[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 88 (Friday, May 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 26254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11146]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)


NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) Strategic 
Plan FY 2011-FY 2015

AGENCY: Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Research (OAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of publication and availability of the office of Ocean 
Exploration and Research Strategic Plan FY2011-FY2015.

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SUMMARY: NOAA'S Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is 
electronically publishing the OER Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 
2011-2015. The strategic plan is published to meet the requirement for 
program direction under Public Law 111-11, Section 12104(b). The OER 
Strategic Plan describes the vision, mission, goals, core activities, 
and organization of the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Electronic copies of the OER Strategic 
Plan and Public Law 111-11 Chapter XII are available and may be 
obtained from http://www.regulations.gov or from the OER Web site at 
http://explore.noaa.gov/OERPlan.
    If you need further information, please contact: NOAA Office of 
Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), Attn: OER Plan Questions, 1315 
East-West Highway-R/OER, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.

Executive Summary of the OER 2011-2015 Strategic Plan

    The ocean is important to humanity and is still mostly unknown. 
Current methods of studying its interior, boundaries, processes, 
resources, and changes are slow and expensive, causing management 
decisions to be made from relatively uninformed and incomplete 
knowledge. NOAA formed OER to explicitly address these issues, 
accelerate the pace of discoveries, and increase our understanding of 
the ocean.
    OER supports a continuum of ocean science that makes discoveries 
via exploration and research, and transitions the new knowledge and 
capabilities to the rest of NOAA, and the national and international 
science, technology, and ocean management communities. OER integrates 
science, education, and outreach to raise awareness and increase ocean 
science literacy.
    OER discoveries and activities help address issues such as the 
causes and consequences of natural events and human activities (e.g., 
climate change, ocean acidification), establishing the baseline in 
order to assess changes in biodiversity, marine life and other natural 
resources or habitats, understanding the dynamics of complex 
ecosystems, and improving the ability to model and predict future state 
of ocean and Great Lakes ecosystems.
    This plan is centered on four cornerstone goals: Exploration, 
research, advanced undersea technology development, and education and 
outreach. OER enables discovery through the interdisciplinary efforts 
of ocean scientists. NOAA mission-related discoveries are transitioned 
to focused research (Exploration to Research = E2R) sponsored by OER 
and by other agencies and programs with ocean-related missions. 
Subsequent research-to-application and technology-to-application 
transitions (Research to Application = R2A) are the ultimate goal of 
OER activities and will strengthen science, education, and awareness of 
the ocean role in the life and health of our planet, and will result in 
improved societal understanding and management of the ocean.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and 
Research (OER) is publishing the OER Strategic Plan Fiscal Year (FY) 
2011-2015, to meet the requirement for program direction under Public 
Law 111-11, Section 12104(b). The preparation of the Plan was also 
directed by the Appropriations Committee in the Joint Explanatory 
Statement and Senate Report (S. Rept. 110-124) accompanying the 
Consolidated Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations (Pub. L. 110-161).
    OER seeks to better understand our ocean frontiers through bold and 
innovative exploration, research and technology development. The Office 
explores, maps, observes, detects and characterizes ocean areas and 
phenomena; obtains, archives, and distributes ocean data in new ways to 
describe the ocean's marine life and features, living and non-living 
resources, and physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Data 
and observations resulting from OER investments will result in new 
discoveries, insights, knowledge and identification of new frontiers, 
and will likely lead to new or revised understandings of our largely 
unknown ocean. The OER Strategic Plan describes how NOAA will implement 
Chapter XII of Public Law 111-11 through the vision, mission, goals, 
cores and activities, and organization of the Office of Ocean 
Exploration and Research.

    Dated: May 2, 2011.
Mark E. Brown,
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer, Office of Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-11146 Filed 5-5-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KA-P