**1998 Year of the Ocean**

**OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR MARINE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND
RESEARCH**

**Contents**

1\. PREFACE I-2

2\. INTRODUCTION I-4

3\. BACKGROUND I-5

4\. A CALL TO ACTION I-8

5\. OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE YEAR OF THE OCEAN AND BEYOND I-9

6\. EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION I-14

7\. THE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM AND U.S. OCEANS POLICY I-17

8\. CONCLUSIONS I-18

9\. REFERENCES I-18

10\. LIST OF ACRONYMS I-20

This Year of the Ocean document was prepared as a background discussion
paper and does not necessarily reflect the policies of the U.S.
Government or the U.S. Government agencies that participated in its
preparation.

**PREFACE**

Last year, a farmer in South Dakota lost his crop because of
unpredictable, adverse weather. Consequently, he is very worried about
weather patterns and their potential to adversely effect his soybean
crop for the next season. Yet, he is unaware that the accuracy of
long-term weather forecasts can improve dramatically via the
implementation of models which look at how the ocean and atmosphere
interact on a seasonal basis. The ocean sciences community is on the
verge of giving this farmer a powerful set of new tools, and allowing
him to plan more effectively.

An investment firm determines that coastal resort development is a
sector for venture capital expenditure, but it needs a good risk
assessment regarding the long-term prognosis for coastal environmental
conditions. The firm seeks expertise to advise it on such issues as
natural coastal hazards, and possibly anthropogenically induced
processes including red tide blooms. The ocean sciences community knows
how to better satisfy this firm's needs.

The U.S. Navy determines that rapid deployment of forces, in support of
a policy of strong forward presence, requires improved understanding of
certain oceanographic processes, especially in specific coastal regions.
The skills required for acquiring the necessary data are held by
scientists in the academic and industrial community. The Navy needs a
way of getting these scientists to work intensively with the Naval
oceanographers for several months at the Navy facility. The ocean
sciences community can facilitate that collaboration through the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program, a promising new coordinating
mechanism that brings together scientists, educators, and research
program managers from all sectors of the federal government., the
states, academia, and industry.

Knowing how oceans can excite young people, a high school teacher in
Washington State determines that her students could understand more
about science and the interaction of physics, chemistry, biology, and
geology by studying the nature of the ocean off their coast, but she is
unsure how to get the materials and knowledge she needs to teach the
course. The ocean sciences community can help her.

These illustrative situations involving quality of life, economic
development, national security, and scientific literacy are real. Their
solutions are of considerable consequence to the people of the world.
For indeed, maintaining the food reserves, assuring economic viability
of the globe's greatest natural resources, sustaining a peaceful
international political environment, and providing exciting new
opportunities to help achieve national science and mathematical
educational objectives, are paramount goals. This report clarifies the
role of ocean sciences in all of these objectives.

Whether from the perspective of national security or quality of life,
one can argue that the advanced understanding of the ocean existent in
the United States has been central to the nation's stature as a world
leader throughout most of this century. With history as a guide, the
ocean sciences community can comfortably extrapolate that a continuing
position of leadership in understanding the ocean can facilitate a
position of continuing global leadership in a much more competitive
future world, provided that appropriate investment levels are
maintained.

**INTRODUCTION**

The history of leadership by the United States in the world community is
deeply entwined with the leadership role it has had in understanding the
factors controlling the environment. The environment is where people
live and work, and is the source from which resources come to create
human habitats and economies. The environment is controlled by the
world's ocean. This paper will discuss the oceanographic science
community in terms of its accomplishments, its skills, and most
particularly, the needs and investments that are required to maintain
the role of the United States as an international leader in the science
of the ocean.

Sixty percent of the states in this country have coastlines on the ocean
or Great Lakes. Half of the population lives within the coastal zone.
One out of every six jobs in the United States is marine-related. Yet
less than 4 percent of the federal budget for basic research is spent on
ocean sciences.

While the ocean sciences community in the United States is small[^1])),
the cadre of professionals in this field represent a wide spectrum of
skills, ranging from molecular biology to fluid dynamics to cybernetics
to organic chemistry. The strength of this community has been based on
two factors: (1) its recognition of national research imperatives, and
(2) its capability to work cooperatively on scientific problems. This
Year of the Ocean observation provides an opportunity to review some
examples of well-coordinated efforts to transcend disciplinary and
institutional boundaries.

