Navy collects all the
weather data on the globe, every measurable instrument, and it
is all fed into Monterey.
So I said, if you are so damn smart with your big Cray
computer, why cannot you tell the farmers what the weather is
going to be like in the Salinas Valley, or why cannot you tell
the surfers what the weather is going to be like on the coast?
I said, there are some real commercial interests with what you
do.
Dr. Kennel. Let me just say that, first of all, the
National Oceans Conference did have a personal impact on me. I
came back to San Diego, and I wore the cap from the conference
the next day to the cleaner, and the gentleman behind the desk
said, ``Oh, I see were you at Monterey.'' And I said, ``Yeah.''
He said, ``You know. All the fish have gone away. The ocean is
responsible for climate. And our coastlines are a mess.'' And I
said--``well, he got the message.''
In any case, Scripps has a program with regard to surf. It
is an interesting story. Our program takes the Navy's
prediction of wave heights on the open ocean and translates it
into wave action on a kilometer-by-kilometer basis along the
California coast. And there is a big surfing beach just north
of Monterey. The Scripps folks came to me one day and said,
``You know, we are predicting 25-foot wave heights out there.
What should we do?'' I said, ``Put it on the Internet.'' It had
a very interesting effect. Most of the surfers from that region
who were very knowledgeable said, ``we are going to stay away
from this one, we know what this place is like.'' But other
people from Hawaii and Australia flew in to catch the waves.
And as you know, the Coast Guard had to intervene and forbid
them from surfing.
In any case, it is not only important for surfers to
predict wave heights, but it is those waves that are basically
responsible for the transport of sediments down the California
coast. Ultimately, we are going to be able to tie a lot of the
work together. We are going to be able to take El Nino
predictions--we are not ready yet--but we will be able to
convert those into the water flow in all the California
watersheds, the rivers. We will be able to estimate how much
sediment the rivers bring toward the ocean and how much gets
into the ocean. We will be able to put it all together.
Mr. Farr. I think the more we do that, the more you will
begin buying into this public awareness that we need as
politicians to put their limited tax dollars in the right
place.
Dr. Kennel. The scientists can help to a significant
extent. For example, just the whole effort to increase the
resolution of computer modeling. This effort takes the global
information, which we need, and actually brings it down to the
local scale and actually improves that. And I believe the whole
climate community is certainly focused on that issue. They
understand the issue, but the results are not there yet.
Mr. Farr. The next time you bring the group that you talked
about in your testimony together, would you include FEMA in it?
The coastal States are really concerned about erosion. And FEMA
once had a policy where they would provide the FEMA funding for
coastal erosion, and they have now backed away from all of
that. And they know there is a big cost out there, but it is a
big problem. The Florida delegation is very concerned about it,
certainly California, other areas where there is large
populations.
We have not yet connected the science group and the
economics that you have been able to pull out of that with the
emergency funding folks, both OMB and FEMA. So you need to get
them into your round table.
Dr. Gagosian. Mr. Farr, if I could make just a comment
about your thoughts on public outreach. I think we have done a
very poor job in the scientific community in articulating the
discoveries and the excitement, especially of ocean sciences. I
think that is beginning to change now.
I think one of the reasons why we have done a poor job is,
one, that things were pretty good in the 1970's and 1980's, and
we focused on how to spend the money and how best to spend
money. Second, we do not really know how to communicate outside
our own community very well, so we stayed within our own
community. But I think that is changing.
There are a couple of major programs that are being
undertaken now. I think one way to do it is through traveling-
museum exhibits, where the substance is put in place by the
scientists themselves, but not the way the exhibit is put
together. That is put together by professionals who work in
concert in a collegial way. And we actually are doing something
like that now. Two 7,000-square-foot museum exhibits that will
be done, hopefully, by the beginning of 1999, or at least by
the middle of 1999, will travel to 15 major museums around the
country, museums that have 2 to 4 million a people a year that
go through them. So that is one way to do it.
The other is with respect to the K-12 issue. Again, I think
it is necessary to have professionals. Most of the time
scientists tell people what they need to know. They rarely ask
them what they want to know. And I think we have to change that
pattern, especially with teachers. And that is beginning to
happen as well.
Again, one way do that is with a professional outside
company, and we have actually spun off an outside company to
start something like that, with people that know this business
that are in the publication business, and they themselves are
working with, in this particular case, Harcourt General, who
has put significant money in, significant being over a million
dollars, to start to put together curriculum for fourth- to
sixth-graders and seventh- to ninth-graders, a curriculum that
will consist of books and workbooks and handbooks, but also
obviously a very strong Web interactive service so that the
students can see the results as they are happening and actually
talk with the people that are being involved.
Video will play a big part in this as well. I see that
coming on the horizon. When we took the ship Atlantis that we
have to Washington, to Alexandria, last year, it was a real
wake-up call for me because every kid wanted to see that, and
they were very excited. Ocean sciences is a wonderful way to
hook children to get them interested in the basic sciences,
because the ocean is not a science, it is a place, and you need
physics and chemistry and biology and engineering and geology.
And that is the great hook that I think will bring the children
into it.
Dr. Grassle. I just want to agree with Bob's comment on the
importance of getting marine science into the schools. We are
involved in about 40 different school districts in New Jersey
working with teachers to introduce a marine science curriculum
as part of a science program at those schools. And we just 2
weeks ago had a workshop for teachers involved with LEO, and
they went out on the boats, they watched the computers, looked
at the models and so on. So they got a real, firsthand feel
that they could bring back to the classroom.
But I also think that, in trying to get the public
involved, we need to better explain that applied problems are
also basic problems. I am always surprised when I go to various
forums on problems such as beach erosion or problems associated
with pollution of our ports that people do not go back to first
principles and say, how does this environment work, how does
sand move off the coast of New Jersey in our case, or what
really is controlling the movement of contaminated sediment at
the port?
These are observing system issues, but the observing system
is simply the basis for the understanding. And we feel that
getting the public involved by putting the information from
observing systems relevant to applied problems over the
Internet is involving the public. Also, making data available
through geographic search engines over the Internet is another
useful approach.
Mr. Farr. All the high schools in rural areas teach
agriculture because there are jobs after you get out of high
school. Every ocean community high school ought to be teaching
about the oceans because there are going to be jobs in the
oceans. And we have not linked that future employment to our
educational training.
Dr. Grassle. I know you are familiar with Project MARE
developed at Berkeley. That is the curriculum we are using in
these 40 school districts.
Mr. Farr. Take a look at the Virtual Canyon, which is one
of the exhibits at Expo in Lisbon that was formed from the high
school and elementary schools in Monterey on the Monterey
Canyon. It is a very exciting curriculum that they are
developing right now.
Mr. Saxton. Let me just expand the conversation if I may
for just a moment, and then we are going to have to leave.
Obviously, as was pointed out by the admiral earlier, the
ocean covers a great deal more of the earth than we have the
capacity to study, particularly as a result of our efforts here
in this country. And it seems to me that a cooperative effort
internationally would be quite beneficial in light of the fact
that these activities are extremely expensive and we are
stretching now to expend our efforts.
What is going on internationally? Is there a degree of
cooperation, and is there reason for us to be optimistic that
ocean research internationally is something that we could look
forward to hearing more about?
Dr. Gagosian. Mr. Chairman, there are a couple of examples
I would like to give. One is with respect to the ocean
observing system in our countries.
The European Union is moving ahead very rapidly. As a
matter of fact, they are ahead of us. They are already planning
experiments in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. On
the other hand, there are a lot of discussions going on between
our scientists and their scientists in planning joint
expeditions and joint plans.
There is a lot of cooperation also with the Japanese with
respect to the potential for new ocean-drilling program
opportunities into the next millennium, and they are actively
involved in those discussions, not only with the United States,
but with several other countries that are involved in the
ocean-drilling program.
And third, the Japanese, also with respect to deep sea
observatories, are putting sums of money into this problem that
are a bit overwhelming. The Japanese Marine Science and
Technology Center had a $100 million plus-up just for deep sea
observatories and autonomous vehicles. One hundred million
dollars is half of the total NSF ocean sciences budget in one
year. So that is just the plus-up.
So clearly there are a lot of opportunities to work with
them. But those are just three examples, and I am sure that
there are other members of the panel that have others.
Dr. Kennel. Perhaps my experience at NASA in helping
develop an integrated observing strategy from space will be
helpful. There is a Committee on Earth Observation Satellites,
which consists of 18 spacefaring nations. The program leaders
get together once a year, and they have worked to coordinate
their activities. At NASA's pushing, we convinced them that the
integration of the space observations could only go so far, at
which point they had to come to grips with the fact that they
also needed complementary ground-based and in-ocean
observations. They then stopped and asked themselves the
question, OK, that is scientifically correct; Now what do we
do? Whom do we talk to?
They have been having difficulty finding an analogous
organization to speak to that could pull together the in situ
observations. In this particular case, the oceans let us
organize our efforts in such a way that we could work on the
international scene with the already partially organized space
effort.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you.
Dr. Grassle.
Dr. Grassle. There is also interest in having an observing
system for biological diversity, and there is an international
program called DIVERSITAS, which is kind of an umbrella for
most of the international organizations. And although
DIVERSITAS has mostly terrestrial members of its executive
committee, there is really a strong effort to get something
going in the marine environment. Recently the Sloan Foundation
became interested in this issue, raising the question as to why
we cannot have a clear idea of how many fish are in the ocean,
how many fish species.
Now, I see this as a metaphor for understanding about life
in general in the oceans. Rita Colwell mentioned that the new
technologies in ocean observation give us the background to
look in more detail at the processes in the ocean. That is
particularly true for organisms such as fish, but also life on
the sea floor and the enormous diversity in the deep sea.
All of that depends on designing a global sampling system
so that we do not inadvertently lose this important diversity
for future generations.
Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much.
I want to thank each of you for the insights that you have
brought to us today. It has been a very interesting and
educational 2\1/2\ hours or so that we have been able to spend
here with you today. We could spend a lot more time; however,
we are going to have to bring the Subcommittee hearing to a
close at this point. So thank you very much.
The hearing record will be kept open for 30 days for
potential responses to questions that Members may have, which
they will submit in writing.