Notwithstanding its past accomplishments , however, the United States
faces a new set of challenges in the next decade. These challenges will
demand all of the existing resources and capabilities of the ocean
sciences community, and then some! Demands on society are being made
concerning economic development, quality of life, national security, and
education. Driving these demands are changes in global geopolitics,
military requirements, technological capabilities, economic competition,
international demographics, and resource utilization. In defining
general goals pertaining to these demands and changes, and responding to
the opportunities presented by the International Year of the Ocean, the
oceanographic community must seek to prepare to address new challenges,
as well as meet current and continuing needs. That is to say, the
community of ocean scientists is now poised to work toward meeting an
even larger set of societal needs.

**BACKGROUND**

In the 19th century, oceanography was placed in a position of high
visibility by a Naval officer named Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury, in
service as the first Director of the Depot of Naval Charts and
Instruments, recognized the value of standardizing the measurement of
oceanographic properties, especially winds, currents and water depth.
Maury knew that such measurements, while of obvious value to the Navy,
were likewise useful in a diverse range of applications, including
shipping, fishing, and transportation.

Similarly, the bold model of public support for basic research that was
developed by Vannevar Bush subsequent to the end of World War II,
ultimately demonstrated highly rewarding returns on federal investment
dollars in science and technology. This vision became the foundation for
today's highly efficient tools for directing public support toward
academic research programs, notably two of which are the Office of Naval
Research and the National Science Foundation.

In 1969, the Stratton Commission extended many of these same concepts
into defining a national imperative for supporting research and
development in the marine environment. The outcome of that exercise was
the establishment in 1970 of a highly visible National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The foresight represented in this
visionary effort has been fulfilled and strengthened by the research
that has been conducted over the last two decades. The ocean sciences
community now recognizes that a focused research program, including the
interactive elements of oceanic and atmospheric dynamics, is critical to
addressing a wide range of society's needs.

Clearly, the main need addressed by the federal investment in
oceanography since World War II has been in the area of national
defense. Basic research into the fundamental physical, chemical,
biological, and geological properties of the sea was successfully
exploited during the Cold War. For example, the United States became a
leader in the development of operational systems which could detect
Soviet submarines, while at the same time being capable of conducting
its own missions in a manner of low detectability. Such successes would
have been impossible without the investments made possible by the
visions of Vannevar Bush and the Stratton Commission.

In the post-Vannevar Bush era of the late 1960s through the mid 1980s,
the federal investment in basic research in the ocean sciences amounted
to 7 percent of the federal budget in basic research. It was during this
time that the ocean sciences community developed the "tool kit" of
skills that now allow it to:

-   Predict El Niño and its devastating effects on regional climates and
    fisheriesthrough understanding the "coupling", or connectivity,
    between the ocean and atmosphere in terms of heat transfer, winds,
    and currents

-   Maintain superiority in undersea surveillance and antisubmarine
    warfareby virtue of knowledge gained from experiments in sound
    transmission through the ocean, allowing detection at longer
    distances, and lower sound levels

-   Provide fundamental concepts related to the beginnings of life forms
    on earth,via the use of manned and unmanned submersibles to study
    undersea volcanoes and their concomitant life forms

-   Save hundreds of thousands of lives through forecasts of coastal
    hazards (including tsunamis and hurricanes)made possible through
    the exploitation of high performance computing, allowing
    implementation of increasingly sophisticated, and accurate, models
    for forecasting coastal dynamics

-   Establish a whole industry based upon commercially viable fish farms
    and aquaculture facilitiesthrough improvements in understanding of
    the physiology and ecology of important species, such as salmon and
    mussels

-   Locate and build oil platforms to maximize production, and to
    survive the extremes of the ocean environmentas a consequence of
    new concepts in anti-fouling, ocean engineering, and seafloor
    mapping/characterization

-   Build sustainable fisheries which in 1996 alone contributed \$21
    billion to the U.S. GDP through science and research tools to
    manage the commercial and recreational fishing industries

But where does the ocean sciences community go from here? The 7 percent
investment of the past led to outstanding products. Clearly, a stronger
investment is needed for the broader set of challenges facing the United
States in the next millennium.

In 1992, the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council (NRC),
recognizing the need to revisit the status, roles, and plans of the
oceanographic community, convened several meetings and prepared their
assessment. Their report, entitled *Oceanography in the Next Decade:
Building New Partnerships*, has been a landmark event in the direction
of this community. The objectives of the study were to "document and
discuss important trends in the human, physical, and fiscal resources
available to oceanographers, \...to present the best assessment of
scientific opportunities during the coming decade, \...and to provide a
blueprint for more productive partnerships" (NRC, 1992).

The report of the National Research Council was particularly timely in
that it dealt with the redefinition of the oceanographic community in
the context of society's changing needs. In opening remarks launching
the National Research Council's report its Chairman at the time, Dr.
Frank Press, cited the marked changes taking place in the post-Cold War
period. These changes seem to cry for new approaches to partnerships for
the oceanographic scientific community. In fact, as he pointed out,
"concerns about the ocean as a medium for warfare as a threat to
national security are decreasing while environmental problems of the
coastal zone and understanding how the ocean controls climate are of
increasing importance." Further, he stated that while "major advances in
understanding the ocean and in the development of technologies for
observing it have set the stage for much greater research achievements,"
this comes at a time when "resources necessary to obtain this
understanding are increasingly scarce."

Dr. Press continued, "As the context in which oceanography is conducted
changes, how can federal agencies, private industry, local
jurisdictions, and oceanographers in academic institutions, government,
and the private sector strengthen and improve their cooperative efforts?
In general, partnerships must be extended beyond financial relationships
to include the sharing of intellect, experience, data, instrument
development, facilities, and labor."

The proactive nature of such a proposal is founded upon the recognition
of certain trends and "drivers" which point oceanographic researchers
toward new areas of applicability. Some examples include:

**Global environmental concerns.** The debates concerning sustainable
development, as well as renewed interest in "open ocean" resources
(living and non-living), an ongoing crisis in world fisheries and the
global loss of marine biological diversity, and the potential impacts of
climate change on coastal ecosystems and ocean ecosystem processes, have
put an emphasis on the careful use and understanding of the environment,
including those ocean areas outside of the Exclusive Economic Zones of
coastal nations.

**Explosions in technology and communications.** The ability to place
highly sensitive instruments deep in the ocean, or far into space, with
long-term monitoring and observation potential has only recently become
a reality. Similarly, high-speed, wide bandwidth data transmission now
allows information and documentation to be sent to and from the most
remote sites on Earth, with relative ease. These data can be assimilated
into a new generation of high fidelity models, run on supercomputers,
and shared among researchers and educators via virtual oceanographic
data systems currently under development.

**Restructuring of national security.** Our nation's security demands
diligent consideration to a diverse set of threats. Vulnerability
includes the economic infrastructure and the communications networks
upon which society depends so critically. As delineated in the Potomac
Declaration,[^2] National Security now includes economic security, food
security, and environmental security.

**National educational reform.** A recognition of the need for systemic
reform in this country's educational systems, from kindergarten through
graduate school has developed rapidly since 1990. All levels are being
rethought, with respect to curriculum reform, teacher enhancement,
career guidance, and integrated, constructivist, and cooperative
learning, as well as use of educational materials. Contemporary thought,
as embodied in the National Academy of Sciences *National Science
Education Standards*, concludes that science education must be more than
"science as process," with students learning observational, inferential,
and experimental techniques. Rather, an increased emphasis is being
placed upon a system that emphasizes inquiry as central to science
education.

**A CALL TO ACTION**

A broad thematic approach to the role of ocean science and technology
should be undertaken, invoking themes of a nature highly relevant to
society's needs. Four themes associated with national
interestsidentified in the CORE publication *Oceans 2000: Bridging the
Millennia*, and echoed as themes and issues by the U.S.
Year-of-the-Ocean Working Groupare listed below and broadly defined as
indicated:

1\. National Security. Ensuring that national interests are guaranteed
at home and abroad and that basic and applied ocean science remains an
essential element of this assurance. This category is meant to include
issues associated with preservation of national interests, via military
defense, and foreign policy support.