[The information referred to may be found at end of
hearing.]
Mr. Saxton. If there is no further business, the Chairman
again thanks the members of the Subcommittee, as well as our
witnesses, and the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:18 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[Additional material submitted for the record follows.]
Statement of D. James Baker, Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere,
U.S. Department of Commerce
INTRODUCTION
Good morning. I am James Baker, Under Secretary of Commerce
for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I thank you, Mr.
Chairman, and members of the Subcommittee, for this opportunity
to testify on ocean observations and related activities
performed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).
Over ten years ago, NOAA embarked on a mission to observe
and record physical oceanographic and surface meteorologic
features in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This mission required
the deployment of a new variety of observing instruments,
including moored buoys, drifting buoys, atmospheric profilers,
tide guages, and sensors released from volunteer ships. These
instruments began to record data related to ocean currents,
profiles of seawater temperature, salinity, and surface wind
and air temperature. For years, these data were collected,
transmitted via satellite to NOAA laboratories, and studied by
Federal, university, and even international scientists. Over
time, the data began to present shapes and patterns of physical
oceanic change, and divulge secrets of one of nature's most
powerful climatic events, the El Nino. The result of this
sustained investment in ocean observation has brought
unprecedented economic returns to this country and has
introduced ocean and climate science to homes across all
regions of the United States. Beyond question, the benefits
from this type of long-term, continuous ocean observation are
enormous.
NOAA's many activities during the El Nino of 1997/1998
demonstrated the value of long-term ocean observations, and of
our efforts to discover the linkages among oceans, the
atmosphere, marine ecology, and human society. The ENSO
observing system provided the early detection of conditions
that might lead to an El Nino, and soon after models developed
by NOAA or by its academic partners produced quite accurate
forecasts of the timing and relative intensity of the coming El
Nino. NOAA worked closely with FEMA, state agencies and the
media to ensure that accurate information on El Nino was
readily available to decision-makers and the public. Once it
was clear that El Nino of historic proportions was underway,
NOAA undertook a series of special studies to document impacts
along the U.S. Pacific Coast, where large impacts were expected
and where a rich base of existing data were available as a
background. These efforts made dramatic improvements in the
accuracy of 3-5 day weather forecasts, provided vital
information for shorter range weather forecasts and flood
warnings, and we expect, will provide significant new insights
on how anomalous ocean conditions affect plankton, fish,
seabirds, and marine mammals in coastal waters.
All seven of NOAA's Strategic Goals rely to some degree on
observations of the world's oceans and seas, including their
physics, chemistry, and biology. Our understanding of the
surface and interior oceans, their variability and interaction
with the atmosphere, and of subsurface processes and resources,
is far from complete. Despite our recent success in predicting
long-range climate events, including the current El Nino event
we predicted many months in advance, we still have far to go.
Recognizing this fact, President Clinton and Vice President
Gore called for an agenda for action regarding the oceans at
the recent National Ocean Conference in Monterey, California.
There, they highlighted the critical significance of the oceans
to our Nation's economic and social well-being, and issued a
directive for increased observations of the world's ocean
processes and features.
At this conference, the Administration launched nine major
initiatives for the exploration, restoration and protection of
America's vital ocean resources. These measures will provide
new scientific insight into the oceans, promote sustainable use
of fisheries and other marine resources, open new opportunities
for jobs and economic growth, preserve national security and
freedom of the seas, and help preserve our oceans for all time.
The President and Vice President are proposing an additional
$224 million through 2002 to support these efforts beginning in
FY 2000. The initiatives particularly relevant to ocean
observations are Exploring the Last U.S. Frontier and
Monitoring Climate and Global Warming. NOAA has a critical role
in the development and implementation of these initiatives.
To unravel deep-sea mysteries, discover new opportunities
in the ocean, and better understand how to protect marine
resources, the Administration is launching a program to map and
explore U.S. ocean waters with advanced underwater technology.
This initiative, called ``Exploring the Last U.S. Frontier,''
proposes $12 million through 2002 to be used to expand two
shallow-water observatories (Aquarius and LEO), build two new
deep-sea observatories (Gulf of Mexico and Juan de Fuca Ridge),
and develop two high-tech submersibles to explore exotic sea
life. A new initiative has been launched in partnership with
the National Geographic Society and Goldman Foundation to
explore our National Marine Sanctuaries.
To understand better the role of the oceans in shaping our
weather and climate, and to help address the threat of global
warming, the Administration has announced ``Monitoring Climate
and Global Warming,'' an initiative for an expanded ocean
monitoring system. We are proposing an additional $12 million
through 2002 to place hundreds of monitoring buoys in the North
Atlantic and North Pacific to measure critical ocean data,
including temperature and salinity at different depths.
To begin today, I would like to explain the scope and
nature of NOAA's existing ocean observation systems and present
areas where additional work and study are required.
Understanding our ocean observation programs will require some
discussion of the tools and processes used for observation.
These tools--submersibles, automated profiling buoys, state-of-
the-art satellites--are in a process of almost constant
evolution as our abilities to understand the oceans deepen and
our needs for scientific data expand.
Clearly, ocean observation includes the assessment and
monitoring of living ocean resources. A major challenge
confronting our fisheries managers involves observation of fish
stocks using antiquated and unsuitable vessels. NOAA's fleet of
eight fisheries research vessels has reached or exceeded their
expected service lives. Admiral Craig Dorman recently reviewed
NOAA's plan to replace the capacity of these vessels. I will
conclude my comments by detailing his report.
EXISTING OCEAN OBSERVATION SYSTEMS
Perhaps the best known of NOAA's ocean observing systems is
the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Observing System. This
system is comprised of a moored buoy array, drifting buoys, a
fleet of volunteer observing ships (VOS), remote sensing
satellites and a sea level gauge network. Each component of
this network contributes in a different way to our knowledge of
ocean processes and to our predictive capability. While the
ENSO Observing System is focused on the tropical Pacific Ocean,
scientists have recognized that climate variability results
from interactions among different oceanic regions, so that
improved predictability requires observations of all oceans,
which can be combined to create climate information critical to
a host of U.S. and foreign users. Thus, in 1998, the
International Year of the Ocean, NOAA committed to
participating in the building of a Global Ocean Observing
System (GOOS) that is essential to improving the basis for our
climate forecasting.
The Global Ocean Observing System
Working toward the Global Ocean Observing System, NOAA has
adopted a simple strategy: through our climate research
program, we support cooperative international observation
projects which target modes of climate variability (ENSO, the
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) the North Atlantic
Oscillation (LAO), etc.) while at the same time form ``building
blocks'' of GOOS. The building blocks, or networks, on which we
are concentrating most of our attention for sustained ocean
observations are the following: (1) deep ocean moorings; (2)
surface drifting buoys; (3) tide gauges; (4) Volunteer
Observing Ships; and (5) autonomous profiling floats. These
networks complement each other, and each contributes its unique
capabilities to the composite system. In combination with
remote sensing from satellites, these five networks provide the
backbone of the sustained global ocean observations needed to
improve climate forecast skill.
Using the same automated sensing technologies developed for
the ENSO observing system, and in cooperation with
international partners, a pilot array has been established in
the Atlantic in search of modes of Atlantic climate variability
that interact with the Pacific variability. Relying on a
foundation of cooperation with international partners, NOAA
plans additional network expansions in the year 2000, building
on the ENSO System and the Atlantic pilot array that will
target the North Pacific, the extra-tropical Atlantic, and the
eastern Indian Ocean to observe the modes of climate
variability beyond ENSO.
The first four of the five networks (building blocks) were
developed over the last 15 years as part of the research on El
Nino. The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array of 70 moorings
spanning the equatorial Pacific, the VOS fleet of 68 research
and volunteer commercial ships covering all oceans, the 63
Indo-Pacific and Atlantic island tide gauge stations, and the
global array of 390 drifting buoys, together form the ENSO
Observing System. This composite observing system, essential
for NOAA's climate forecasting mission, is now maintained on an
operational basis. The fifth network, autonomous profiling
floats, is a new technology that is not yet part of the
``operational'' ENSO Observing System, but is proving its value
through two research arrays (described below) and is now
considered a proven member of the composite, five-network ocean
observing system. The Global Ocean Observing System will
consist of some combination of these different measurement
systems. This innovative technology, specified by the
President's proposal in Monterey, will complement other in situ
and remote satellite observations to refine climate prediction
models.
The need for ocean observations to track the Pacific El
Nino is well understood. We also know that the Atlantic Ocean
generates a significant, but less understood, influence on the
climate of North America as well as South America, Europe, and
Africa. The influence of the tropical Atlantic competes with,
and is modulated by, the Pacific El Nino. These processes can,
for example, modulate the frequency and intensity of hurricanes
impacting the U.S. eastern seaboard, as dramatically
demonstrated by the dearth of hurricanes in the 1997 season--a
favorable impact of El Nino. In 1998, NOAA supported
implementation of the new Pilot Research Array in the Tropical
Atlantic (PIRATA) in cooperation with France and Brazil. This
array of 12 moorings is, in effect, an eastward extension of
the TAO array; five moorings have been deployed to date, with
the additional seven scheduled over the next year.
Other existing NOAA programs for ocean observation include
the following:
A global network of tide gauge stations that has
become essential for removal of the inevitable instrument drift
in altimeter measurements for accurate climate forecasting.
A contribution of 19 autonomous profiling floats to
National Science Foundation's Atlantic Circulation and Climate
Experiment.
An expansion of the ENSO observing system with 100
additional surface drifters, 75 profiling floats, and four high
density VOS lines concentrated in the eastern Pacific to study
the North Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Satellite systems that provide information globally on
winds, the thermal structure of the atmosphere, and sea surface
temperatures.
The National Water Level Observation Network of 189
tide gauges to provide essential data for navigation, tsunami
and storm surge warnings, legal determinations of property
lines, sea level rise, and other public and commercial
applications.
A network of coastal ocean weather buoys to provide
frequent, high-quality marine observations to diagnose
conditions to prepare and validate weather forecasts.
Seafloor Observation Systems
While at the National Ocean Conference in Monterey, Vice President
Gore noted that submersible and hydroacoustic technologies have brought
scientists to a new frontier in fields of undersea research. Recent
scientific advances have allowed us access to thousands of square miles
of virtually unknown seafloor resources. NOAA has a rich history of
support for seafloor observatories and is providing significant new
support for various efforts. These include: the ``Aquarius'' habitat in
the Florida Keys, the Long-term Environmental Observatory (LEO) effort
off the coast of New Jersey, and the VENTS program in sites along the
Pacific Coast.
AQUARIUS
Owned by NOAA and managed by the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington (UNCW), Aquarius is the world's only underwater laboratory
from which diving scientists can live and work beneath the sea during
research missions up to 10 days in length. For its current assignment,
Aquarius operates at a depth of 60 feet at the base of a coral reefwall
off Key Largo, Florida. The 81-ton, 43x20x16.5-foot underwater
laboratory has many of the comforts of home while also providing
scientists with sophisticated laboratory capability.
The special diving capability of Aquarius, called saturation
diving, allows scientists to work outside the habitat on the reef up to
nine hours a day without fear of getting the bends, compared to one
hour if they had to work from the surface. Increased research time on-
bottom is the key element that enhances scientific productivity beneath
the sea. The support personnel of the National Undersea Research Center
at UNCW enhance program productivity through diver training, and
scientific and operational expertise. Safety is a hallmark of the
program.
Aquarius is the centerpiece of a comprehensive environmental
research program in the Florida Keys aimed at better understanding and
preserving the health of coral reefs and near shore ecosystems.
LEO
September 1996 marked the completion of a seafloor observatory
facility providing a real-time Internet link to the undersea
environment off the coast of New Jersey. This innovative link provides
access to the ocean floor for scientists, engineers, students and
educators.
The Long-term Ecosystem Observatory facility, or LEO, was
established in 15 meters of water (and named appropriately LEO-15) on
the dynamic inner continental shelf off Tuckerton, New Jersey (just
north of Atlantic City). The observatory facility, recently renamed the
LEO-15 National Littoral Laboratory, consists of two instrumented
platforms (termed ``nodes''), anchored to the seafloor at distances of
4 and 5.5 km from the entrance to Great Bay. The nodes are connected to
a shore-based facility by 9.6 km of electro-optical cable that is
buried 2 m meters below the seafloor. LEO-15 provides an excellent site
to test and deploy sampling and sensing equipment. Guest ports are
available at each node of the observatory facility to supply power,
operate instruments, and transmit data.
The LEO-15 observatory was built as a partnership between the
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS) at Rutgers University,
and the Ocean Systems Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. Support for the development and installation has been
provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional support has
come from NOAA's National Undersea Research Program (NURP) through the
Mid-Atlantic Bight National Undersea Research Center. NURP continues to
provide support, both for maintenance and operation of the observatory,
and for research at the site. In addition, the Office of Naval Research
and the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) are
supporting modeling efforts, research, and further development of the
observatory facility and its sensing capabilities.
One area of rapid advancement has been in the development of an
autonomous vehicle, REMUS (Remote Environmental Sampling Units), that
will become integrated into the observatory facility. REMUS vehicles
will be used widely in the vicinity of LEO-15 this summer as part of a
multi-platform adaptive sampling effort focusing on evaluating a
relocatable, data assimilative, coastal-ocean forecasting model.
VENTS
Through its VENTS Program, NOAA is conducting ground-breaking
research and observations of processes and ecosystems in the interior
ocean and sea floor. One recent important finding is the discovery of
episodic volcanic/hydrothermal bursts, called megaplumes, which inject
massive heat and chemical inputs into the ocean as a consequence of
deep-sea volcanic eruptions. Megaplumes persist in the ocean for
months, maybe years, and have important ocean environmental
consequences because of their heat and chemical content. Now, it is
suspected they play an important role in macro- and micro-biological
ecosystems.
The VENTS Program obtained access to the U.S. Navy's Sound
Surveillance System hydrophore network and has designed and implemented
the world's only real-time, Pacific-wide acoustic monitoring
capability. This capability enables VENTS to detect and locate deep
volcanic eruptions and thus makes it possible for these events to be
studied while they are active. While these are the most common volcanic
eruptions on Earth, it was not until 1993 when VENTS detected an
eruption taking place off the coast of Oregon, along the Juan de Fuca
Ridge, that a deep-sea eruption was studied while it was active. These
eruptions have profound impacts on the ocean's thermal, chemical, and
biological environments.
VENTS scientists are pioneering the study of the sub seafloor
microbial biosphere through seafloor and water column sampling
projects. These projects, including sampling of the plumes arising from
active deep volcanic eruptions, have shown that eruptions are literally
windows into the biosphere. Within the last five years, VENTS
scientists have discovered that the most unusual of the bacteria which
live in extremely hot sub seafloor environments are very common in
eruption megaplumes. The monitoring and sampling technologies designed
by VENTS have made it possible to recover microbial species with
profound potential in industrial, environmental, biotechnical and
pharmaceutical applications. For example, an enzyme found only in deep
hydrothermal vents is revolutionizing our ability to replicate DNA
using the polymerase chain reaction technique. This technique can be
used to identify, with a very high probability, disease-causing viruses
and/or bacteria, or the DNA of a particular individual.
AREAS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL STUDY
The historic success in forecasting the 1997-98 ENSO event placed
an immediate demand on NOAA to improve tropical forecasting and expand
our understanding of extra-tropical variability. Conditions in the
Pacific in the 1980s were significantly different from those in the
1990s due to decadal-scale shifts in the ENSO cycle. Understanding of
other variability modes in the Pacific such as the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation and the American Monsoon is a priority for NOAA's climate
research program. We must build a sustained observing system in the
North Pacific to monitor this region of significant impact on the U.S.
A focused extension of observations into the eastern Indian Ocean
is also needed. Many scientists think that westerly wind bursts from
the Indian Ocean may somehow trigger the onset of El Nino. There is
considerable evidence that the sea surface temperature variability
there influences the Asian/Australian Monsoons, thus affecting their
predictability and hence the predictability of El Nino. In 1998, the
Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC), one of our
principal partners in Indo-Pacific observations, began deployment of
their TRITON moorings in the western Pacific as the first step in
extending the ENSO Observing System westward. As a complement to
JAMSTEC's TRITON moorings, NOAA must work with Japan and other Austral/
Asian nations to deploy other network platforms to investigate sea
surface patterns in this critical monsoon area. The expansion of these
types of monitoring platforms is an important component of the
initiative ``Monitoring Climate and Global Warming'' issued in
Monterey.
As mentioned above, climate models suggest that the atmosphere and
the Atlantic Ocean may be coupled to create a climate influence of
great importance to the United States, particularly the easterner U.S.
The so-called North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Tropical
Atlantic Variability (TAV) unquestionably affect our climate, but we do
not understand how. The first step in understanding these Atlantic
regimes is to establish an observing system, similar to the one we have
in the Pacific. Over the next two years, data from the Atlantic pilot
array will be analyzed to assess long-term observational requirements
for the Atlantic.
Assessment and definition of long-term ocean observing strategies
is a major task for NOAA and its partners, so that only the best, most
cost-effective systems are deployed. Research projects such as CLIVAR
and operationally oriented efforts such as GODAE include efforts to
develop effective observing strategies. NOAA will be a major
participant in these efforts.
Results from the existing undersea research efforts have
demonstrated that there are new discoveries with potentially large
economic payoff waiting for us beneath the oceans. NOAA intends to
increase its efforts in the existing shallow water observatories
(Aquarius and LEO) and to participate in the development of two new
deep water observatories. Efforts on the Juan de Fuca Ridge and in the
Gulf of Mexico will allow intensive study of newly discovered species
and estimation of their potential economic value, provide more
quantitative data on the impacts of seeps and vents on ocean chemistry
and heat balance, and learn of other ocean processes or resources.
VENTS and NURP will work with NSF and others to implement an
observatory on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The two NOAA programs will
provide the sustained observation effort and dedicated logistics
support that will serve as a framework for process research by
scientists supported by NSF.
Over the years, NSF and NOAA have had a complementary partnership
under which the NSF RIDGE Program has emphasized sub seafloor science,
while the VENTS Program has emphasized the area from the seafloor to
the ocean surface. Both programs have an interest in the exciting
biological discoveries in the venting areas, and are working in close
coordination. The NOAA role in the observatory on the Juan de Fuca
Ridge will require about 60 days-at-sea of major ship support each year
from either NOAA or UNOLS vessels, as well as access to manned and
unmanned submersibles from UNOLS, Canada, and elsewhere.
During the height of the 1997/1998 El Nino, NOAA undertook a
special study to determine the impacts of El Nino on the west coast of
the United States, with emphasis on coastal weather and marine ecology.
This study clearly demonstrated the strong link between climate
variability and weather events. Over the next several months, NOAA will
evaluate how increased or redirected ocean and atmospheric observations
might improve the predictability of climate variations at regional
scales and related weather events.
Finally, our 12 National Marine Sanctuaries remain largely
unexplored. In Monterey, the President announced efforts to support the
recently announced five-year research expedition within the Sanctuaries
that will be led by Dr. Sylvia Earle, the explorer in residence to the
National Geographic Society. Dr. Earle's ``Sustainable Seas
Expeditions'' will assist in developing a more comprehensive inventory
of the biodiversity within our National Marine Sanctuaries. These
efforts will improve science-based recommendations for stronger
protections, such as the ``no-take'' zones in the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary.
PARTNERSHIPS FOR OCEAN OBSERVATION
NOAA employs many different types of tools and technologies to
undertake ocean observations. A mix of observation platforms (ships,
submersibles, moored and drifting buoys, tide gauges, etc.) perform in
situ measurement, sampling, and/or sensing, while several satellite-
and land-based remote sensing systems provide broad-scale surface
measurements. The capital and operational costs of collecting ocean
observations are very high and NOAA is not able to fully underwrite
these costs alone. Thus we are working in cooperation with other
nations and collaboratively with other agencies on oceanographic
research and in situ and satellite observations. Further, we are
working with UNOLS to optimize the use of research ship resources.
Likewise, it was through a partnership among academia, private industry
and a non-profit foundation, that Aquarius, the world's only underwater
laboratory, was refurbished and put back into operation as Aquarius
2000.