2\. Sustainable Economic Development. Use of the basic and applied
knowledge of the ocean and its resources for economic gain, including
attention to marine resources, transportation, recreation, development,
and related industries.

3\. Quality of Life. Health and social well-being of people as derived
from using basic and applied knowledge of the ocean. Subject material
includes the topics of preservation/improvement/ stewardship of the
environment (pollution prevention, marine protection*,* cleanup and
remediation), shoreline protection, coastal hazard mitigation, and
recreation.

4\. Communication/Education. Conveying an understanding of the
importance of the ocean to national decision making, to the public at
large, and to decision makers and educators at every level using basic
and applied knowledge of the ocean, to include the exploitation of
state-of-the-art electronic networking and computer based simulations/
demonstrations.

In essence, the set of issues which the oceanographic community is
bracing to address are enormous when considered by any dimensionthe
volume of data, the geographic breadth of impact, the range of
disciplines, the variety of assets, and the physical challenges. A
characteristic issue faced by this small but diverse community of
scientists is that the expertise is distributed throughout the nation.
The breadth of skills required in oceanography, coupled with the
relatively small number of skilled practitioners translates to a thin,
but wide distribution of capabilities. The situation might be compared
to having a different medical specialist located at each hospital
throughout the country, i.e., all of the necessary skills are at hand,
but they are widely distributed. This condition is dramatically
compounded by the high level of sophistication and multiple, costly
platforms needed to make measurements or predictions in the ocean
environment. Many of the major resources (people, equipment, platforms)
are one-of-a-kind, resulting in a de facto establishment of many centers
of excellence for the field. By fostering the development of new
partnerships, the ocean sciences community can overcome many of these
apparent obstacles. Through sharing of resources, data, and knowledge,
the ocean sciences community will provide an impressive mechanism for
working towards solutions.

**OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE YEAR OF THE OCEAN AND BEYOND**

There is a very broad realm of research opportunities defined by the
diversity of issues embedded in the subjects of quality of life,
economic development, education/communication, and national security.
The pervasive nature of the Year-of-the-Ocean themes lends strong
credibility to the partnership approach; there is an implication that a
partnership developed to address a problem in one area will provide
collateral benefits to other applications.

What follows is a description of some opportunities for the development
of ocean science. The intent is to identify where the key target areas
exist and what the specific focus should be to address the most urgent
needs of the ocean science community, during this Year-of-the-Ocean and
for the decades to follow.

**Data Accessibility**

The currency of oceanographic progress is data. The ocean environment is
largely undersampled or unsampled. There exist data which might serve
multiple needs and full and open access to these data by investigators
is critical.

A national, virtual, and common oceanographic data system is needed to
provide remote and transparent access to valuable unclassified data sets
using state-of-the-networking-art on-line connectivity and linked to
existing civilian databasesfederal, state and academic institution
based. Further development of a national, virtual oceanographic data
system will provide on-line connectivity linking Naval oceanographic and
civilian oceanographic government, industry, and academic organizations
for the purpose of quality data transfer. In addition, the ocean
sciences community must provide for the rescue, archiving, and quality
assurance of historical and "shoe-box" data sets.

**Long Term Observations**

For the same reasons that land-based weather forecasters depend on
distributed networks of observational systems, the oceanographic
community similarly needs such capabilities. In fact, one of the most
dramatic demonstrations of the value of long-term observations is the
payoff from the TOGA (Tropical Ocean−Global Atmosphere) buoys in the
central Pacific ocean. This system has served as the primary early
warning system for the El Niño onset in the last few years. The
coincidental occurrence of what is shaping up as the century's strongest
El Niño event, during this International Year-of-the-Ocean, highlights
the opportunities and payoffs for ocean observational systems and
strategies. As a result, the ocean sciences community will need vastly
improved capabilities for long-term forecasts. The investments and
commitment needed for such an effort, however, are serious and large.
Also required will be long-term observations for biological systems,
including fisheries and environmental observations.