These extensive partnerships are essential tools for ocean
observation, and represent significant enabling capabilities. The two
principal types of partnerships we undertake are; (1) those with
academic institutions and, (2) those with other Federal agencies. NOAA
is very proud of its institutional partnerships with academia,
represented by the numerous state Sea Grant programs, the Undersea
Research Centers, and the Joint and Cooperative Institutes. Together,
these programs conduct at least $80 million of research annually in
support of NOAA's missions. Additional tens of millions of dollars flow
to academic scientists through other funding pathways. NOAA's
Environmental Research Laboratories are Associate Members of the
Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), providing
an additional communications channel to academic institutions.
Partnerships with private industry, particularly those that involve
fishers in data collection, are also important. For example, NOAA's
Northwest Fisheries Science Center is developing an Electronic Logbook
with Innovative Technology Funds. This prototype project, which is
carried out in response to an industry request, will give NOAA the
opportunity to mount private-vendor conductivity-temperature-depth
meters on as many as 200 West Coast trawl vessels, to supplement data
gathered by research surveys on NOAA vessels.
NOAA has joined with other Federal agencies to undertake projects
like the South Florida Restoration Program, and has taken the lead on
studies in Florida Bay, where NOAA's oceanographic and ecological
research capabilities are critical to the project's success. NOAA is
very active in the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).
We support the purpose of NOPP, as stated by the Congress, and are very
appreciative of the leadership role played by the Secretary of the Navy
and the Office of Naval Research. The NOPP Program Office at CORE is
providing excellent support to the NOPP Interagency Working Group.
During the first two years of NOPP, NOAA scientists partnered with
various agency, academic, and private sector colleagues to establish
systems to make ocean observations, including a pilot North Pacific
mooring, development of chemical and big-optical sensors, dual use of
the Navy's Over the Horizon Radar, and a coastal forecasting system in
the Chesapeake Bay. NOAA and partner agencies utilized the NOPP process
this fiscal year to undertake a research program on the Ecology of
Harmful Algal Blooms, and NOAA's request for FY 1999 provides funds for
NOAA to utilize the capabilities provided by NOPP to investigate the
seasonal hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. NOAA will seek
additional opportunities for involvement in NOPP as circumstances
permit.
NOAA supports the concept of global-scale observing systems, such
as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global Climate
Observing System (GCOS). Internally, NOAA has organized an approach to
GOOS and GCOS that combines the capabilities of our research
laboratories and our joint institute partners to undertake systematic,
sustained in situ ocean observations. The overall scientific and
engineering expertise available through this joint approach will allow
NOAA to obtain the highest quality measurements at the lowest possible
cost. For full implementation, we recognize that global-scale observing
systems require international participation and financial support. At
present, scientist-to-scientist, agency-to agency, or United Nations-
based arrangements are being used for international partnerships.
Because these global observing systems will be needed over very long
periods of time, these arrangements must be made by fiscally and
technically capable governments, with binding scientific
responsibilities, and a commitment to global application and universal
benefit. Consideration of this might become a task for a new Ocean
Commission.
NEW OBSERVATIONAL TOOLS NEEDED
As discussed in detail below, additional observations of the oceans
are desperately needed. Yet I must add that another critical limiting
factor to improved climate and weather predictions is our limitation on
computing power. The climate prediction centers in the United States
must have access to faster computers and larger data storage
capabilities if we are to create higher resolution models and
incorporate new types of data into these models. It does little good to
increase observations without the simultaneous ability to assimilate
and apply these data for improved forecasts. NOAA currently is
evaluating the status of its computing infrastructure.
Understanding climate is a global issue. As the climate prediction
centers begin installing the next generation forecast models, better
data sets will be required covering the global ocean. In addition to
targeting the key regions of critical importance outlined above, global
measurement of sea surface temperature, upper ocean mass, and surface
meteorology will be essential. The international research community is
currently at work designing observational strategies for extended
climate studies. NOAA is evaluating the ENSO Observing System to make
it as efficient as possible. By the year 2000, we will be ready to move
forward with the five networks to implement the global observations
needed.
Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are
developing a plan to deploy moorings at several of the old at-sea
weather station sites, where time series data sets from the past can be
recovered and continued forward to document climate variability and
change. These ``ocean observatory'' moorings are being designed as a
complement to the drifting arrays, VOS, and satellite networks, and
are, in effect, an extension of the TAO/TRITON/PIRATA network into the
higher latitudes.
Along with the Atlantic pilot arrays, NOAA initiated a ``Better
VOS'' project in 1998 to improve the measurement capabilities of the
Volunteer Observing Ship (VOS) fleet world-wide. By the year 2000 the
automated observing instruments, being developed at WHOI and integrated
through the Small Business Innovation Research Program, will be ready
for deployment on the VOS fleet.
One of the advantages of the five-network system is its flexibility
in providing various platforms for measuring a host of climate
variables--autonomously. For global monitoring of carbon dioxide,
measurements in the ocean as well as in the atmosphere must be
maintained. The oceans are major ``sinks'' absorbing carbon dioxide,
the principal greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Presently,
ocean carbon measurement campaigns must be supported by research
vessels. NOAA scientists, in collaboration with scientists from five
other institutions, are working on a NOPP supported project to develop
autonomous carbon sampling instruments that can be placed on moorings
(and potentially other platforms) to operate independently over the
long-term at much lower cost. This project is also developing other
autonomous sensors and by the year 2000 will be ready to transition
next generation technologies to the oceanographic community for long-
term monitoring of biogeochemical and big-optical as well as physical
processes.
The two existing arrays of autonomous profiling floats in the
Atlantic and east Pacific represent the early phase of a much larger
plan under development by a team of researchers from Scripps
Institution of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to
deploy a global network of floats. Floating submerged at various depths
to provide circulation information, these 4-foot long tubes
automatically ascend to the ocean surface once every two weeks to
report ocean temperature and salinity profiles needed to calibrate
satellite observations and interpret subsurface ocean characteristics
(satellites cannot see below the ocean surface). This project is called
Argo and is an essential complement to the satellite altimetry mission,
Jason, and successor missions. The project will expand the tropical
arrays and help fill the large gaps--data voids of thousands of
kilometers--between the moored arrays and the VOS lines.
Another international project that you will undoubtedly hear much
more about over the next two years is GODAE--the Global Ocean Data
Assimilation Experiment. This project will create a means to provide
up-to-the-minute analyses of ocean conditions, the way we now have
analyses of atmospheric (weather) conditions for use by the shipping
industry, search and rescue, exploration and engineering, fisheries,
disaster preparedness and response, and all other ocean users, as well
as climate forecasters. GODAE is a huge assimilation and modeling
effort that will require the resources of many nations to accomplish.
It is being organized under the auspices of the international Ocean
Observations Panel for Climate. NOAA is committed to supporting this
effort through our ocean observations program--we will help provide the
global, real-time, in situ ocean measurements necessary for
assimilation into the global ocean models.
In order to implement a Global Ocean Observing System, maintenance
of an infrastructure for global data set management and international
implementation is as essential as maintenance of ocean platforms. It is
this infrastructure that will glue the networks together to make a
truly global ``system.'' A critical element of NOAA's observational
strategy is to work with our global partners to create the
infrastructure necessary to ensure the quality and continuity of long-
term data sets, facilitate exchange between network operators, and
produce and disseminate integrated ocean information that is of maximum
benefit to those who need it.
The ocean is generally undersampled. Even in the equatorial
Pacific, we know that we must add subsurface salinity measurement
capability to the TAO array if we are going to improve predictability
of ENSO events. We may need additional measurements of surface winds in
the western equatorial Pacific if these winds are determined to be a
critical factor in the initiation of El Nino. We recognize that the
North Pacific, North Atlantic, equatorial Atlantic and Indian Ocean
likely play key roles in short-term climate variability and without
additional measurements in these regions, extending climate predictions
to include regional- or local-scale predictions may be impossible.
Satellites provide the only true global coverage, but at present
are limited to sensing of surface features and properties only.
Application of remote sensing technologies from satellites and aircraft
are under development to observe the wind field over the ocean
(scatterometers, lidars), and it is likely that such measurements will
be key for improving ENSO predictability. These remote sensing
technologies, coupled with networks of in situ measurements from buoys
and ships, offer the best opportunity to correct ocean under sampling
on a global scale.
More efficient management of our Nation's living marine resources
would result from better information about the current status of the
various biological components of the marine environment and of the
relationships between them. In part, this information must be based on
independent surveys using multiple techniques. Some of these
techniques, like direct trawls for detailed sampling of a small portion
of a habitat, are well developed. Others, like side-scan sonar and
airborne lidar, are capable of covering much larger areas, but
questions of data processing and instrument calibration remain to be
answered. NOAA is working with various other countries and states to
answer these questions and develop more accurate surveys.
OBSERVATION OF LIVING OCEAN RESOURCES
A major challenge in providing the required fisheries stock
assessment information needed to manage fisheries is that NOAA's fleet
of eight fisheries research vessels (FRVs) have reached or exceeded
their expected service lives. On average, they are over 34 years old.
For several years, options have been studied to replace the
capabilities of these vessels. The options have been analyzed by an
interdisciplinary team of scientists, acquisition specialists, design
engineers and consultants from NOAA, other Federal agencies and the
private sector. Admiral Craig Dorman recently reviewed NOAA's plan and
generally concluded that the ship design will provide a world class
fisheries research vessel, yet is not over specified. The report
supports construction of four dedicated FRVs. These ships, supplemented
with chartered vessels, represent a good start in maintaining the
capabilities to meet our growing stewardship responsibilities.
NOAA Fisheries has reviewed Admiral Dorman's draft report dated 27
April, 1998. The following responds to major elements of the report.
Specification Validation
It is gratifying that both the process which was used to develop
ship requirements and the requirements themselves withstood the test of
external review. They represent the culmination of a multi-disciplinary
collaboration of several government entities and private industry,
which spanned nearly a decade. RADM Dorman stated:
``. . . the FRVs as defined by the requirements statement will
be outstanding vessels that should serve NMFS and the nation
extremely well as the core of a dedicated fisheries fleet for
their full projected lifetime . . . they are not over
specified.'' (pp. 7-8).
He also strongly supports purpose-built ships which agrees with the
NOAA approach for meeting its at-sea data requirements; constructing a
core fleet of purpose-built, fisheries research vessels, and
supplementing it with charters from the private sector and UNOLS.
ICES Noise Standard
Discussed at length was the requirement to meet the ICES noise
standard, and ultimately, the report supported both designing the ship
to meet the standard and including a centerboard to which acoustic
instrumentation could be affixed. These measures will improve the
efficiency of hydroacoustics, allow the fleet to accommodate
technological advancements, and will minimize survey bias due to
behavioral responses to ship noise.
Technology
The report also advocates that NOAA and other sponsors develop a
national plan for research dedicated to advancing the state of
technology used in fisheries oceanography, and stock assessment,
particularly with respect to marine mammals and endangered species.
NOAA agrees that a directed, collaborative effort of Federal, and state
government, academic and private industry research bodies to focus on
tools to better understand and manage the Nation's living marine
resources would push the pace of technological advancements. NOAA
concurs that a commitment by NOAA, the Department of Commerce, and OMB
to request the resources from Congress to implement a national plan
aimed at this goal is essential to its success. RADM Dorman, however,
agrees that these technologies will not replace the need for dedicated
fisheries research vessels, but will be an important tool to improve
the quality of resource information and will help in areas where no
other technique is more cost effective. These state-of-the-art research
vessels give fisheries managers the highly specialized tools they need
to make better decisions based on sound science.
In Monterey, the President proposed an additional $194 million over
three years to begin construction of these new research vessels and
speed implementation of measures to reduce overfishing, protect
essential fish habitat, and to restore America's fisheries.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, that concludes my
testimony. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
______
Statement of Dr. Rita Colwell, Director Designate, National Science
Foundation
Chairman Saxton and members of the Committee, I appreciate
the opportunity to testify today on the important topic of
ocean monitoring and assessment. This is my first hearing as
Director of the National Science Foundation, and I look forward
to many more opportunities to keep Congress apprised of the
important research and educational activities that we support.
I am pleased to report to you that the National Science
Foundation plays a substantial and critical role in the design
and development of the Nation's oceanographic monitoring and
assessment capabilities. We can identify a number of areas
within which significant progress has been made in recent
years, and in the few minutes available I will summarize for
you some important successes.
The contribution that NSF-supported researchers make to
ocean monitoring is fundamental. Effective and efficient
oceanographic observation systems cannot be designed without
knowledge of the active processes that they are intended to
monitor. One exciting theme emerging from the past decade of
ocean sciences research is the degree of complexity and
variability of the oceans physical, chemical and biological
processes, frequently on spatial scales of as little as half a
mile. It is clearly impossible to monitor anything other than
the surface of the global ocean (or even coastal waters) with
such minute spatial resolution. Therefore, it is essential to
understand the underlying processes sufficiently well so a
small number of key observations can be identified that
reliably tell us how the system changes overtime. Only with an
understanding of the process can we make good decisions about
what measurements will best characterize changes in the ocean,
and, most importantly, how many measurements are required, and
where they should be located.
The NSF-funded Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA)
program focused on the physical processes occurring in the
tropical ocean and atmosphere. The result was a recognition of
the forces underlying the El Nino phenomenon, which in turn led
to the design and deployment of the existing El Nino-Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) observing system. The classic example is the
array of buoys maintained by NOAA in the equatorial Pacific.
This array is proving to be a powerful predictor of El Nino
events. A small number of buoys, only 70 in total, in
conjunction with satellite remote sensing methods is sufficient
to monitor a vast area of the tropical Pacific Ocean. This
capability was made possible by the basic research carried out
by NSF-supported investigators cooperating with NOAA, NASA and
international scientists in the early 1980's on the Tropical
Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program.
In addition to complexity and variability characteristics
of the oceans, important is designing a monitoring strategy to
recognize the intimate links that exist between the chemical,
physical and biological changes that we are witnessing. Today
we know that it is impossible to understand the dramatic
fluctuations in fish populations on the Georges Bank, for
example, without understanding subsurface current systems that
control dispersal of fish larvae. We cannot understand the
development and distribution of plankton in the ocean (a
primary food source) without understanding the chemistry of the
ocean. The ``blooms'' of plankton in the ocean depend on
availability of nutrients, including micronutrients such as
inorganic elements and vitamins.
Clearly, monitoring the ocean must be a multidisciplinary
activity because the of the interconnected physical, chemical
and biological processes that control the health of the oceans.
Support of those activities require inter-agency cooperation
and partnerships.
One helpful way of categorizing the measurements that need
to be made to monitor the oceans is to consider the following
three overlapping classes:
First, we need sustained time-series monitoring that
provides data useful perhaps decades from now to detect subtle
changes in the chemical, biological and physical
characteristics of our oceans. These measurements provide the
early-warning of changes in our earth system.
Second, we need selected long-term observations that
allow us to predict changes in our oceans and weather systems
and thereby alleviate negative impacts--unquestionably this
year's El Nino activity is a clear example of this. The real
time experiments and the predictive capacity they provided gave
us some extraordinary new insights on climate and health.
Lastly we need measurements, observations and
experiments to help us understand the dynamic processes--
physical, chemical and biological--that are responsible for the
changes, that are the root cause of all the changes that
occur--the understanding of which is essential to any
capability for skilled prediction. It is the interactions of
these processes that provide the elegant complexity that
sustains both human and environmental health.
There is an intriguing shift that is slowly occurring in the
emphasis of oceanographic research. Two decades ago the most exciting
and unexpected discoveries occurred because researchers traveled to new
locations in the oceans--this is the traditional mode of ``exploring.''
However, today many of the biggest surprises are coming from
measurements made at the same location but over long periods of time.
It is the dynamics of the earth that is opening up many of the most
intriguing secrets. Today oceanographers are becoming more explorers in
time, as well as explorers in space, an important phenomenon of the
science in this area of study.
It is in the process-oriented category of monitoring and
observation that NSF is vitally active, and I am pleased to report that
we are involved in a remarkably diverse and exciting set of projects. I
have sufficient time here to describe only a few representative
examples.
The ocean moderates how rapidly the carbon dioxide
content of the atmosphere is increasing. We are just finishing
the fourth regional experiment of the Joint Global Ocean Flux
Study (JGOFS) to trace the ganic and inorganic pathways of
carbon through the ocean. The goal is to learn how carbon
dioxide cycles through the Earth system. The Southern Ocean
experiment followed those in the North Atlantic, the Equatorial
Pacific and Arabian Sea. The processes of these unique regions
will be combined into a global model that will allow us to
better predict, for example, future climate change.
This past winter, a team of researchers has lived on
an icebreaker that is frozen into the pack ice in the Arctic
Ocean, drifting with the ice floes as a floating science
station. The project is part of a set of activities, taking
place under the U.S. Global Change Research program, known as
SHEBA (Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean), which pulls
together data and information on how the sun, clouds, air, ice,
and ocean interact and affect the annual melting and refreezing
of the Arctic ice cap. This has long been a major uncertainty
in climate models, and the SHEBA project has already helped to
improve our understanding of climate change.
Although the unique biological communities associated
with ocean floor hydrothermal sites have been known for more
than two decades, new organisms are still being discovered and
the evolution-with-time of these sites is being explored--they
are severely affected by volcanic eruptions on the ocean floor
but re-establish themselves with remarkable rapidity. NSF-
funded repeat visits by both manned submersibles and remotely
operated vehicles to ocean depths of 12,000 feet and more are
providing these remarkable observations.
We recognize the need for long term continuous
observations on the ocean floor (not just repeat visits once
every few months), and it is indeed a challenge to devise
approaches to this that are reliable, flexible and affordable.
We are heavily involved in three particularly exciting pilot
projects: two that use fiber optic cables (a volcano
observatory off the island of Hawaii, and a coastal monitoring
site off New Jersey) and a third located in mid-Pacific between
Hawaii and California that will use an abandoned ocean floor
telephone cable thousands of miles long to provide real-time
access to an earthquake monitoring station and other sensors.
This scientific research can help us learn how to monitor changes
on the ocean floor, and satellite remote sensing is a uniquely powerful
approach to global observations of the sea surface. But how can we keep
track of what is going on in the miles of ocean that exists in between?
This is a realm in which we have seen some of the most remarkable
innovation over the past five years fueled primarily by the needs of
the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE).
As I present this to you this morning there are approximately 500
robotic vehicles distributed over the thousands of square miles of the
north Atlantic oceans, drifting along with the ocean currents over half
a mile beneath the surface. Approximately every two weeks each of these
small instruments rises to the surface collecting data (temperature and
salinity) as it moves to the sea surface, and then via satellite,
telemeters these data as well as its position to investigators on
shore. After being on the surface for about a day, they sink back down
to their profiling depth of about half a mile and then repeat the cycle
month after month after month. These robot floats, called PALACE
(Profiling Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorer) floats, are for
the first time providing physical oceanographers with a real time
synoptic view of ocean dynamics.
Technological innovation is changing the way we do oceanography--
permanent seafloor observatories, new optical and acoustic imaging
methods, long-term moorings, deep-diving manned submersibles, satellite
communications, robotic vehicles--all are mechanisms for discovery that
NSF supports as part of the revolution in the way we observe our
planet's oceans.
We are in a time of rich opportunity for research in oceanography.
As new observation systems are implemented we will learn ever more
about the changes that are occurring on our planet on time scales of
days, years decades and centuries. Hurricanes, droughts, floods,
destruction of coral reefs, coastal erosion, climate change, El Ninos,
fisheries, human health--all are phenomena that are affected by, and in
some cases, controlled by the oceans.
U.S. investigators in our nation's universities and oceanographic
institutions are the world leaders. We do not lack for talent, or ideas
or plans. If NSF can provide its community of researchers with adequate
resources, as requested by the President in his 1999 budget, then a
spectacular future of continuing new discovery and understanding is
assured, that will build the intellectual foundation, and provide the
knowledge of the ongoing processes, that is essential to the design of
an effective ocean monitoring system.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to share with
you and the members of your Committee the exciting research being
supported by NSF. I would be pleased to respond to any questions that
you might have.