The ocean (both deep ocean and coastal areas) is a highly dynamic
environmental system whose variability is of the same magnitude as the
atmosphere, in part due to the coupling of the two systems. In contrast
to meteorology, there is no equivalent coherent synoptic monitoring and
prediction technology for the ocean. Different agencies collect partial
data sets or provide rudimentary predictions; but the effort is
significantly below what is required. The data sets on waves, tides,
circulation, temperature, salinity, and biological indicators are of
potential use to governments and private industries concerned with
hazard protection, transportation, recreational and environmental
planning. The feedback of oceanographic information to atmospheric
models should eventually improve weather forecasts as well.

Coastal regions worldwide are susceptible to heavy damage from
earthquakes, hurricanes, storms and flooding. Recent hurricane damage on
the east coast of the United States and recent earthquakes in California
have resulted in a collective billion dollars worth of property damage
and loss of commercial revenue. Several atmospheric and land-based
observation programs that exist currently are dedicated towards sensing
the formation of tropical storms and recording seismic events along the
California coast. Additional information can be gained from ocean bottom
and ocean surface deployed sensors, which when combined with the
currently available data, would greatly enhance the understanding of
these destructive events and provide new capabilities for disaster
prediction throughout the globe. Bringing this all together and
providing a mechanism for development and coordination is the task of
inter-governmental programs under the sponsorship of several
international agencies. The goal of ocean observations is to aid the
public good, by making use of past research results, motivating new
research, and maintaining operational observational programs.

The development of ocean observations systems requires overcoming four
important hurdles:

1\. The scientific determination of the proper parameters to measure,
the correct instruments, and optimum locations for deployment;

2\. The design and manufacture of precise, reliable components and data
links;

3\. The logistics of installation of the systems; and

4\. The establishment of data recording, storage, analysis, and
distribution facilities.

**Quality Control**

One of the major advances to ocean science was made in the mid-1800s
when Matthew Fontaine Maury standardized the methods for collecting data
at sea. Today, because of the rapid advances being made in sensing
technologies, and the capabilities to put data and information easily
into the public access, the oceanographic community runs a risk of major
problems with quality of data. Access to an information highway that
contains raw, unverified, often sensationalized data can be a great
danger to both the decision-making and scientific processes. The ocean
sciences community needs to invoke standards, as Maury did, and
establish protocols for introducing data into the public domain.
Clearinghouses, industry standards, community stewardship, and training
for data providers and researchers, are the tools that must be
improved*.*

Future observational networks in the ocean are anticipated to consist of
enhanced measurement, modeling, and delivery systems, for a host of
critical ecosystem measures and standard physical parameters. Because
the expected information management methods will rely heavily on
Internet traffic, and because a large number of participants will not be
performing as "contractors", measures to instill strict data quality
assurance will necessarily rely on voluntary means. It is likely that a
rigorous program of certification, based on community agreement to a
range of qualification procedures (e.g. comparison with climatology),
can be implemented successfully. Participation in certification efforts
can become strong bonds within growing federal-academic-industry
partnerships.

**Resources**

*People*

Clearly the most valuable resource in oceanography is the cadre of
trained professionals and capable students working in the field. The
future body of researchers and educators in the ocean sciences may be
distributed among a broader range of careers and job sectors than are
currently represented. Efforts are already underway to develop
mechanisms to train the next generation of ocean scientists in fields
such as business, public policy, and communications, in order to expand
the involvement of the oceanographic community. The current number of
oceanographers suggests a need for partnership initiatives aimed at
distributing capabilities, sharing personnel resources, and ensuring
some quality control on the level of expertise. The community should
establish formal mechanisms for facilitating the exchange of personnel
between academic, government, and private organizations. Some mechanisms
for these exchanges currently exist, but they are cumbersome and more
prohibitive than conducive to cooperation. Additionally, a partnership
approach might be invoked to assess the value and implementation of a
professional certification program, as is done in many other technical
fields.