______
Statement of Rear Admiral Paul G. Gaffney. II, U.S. Navy
Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Subcommittee,
thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to discuss
ocean exploration, monitoring and assessment.
This year--the International Year of the Ocean--has
heightened public interest in our planet's most important
features--the oceans. It has also elevated ocean science,
research and education much higher on the national agenda, as
was demonstrated by the prestigious participation at the
National Ocean Conference held last month at the Naval
Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Enormous momentum
was created by the Administration, Congress, academia and
industry at that meeting; perhaps we can use the remainder of
this year to raise and meet national oceanographic goals that
have been neglected of late.
The Department of the Navy has long considered the study
and exploration of the oceans to be a required competency--we
must do it. We do it, not because we love it, or because it's
interesting, or because we are chartered to do it--we do it
because it is the foundation that provides the information
required for every Naval operation. In fact, the root
discriminator that separates Naval Forces from Army and Air
Forces is the maritime environment in which the Navy and Marine
Corps must work. That point is punctuated when you consider we
are a Naval Force which is continually and agilely deployed
globally; and, that is why the Navy must take a leading role in
national oceanographic matters. (Admiral Boorda and I testified
before this Committee and others in 1996 on this point.)
Over the last 50 years, we have invested billions of
dollars in research, global ocean survey, data archives and
predictive capabilities. Take for example these ocean
monitoring tools and platforms that came out of our naval
science and technology investment:
--SWATH Bathymetric Sonar
--Laser Line Scan Optical Sensor
--Global Positioning Satellite (location)
--PALACE Float (profiling capability)
--Current meters (conventional and acoustic doppler)
--Bioluminescence sensors, and
--Moorings . . . just to name a few.
We made the investment in these capabilities because we must be
experts about our working environment. We must know ocean processes so
we can understand how energy is transferred throughout the marine
environment--a Naval need with an incredible civilian spin-off.
Despite our past efforts, and those of others, it is surprising to
learn that only about five to seven percent of the ocean floor has been
mapped to anywhere near the resolution that 100 percent of the moon has
been mapped.
Why is that? Somehow it seems unlikely that it's more important or
less expensive to map the moon. I, too, get excited about space
exploration, but I get really excited about exploring and understanding
our oceans for many of the same reasons. Future capabilities that will
help us in our ocean quest include affordable arrays of drifting buoys
that can profile the water column and report home their observations.
These exist in quantities of hundreds measuring some variables; we need
thousands measuring all important variables. Coastal systems that can
profile the water column while moored to the bottom are also needed.
As a science and technology funding agency--the first in America--
the Office of Naval Research develops many new technologies for ocean
exploration and understanding. The major tools used today are based on
a legacy of shipboard sampling, but the future belongs to autonomous
systems that complement the shipboard survey we will continue to need
for decades. These new systems can be either moored, or drifting, or
independently moving small, unmanned systems. ONR is currently working
on networks of inexpensive autonomous underwater vehicles. Also on the
horizon are new remote sensing instruments such as the Naval EarthMap
Observer satellite, or NEMO, which will provide hyperspectral images
when it is launched in 2002. It is a DOD/Navy/Industry partnership.
NEMO, like so many other programs, reiterates the fact that no one
group or agency can support all of the costs for oceanographic
research, ship operations, surveying and modeling that need to be done
on a global scale. The Department of the Navy depends on partnerships
with other Federal agencies--NSF, NOAA, NASA, DOE, DOI--as well as
academia and industry to develop new capabilities and leverage our
decreasing budget dollars.
Another key opportunity for partnering is offered through the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP). Now in its third
year, this program was initiated, and is fully supported by Congress.
The Secretary of the Navy provided Department money and took the lead
in getting the program started. Other agencies are now joining in with
funding and strong participation. It is a terrific partnership with
real give-and-take, great understanding, new leveraging, and program
focus. Because the several agencies that are working together can
actually create critical mass to address the neglected ocean, the NOPP
is the right body to address a national ocean exploration, observation,
and assessment agenda.
I believe that the Nation should discuss the need for 100 percent
survey and understanding of the world's oceans during the next
millennium. This, of course, can only be accomplished if all cognizant
agencies cooperate and participate. For example, we might consider
starting such a survey, and beginning the millennium, with a single
exploration and mapping effort--100 percent coverage of one important
area. According to NOAA, thirty-six U.S. states and territories have a
total of more than 95,000 miles of coastline, so there are many
suitable places to begin a major effort. As I will discuss later, the
NOPP presents a forum for discussion of a suitable and plausible
project. We owe it to ourselves and our descendants to know at least as
much about our oceans as we know about the moon . . . or other planets.
I've been calling this notion ``GISMOE'' for the Great Intra-
American Seas Millennium Ocean Expedition . . . it could also be called
``GABE''--Great American Bays/Bights Expedition. Perhaps I should leave
the acronyms to others, but what is important is that we start the
process, and there are two reasons I think this is worthwhile:
1. The crosscutting theme of the recently released Ocean
Studies Board report ``Opportunities in Ocean Sciences:
Challenges on the Horizon,'' is that we need to observe our the
water planet. The report concludes that ocean sciences are at a
critical point--a point where, given a commitment,
``substantial progress can be made on a number of societally
important issues.'' Such an effort needs to be a national
imperative and involve the resources of many Federal and State
agencies. So starting to understand the global ocean at one
coastline makes sense, certainly for the civil agencies, but
also because a global Navy needs to understand the very complex
littoral environment processes. Understanding those processes
in our own ``Exclusive Economic Zone'' and littorals is more
affordable and can serve as a surrogate for similar littoral
areas in remote parts of the world where we may not have
access.
2. There is a great unity in the ocean community for continued
and comprehensive observation for a myriad of reasons. I agree
with that; a proper start is to determine a full and complete
baseline. A survey of a body or basin of water, its water
column, bathymetry and bottom composition is ``Step One.'' Then
continual monitoring of that area over time long time is next.
That's what we do with weather today and what we should be
doing with the oceans.
These are some thoughts from a Navy oceanographer and Chief of
Naval Research. I recognize they are hollow unless embraced by ``100
percent partners''--full participation of all cognizant agencies. In
that regard, this issue of global ocean monitoring, and where and how
to start is appropriate for discussion within the NOPP's Leadership
Council and Advisory Panel. I intend to propose such dialogue be
initiated so that we join the next millennium with an acceptable plan.
We are doing our part by funding many projects to understand ocean
dynamics, including investigating new approaches to mapping and
understanding ocean bottoms and littoral areas.
It will take decades to understand the submerged planet as well as
we understand the moon, but we need to begin somewhere. Your support
for our requested program is important.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I would be happy to
respond to any questions you might have.
______
Statement of Charles F. Kennel, Director, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for
inviting me to testify today on the status of ocean monitoring
and assessment. I am Dr. Charlie Kennel, Director of U.C. San
Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).
Overview Of Scripps Institution Of Oceanography
From our campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (SIO) continues a 95-year tradition
of scientific leadership. SIO is one of the world's oldest,
largest, and most important centers for marine science
research, graduate training and public service. Part of the
University of California at San Diego, SIO's preeminence in
biological, physical, chemical, climatological, geological, and
geophysical studies reflects its continuing commitment to
excellence in research, modern facilities, distinguished
faculty, outstanding students, and public service.
Acknowledging our rich tradition, the National Research Council
recently ranked SIO first in faculty quality among oceanography
programs nationwide.
With annual expenditures of more than $100 million and a
staff of 1,200 scientists, technicians and support personnel,
including nearly 200 graduate students, SIO is involved in more
than 300 major research programs.
SIO also maintains one of the largest and most capable
fleets of academic research vessels in the country with 4 sea-
going vessels and one research platform. SIO has operated large
and small world-ranging ocean science research ships
continuously since 1908. Ships were among the first
technologies used by scientists to make ocean observations. In
a 1953 proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation, a Scripps
scientist stated: ``The long arm of the oceanographer is his
ships and his groping fingers, the cable. Without ships to test
and to explore, the hypotheses and laboratory discoveries of
the marine researcher become dry and insubstantial and the
researcher blind and isolated.''
Scientists depend on ships to make many critical ocean
observations (see Appendix 1). New technology has expanded the
spatial and temporal sampling capability of ships. Devices such
as drifting and moored buoys, sea floor observatories,
subsurface profiling floats, satellites, acoustic instruments,
remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles,
enable scientists to make continuous observations of time
dependent, large-scale phenomena (e.g. El Ninos), abrupt events
(e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis), and provide the essential,
complementary ingredients of an effective global observing
strategy.
At Scripps, we believe an integrated approach to
observations--which includes climate, weather, global change,
natural hazards, and solid earth phenomena such as undersea
volcanoes and earthquakes--is fundamental to sound science.
This approach enhances the productivity of our research
infrastructure while generating coherent data sets required in
interdisciplinary ocean studies. Although continuing technology
development is critical, we already have at our disposal the
basic elements of an integrated global observing strategy.
The Value of Integrated Observations
Predicting changes in the ocean is critical for the
accurate forecast of the global climate on time scales of
months to years. Variations in the ocean structure and
circulation patterns dramatically affect heat and moisture
input to the atmosphere. The oceans also play a key role in
regulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Ocean
observations are required to capture events, initialize
numerical models for climate and weather prediction, calibrate
remote sensing observations of the ocean, and provide real-time
data for marine commerce, ecosystem monitoring, and fisheries.
In short, any global climate prediction system depends on an
integrated global observing strategy for the ocean.
An integrated observing strategy is important to how we
monitor and manage local as well as global climate events. The
devastation caused by this year's El Nino demonstrates the
significant social and economic value of new capabilities to
forecast climate conditions up to a year in advance. Economic
studies suggest that enhanced climate prediction capabilities,
if used appropriately, could reduce extreme seasonal climate
damage costs in the U.S. by 25 percent or $2.7 billion annually
in the agricultural sector alone. Water, energy, and
transportation managers, as well as farmers, could plan and
avoid or mitigate losses with more accurate and timely
predictions. The agricultural futures market would also become
more efficient.
In an effort to reach out to vulnerable communities,
Scripps, the California Department of Boating and Waterways,
and the California Coastal Commission hosted a workshop in La
Jolla August 19, 1997, to describe and discuss possible coastal
impacts of severe storms associated with El Nino. As a follow
up to that meeting, Scripps researchers worked closely with
potentially affected cities throughout the region. We
encouraged them to prepare risk assessments and a list of
possible mitigation measures. That information provided
decisionmakers with science based, cost/benefit analyses to
determine the appropriate level of mitigation. In this way, an
integrated observing strategy, informed by public and private
sector needs, transformed scientific data into knowledge that
saved lives and property.
The media coverage of the 1997-98 El Nino led to a public
understanding that events in the middle of the tropical Pacific
ocean have a profound impact on day-to-day lives. Scientist
have long appreciated the need to understand and observe the
ocean, now the public does as well. We believe that this public
understanding can be transformed into support for the
implementation of a global ocean observing strategy.
Elements of a Strategy
Prediction of the 1997-98 El Nino was made possible by the
El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) observing system, the
Topex-Poseidon satellite radar altimeter, and improvements in
coupled ocean-atmospheric models. The remarkable performance of
these research tools offers a glimpse of what a more
comprehensive, integrated observing system and continued
improvements in coupled ocean-atmospheric models will provide.
These advances will improve prediction of short-term climate
events, such as El Ninos and La Ninas (the opposite phase of
the El Nino oscillation), elucidate the impacts of such events
on regional weather and ocean biology, and are necessary before
we can deepen understanding of long-term climate events like
Pacific Decadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and
Tropical Atlantic Variability. Only by understanding these
natural events will scientists be able to distinguish ``global
warming'' from natural climate variability.
Responding to policymakers' needs for definitive assessment
of global warming and the range of its possible regional
impacts requires a global observing strategy. I believe such a
strategy must contain at least five elements. First and
foremost, it requires integrating ``in situ'' with space-based
systems. No one technology is adequate to provide the answers
needed, as each technology has its benefits and drawbacks (see
Appendix 2). Space observation provides global coverage. ``In
situ'' observations provide ``sea truth'' by making
measurements in the water, of the water, and under the water.
The key to implementing a successful observational strategies
lies in adopting a problem-driven approach where the system is
designed to meet measurement needs specific to given problems.
Both the data needs for numerical models and a clear definition
of new scientific questions will determine the appropriate
array of observational technologies to be used.
The second component of the strategy involves improving
climate models, data assimilation techniques, and computing
power. The combination of these tools will enable us to
reconcile disparate observations and fill gaps where data are
not available. In addition, these models make possible
predictions ranging from global scale to highly localized
phenomena. Scripps scientists are currently developing a system
of ``nested'' models that will transform predictions of
seasonal climate events into rainfall predictions for
individual California watersheds. This climate initiative
builds on established practices of weather services which
assimilate vast arrays of disparate data into complex models
for forecasting.
Third, despite the array of technologies currently
available, new instruments are needed. Therefore, a technology
development program that is science-based, through the active
engagement of the university community (see Appendix 3), must
be formally integrated into Federal agency research programs.
Technology development should focus on increasing capabilities
and lowering costs strategically to enable the deployment of a
global system. One advance of particular value would be the
development of an underwater Global Positioning System (GPS).
Underwater GPS would be a tremendous advance for underwater
gliders and other observational technologies, and enable
profiling floats to begin to measure ocean velocity. Another
area of focus should be on the many chemical and biological
properties of the ocean which cannot yet be measured by any
remote or unmanned technology with the necessary precision or
on the same scales as can physical and geophysical properties.
The fourth component of this strategy ensures the
continuity of physical, chemical and biological measurements.
By this I mean supporting long-term time series observations
and data validation. These measures are especially important
when scientists make predictions about long-term phenomena like
Pacific Decadal Oscillation and global warming. As we deploy
``better, faster, and cheaper'' observational tools, such as
new satellites and ocean observatories, we must take care to
maintain established records and data in standard formats and
on modern media, and implement a program to calibrate and
validate new data sets. Furthermore, even areas where
technology development is still necessary, climatically
important measurements of chemical and biological properties by
conventional means must be sustained until they can be
enhanced. For example, efforts to study changes in ocean
chemistry and biology must continue, especially as they bear on
the prediction of the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide on
climate change, questions of profound importance to predicting
global warming.
The fifth element of a global observing strategy involves
cooperation and coordination of research activities. Federal
agencies must work to integrate existing programs, leverage
scarce resources, and promote new initiatives. I am pleased to
see the Navy, NOAA and NSF here today. Coordination and
commitment of these agencies, along with NASA and DOE, is
critical to the success of this strategy.
Increased cooperation and collaboration is also required
among universities, Federal agencies, other countries and the
private sector. As we move from exploratory research to routine
monitoring for many global-scale problems, we will enter into
new partnerships, and use non-traditional institutional
arrangements. Scripps is at the forefront of creating such
partnerships across institutional and national boundaries. In
1999, SIO will lead an international experiment in the Indian
ocean (INDOEX) to study the impact of aerosols on regional and
global climate, a major global change issue. INDOEX, involves
ships, aircraft, surface stations and satellites, from several
nations, including U.S.A., Germany, France, England, India,
Netherlands and others.
International cooperation is also moving forward on a
broader scale. International space agencies, through the
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), are working
with other partners to develop an Integrated Global Observing
Strategy (IGOS). IGOS is a process to help ensure that
resources are addressing the highest priority observational
needs, while taking into account the missions and plans of
space agencies, and the up-to-date requirements of major
international user programs. This involves assessing gaps and
unnecessary overlaps in observing systems, as well as cross-
cutting issues such as data calibration, validation,
management, and policy. Initial IGOS focus has been on the
space component. Now is the time to provide the ``in situ''
strategy to complement the progress made by CEOS.
Specific Recommendations
Given our present observational capabilities and the
demonstrated value of ocean observations in seasonal climate
prediction, fisheries, commerce, coastal and military
applications, it is imperative that we advance an integrated
global observational strategy. This is the only way to provide
the data needed by scientists to make believable and useful
predictions about natural and anthropogenic climate change.
Having described the key components of the envisioned
observing strategy we must now take the necessary steps to
implement it. First, research institutions and Federal agencies
must begin the analysis necessary to determine the best
combination of ``in situ'' observing platforms. Satellite
integration has begun under the auspices of CEOS. We must
support a similar effort for ``in situ'' sensors. Federal
agencies should then support the technology development and
research needed to optimize the integration strategy.
Second, it is critical to support NOAA's efforts in climate
monitoring, particularly the President's initiative for a $12
million, global array of subsurface profiling floats. The array
will complement the contributions of climate-related
satellites. Another technology which has already demonstrated
its value in conjunction with satellite altimetry data is Ocean
Acoustic Tomography (see end of Appendix 2). Ocean Acoustic
Tomography measures temperature averages over thousands of
miles, thus permitting the detection of small climatic changes.
Deploying both types of technology and supporting research on
improving the use of integrated data will accelerate efforts to
improve seasonal-to-interannual and climate prediction, detect
global warming, and attribute these changes to natural and/or
anthropogenic causes.
NASA's GODAE (Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment)
initiative, a pilot project of the CEOS/IGOS process, should be
supported. GODAE will be the first operational demonstration of
our ability to estimate the physical state of the global ocean
and its evolution. With many potential benefits, including
improved climate prediction and understanding, GODAE will turn
powerful data assimilation techniques to merging data streams
from satellites and ``in situ'' sensors.
Finally, I encourage Federal agencies to develop modeling
and data analysis programs that provide up-to-date descriptions
of the evolving ocean. This effort should encompass physical
fields that affect weather and climate, as well as chemical and
biological processes. The National Science Foundation and the
Department of Energy are considering important initiatives in
this area. NSF is considering an ocean data assimilation and
modeling center to support climate dynamics and other branches
of ocean sciences such as biological modeling and assessment
and pollution prediction. DOE is contemplating anew to increase
dramatically the rate of climate simulation model development
and application to produce decade-to-century-scale forecasts of
climate change with regional resolution.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity to testify and
would be happy to answer any questions.
Appendix 1--Ships
Scientific observation of the ocean has always required the
use of dedicated, effective research vessels. Today, research
ships are an even more critical component of ocean observations
than has been the case in the past for a number of reasons.
First, there is simply no way that many important observations
can be made in unattended or remote fashion. Ships can manage
observations of deep ocean chemical properties needed to
diagnose the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle and to
track them in various locations, tasks unattended devices
cannot perform. Arguably the most important observing network
in today's ocean, in terms of practical impact on forecasts of
real economic and social importance, is the tropical Pacific
buoy array (ENSO) maintained by NOAA. Its reliability depends
on regular network maintenance using ships. Ships will be
needed in increasing numbers and capabilities to establish,
maintain and support the integrated global observational
strategy.
Second, as new technologies emerge, they generally must be
calibrated with existing methods to preserve the integrity of
the data. Calibration or ``sea truth'' must be both extensive
and ongoing, and it typically involves the use of ships.
Finally, global-scale measurements are increasingly amenable to
remote or unattended observation. This refines our large-scale
views of oceanic variability and focuses investigations into
the fundamental oceanic processes that shape large-scale fields
and their evolutions. One can see the beginnings of this in
programs that have carried out shipborne investigations of
upwelling regions guided by near-real time satellite imagery to
disclose patterns of upwelling activity. As the mapping and
monitoring power of unattended sensors grows, so will
opportunities for shipborne process studies which will allow
monitoring at all the scales needed to understand oceanographic
phenomena.
Appendix 2--Ocean Observing Technologies
No one technology is adequate to provide the answers needed
to understand and predict natural and anthropogenic climate
change. Each technology has its benefits and drawbacks. For
example, the forte of satellite data is the regularly
repeating, synoptic nature of the data. Its limitation is that
satellites observe only the sea surface, hence requiring
subsurface data for interpretation and understanding. Principal
satellites of interest in climate are altimeters (e.g. Jason-1,
TOPEX-Poseidon, Geosat Follow-On) for measuring sea surface
height; scatterometers (e.g. NSCAT, ERS-2) for measuring
surface winds; and AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer) for measuring sea surface temperature and microwave
rainfall measurements. Scripps is now experimenting with the
measurement of tropospheric moisture at sea using the Global
Positioning System (GPS).
``In situ'' data are required to interpret subsurface
structure corresponding to satellite surface observations. For
example, measurements of upper ocean heat content are crucial
in interpreting altimetric height. In situ measurements are
also needed to measure the deep ocean, calibrate satellite
data, and measure parameters for which there is no satellite
capability. As an indication of the number of tools which
already are available, a brief list of ``in situ sensors'' is
as follows:
surface drifters which measure surface current, sea
surface temperature (SST), barometric pressure and surface
salinity;
profiling floats which measure temperature and
salinity profiles, presently to about 15;
moorings or fixed platforms which deploy a wide
variety of instruments to measure temperature, salinity,
velocity, and meteorological parameters;
volunteer observing ships which measure temperature,
salinity to 800 meters, meteorological parameters, and
atmospheric trace gases;
acoustic thermometry which measures sound speed,
providing temperature averages along paths between source-
receiver pairs; and
research vessels, which are required to deploy and
monitor some of the above systems, conduct hydrographic surveys
(that include biological and/or geochemical measurements in
addition to temperature, salinity, velocity), and meet
specialized needs autonomous instruments cannot.
Integration of ``in situ'' and satellite data has begun to show
great promise. A joint analysis of Satellite Altimetry, Acoustic
Tomography and computer modeling found that changes in sea level as
measured by satellite altimetry are not by themselves a representative
proxy for the variable ocean heat storage (an essential climate
parameter). But when combined with the acoustic measurements they yield
a meaningful measure of the basin heat storage.
Appendix 3--History of Ocean Climate Observations and Technology
Development at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Throughout the 20th century, university researchers have advanced
the design and testing of new instruments and observing technologies.
Scripps has played a leadership role in pilot experiments for new in
situ observing technologies (ocean profiles and surface observations
from volunteer commercial ships, profiling floats, acoustic
thermometry, and surface drifting buoys) that make large-scale
observations economically feasible for some climatically important
ocean properties.
Scripps scientists were responsible for the following breakthroughs
in ocean climate monitoring and technology development:
establishing the California Current monitoring system
in 1937--the longest, continuing ocean monitoring program in
the U.S.;
inventing and establishing the Volunteer Observing
Ship Expendable Bathy Thermograph (VOS-XBT), or temperature
probes network, in the early 1970s;
inventing and deploying the global drifting buoy
network in late 1980s;
inventing and deploying the network of real-time,
profiling floats in north Atlantic and tropical Pacific;
developing the most accurate techniques for measuring
the amount of carbon in seawater;
and inventing the acoustic thermometer.
Clearly, continuing support for university collaboration with the
private sector technology development is important to sustaining
innovation in the global observational strategy.
Charles F. Kennel, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
Vice Chancellor of Marine Sciences, UCSD, Dean of the Graduate School
of Marine Sciences
Charles F. Kennel is the ninth director of Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Kennel
also serves as UCSD Vice Chancellor of Marine Sciences, Dean of the
Graduate School of Marine Sciences, and a professor in the Scripps
graduate department.
Born in Cambridge, Mass., Kennel received a bachelor's degree in
astronomy from Harvard College in 1959 and a doctoral degree in
astrophysical sciences from Princeton University in 1964. He was
appointed an associate professor of physics at UCLA in 1967 and a
professor in 1971. Kennel became UCLA's executive vice chancellor in
1996.
Kennel's research at UCLA focused on fundamental plasma physics
combined with space and astrophysics. His work centered on basic plasma
turbulence theory and collisionless shocks, the physics of the solar
wind and planetary magnetospheres, and the physics of pulsar
magnetospheres and active galactic nuclei.
From 1994-1996, Kennel served as associate administrator for NASA,
directing Mission to Planet Earth, the world's largest environmental
science program.
Kennel was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1991 and
was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science in 1992. He also is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
and the American Physical Society. He won the NASA Distinguished
Service Medal and the Aurelio Peccei Prize from the Italian Academy of
Sciences in 1996. He received the 1997 James Clerk Maxwell Prize from
the American Physical Society and the 1998 Hannes Alfven Medal of the
European Geophysical Society.
Kennel has been a Harvard National Scholar, a Woodrow Wilson
Fellow, a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, a Guggenheim
Foundation Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Brazil, a Fairchild
Professor at the California Institute of Technology, and an Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation Fellow.
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Statement of Admiral James D. Watkins, U.S. Navy (Retired), President,
Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education
Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, I would like to
thank you for calling this hearing today to discuss this very
important subject. The previous witnesses have described to you
several outstanding examples of the kinds of capabilities we
have, or will soon have, and some of our priorities to better
understand, monitor and predict the greatest natural force on
Earth. What I would like to do is provide a conceptual road map
for how we might transition from the ideas of our researchers,
working with decision makers in the Congress and the
Administration, to an actual system which integrates our
national needs and priorities.
The breadth of our national need for knowledge of the ocean
system is daunting. Research providing the foundation for
missions to advance economic development, protect quality of
life, ensure national security and improve science education is
a complex weave of multiple disciplines and specialized
technologies, addressing questions from the most basic
mechanics of the Earth system to very applied engineering
solutions. Federal responsibility for the wide scope of ocean
science is split among nine Federal research agencies, each
with specific mission parameters, but often working in unison
to address common research requirements.
We have come to an important juncture in the development of
ocean science. More than ever, our progress is limited by the
lack of important ocean observations. As the Ocean Science
Board of the National Research Council has clearly stated in
their new report ``Opportunities in Ocean Sciences: Challenges
on the Horizon,'' questions of marine resource management,
climate prediction and the role of the oceans in human health
require extensive and long-term observation of the oceans on
global, regional and local scales. Mr. Chairman, I would like
to submit a copy of that report for the record.
For example, if we are to monitor and respond to harmful
algal blooms, we must be able to ``see'' their early
indications in individual estuaries and near shore
environments. If we are to understand the dynamics of
commercial fish species, we will require in-depth knowledge of
the regional ecosystem and how it is affected by physical and
chemical variability. If we are to provide better regional
climate forecasts, we must first obtain and integrate oceanic
data on a basin and global scale. The applications are many,
and the potential payoffs are tremendous.
So, what is needed to meet our objectives?
You have heard from previous witnesses that there has been
a lot of thought given to this question and that we have a lot
of answers. The merits of a variety of independent observing
system proposals are well understood and accepted. What we do
not currently have is a definitive strategic plan to chart our
course to an integrated ocean observing system. We need to
couple an analysis of the mission responsibilities of the
various Federal agencies with our current and planned
observational capabilities to determine the best opportunities
for success. From this analysis, we can build a plan detailing
exact requirements for a comprehensive ocean observation
system. The system would then include integrated modules to
gather data and address questions on a variety of time and
space scales, assimilating and fusing information from these
various sources, much like the well established practices of
the defense intelligence community. Analysis and interpretation
would then provide the products we will rely upon for better
decision-making.
We have undertaken a similar task in the past, which is
worth commenting on. After World War II, anti-submarine warfare
was determined to be a national priority. The oceanographic
community, including Federal agencies, academia and industry,
was tasked with developing a system to detect and track Soviet
submarines, utilizing significant developments in acoustics
research and related technologies. What resulted was the
development of the Integrated Underwater Surveillance System
(IUSS), the fixed portion of which was called SOSUS, the giant
series of listening arrays in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Observations from these fixed and mobile arrays were highly
integrated or fused with multi-source observational and
intelligence data from satellites, ships, aircraft, humans, and
other sensors over a wide geographic area. This highly capable
and integrated system eventually contributed significantly to
our winning the Cold War. Notable is (1) the definition of
national need, with a full understanding of the costs and
benefits, (2) the commitment to development of a system, not
just a collection of parts, and (3) the contribution of all
sectors, each bringing their own strengths to meeting a complex
challenge. The resultant sixteen billion dollar investment was
clearly justified. In the interest of demonstrating the
effectiveness of our national will, I should also note that the
SOSUS arrays went from the blackboard in 1949 to full scale
operation in 1952 . . . only three years!
I believe we are poised to undertake a similarly important,
if not more complex, task today, but we need your assistance.
We need the Congress to demand a strategic plan for a
comprehensive ocean observing system. The Congress should
request that the National Ocean Research Leadership Council,
consisting of the leaders of each of the nine Federal ocean
research agencies, develop such a plan, defining components,
priorities and resource requirements. This plan should show how
an integrated system would optimize the Federal effort to meet
specific objectives on a specific timeline, making clear the
products and benefits expected. The plan should also address
the involvement of other maritime nations, where we have mutual
objectives and can share equitably in the investment. And this
plan should build upon the volumes of well thought-out agendas
developed by the individual agencies, National Academy of
Sciences and nations in years past. Mr. Chairman, this will
certainly require coordination of the Congress and
Administration to make the proper resources available.
From such a plan, we can finally begin to realize the many
benefits of ocean science that we just talked about today. On
the horizon, we can envision greatly enhanced coastal weather
forecasting and longer term climate forecasting, more efficient
shipping, and more informed decision-making for difficult
environmental and resource management questions, just to name a
few benefits.
The timing for such an initiative will never be better.
Because of the recent El Nino event and the oncoming La Nina,
the U.S. public sees daily the value of our current ocean
observational capabilities. But those who rely on the products
of ocean science--State governments, many industries, the
educational community to name a few--are clamoring for more
comprehensive data and more advanced products. For the last 50
years of this century, we devoted our national attention on
space, and properly so. We need to focus our attention in the
first 50 years of the next century to understanding how the
oceans can assist mankind in meeting its burgeoning challenges.
The Congress has already set in place a perfect mechanism
for implementation of this kind of initiative by creating the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program. This program
provides a platform for collaborative work by the ocean
research agencies, bringing together the best minds in
academia, industry and the Federal laboratories.
In closing, I want to thank you again for holding this
hearing. Your continued leadership, Mr. Chairman, and the
interest of this Subcommittee is sincerely appreciated by the
oceanographic research community. I hope that you will consider
my recommendations and I look forward to continuing to work
with you to ensure we are doing everything we can to make wise
use of our greatest natural resource.
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