The crosstalking and mutual understanding of goals among mission
agencies, academia, industry, research agencies, and policy makers is
disturbingly minimal. This comes at a time when downward budget
pressures call for "downsizing" mission "purification" and
"deregulation." The combination of these two trends proves to be very
counterproductive, and is exacerbated by significant mission/interest
shifts on the part of several agencies. Crosstalking and mutual
understanding must be fostered at all levels from program execution to
planning and setting of national policy.

In addition, certain private industries have operations that are
synergistic with the education of students in the oceanographic
community. Oceanographers from academia could benefit from opportunities
to work in industry, to be exposed to the needs of industry, and to
apply data being generated in the research environment. Programs could
be set up to support such cooperative efforts.

Mechanisms, in addition to the traditional Intergovernmental Personnel
Act, must be developed to encourage cross-fertilization as described
above. Examples include:

-   visiting senior scientists to operators and to policy making
    organizations,

-   participation of industry and other user-community representatives
    across agency planning and policy lines,

-   graduate education, research sabbatical and industry/laboratory
    appointments for military, government, and policy employees.

These mechanisms should span from short term exchanges to long term
appointments. In view of the Information Highway/World Wide Web, it may
be feasible to create "virtual appointments" that may also include
"video conferencing and meetings."

Better understanding of both common and unique issues as well as a basis
for improved communications between participants will result from such
exchanges. For the oceanographic research community in government and
academia, there will be opportunities for some to experience industry,
its operations and the application of oceanographic data, thereby
enhancing the value of the data being collected by applying it in new
way. For industry, the resource of an experienced individual (an expert
at times) in an application where such "short term" expertise is
necessary would be a valuable asset to the operation at hand.

*Platforms*

The oceanographic community is a research-resource intensive group.
Unlike many other scientific arenas, the oceanographic field critically
depends on efficient community management of surface ships, manned
submersibles, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), scientific buoys,
and research satellites. Plans for future field work will add
capabilities to this list (e.g. ocean sampling networks, global
observation systems) making the management of these research platforms
an even more challenging endeavor. Partnerships are critical for
successful application of these facilities.

Innovative materials which are becoming available now make new
structures and vehicles possible. Carbon fiber and composite plastics
could be utilized for strength, light weight, low manufacturing costs,
and resistance to corrosion and biofouling. Other construction methods
include re-use and re-combination of existing offshore structures from
the oil industry, and recycling of dredged materials from the ocean and
solid waste materials from the land (fly ash, sanitized sludge, etc.) to
form artificial islands offshore.

The technology necessary to develop large offshore structures,
innovative vessels, and undersea vehicles in a cost-effective manner is
presently being developed. Partnerships are required between government,
industry, and academia to conduct the necessary materials research and
environmental impact studies. AUVs and robotic systems would be needed
during the construction and maintenance of some structures, and for
conducting autonomous research in harsh environments. Offshore
structures provide platforms for mounting instrumentation for research,
weather prediction, and aquaculture.

*Computing*

One of the major accomplishments of the oceanographic community in the
last decade has been associated with advances in "data assimilation,"
the capability of upgrading a predictive model by incorporating data on
a regular basis. Advanced development of state-of-the-art massively
parallel computers continues to progress. Scientists will continue to
recognize the advanced capabilities of these machines, and teachers will
utilize their sophisticated programs for visualization and simulation.
The costs of these computational systems are high and their access is
limited. Careful partnering between the owners, operators, programmers
and analysts is essential, and coupling these efforts with the data
collection partnerships, described above, will be highly productive.

The Navy for national defense purposes, and civilian organizations for
scientific purposes, require the capability to measure, analyze, and
predict the state of the world's oceans on a continual basis. Such a
continuum of function calls for fusion of data previously collected with
that being collected (e.g., via ocean observational systems as described
above), developing an analysis of current oceanic conditions using
numerical models based on best physical principles understood, and
finally, using the best predictive modeling techniques to develop
forecasts of future oceanic conditions. An operational system that
leaves out any part is less useful and does not effectively utilize the
resources at hand.

Observational strategies and operations are improved by concomitant
"end-to-end simulation" or "model-mediated approaches." This optimizes
the data gathering methods against the underlying requirements, as well
as the relevant physics and processes. Techniques that not only adapt to
the incoming data stream, but also to alternative sources of information
(e.g., remote sensing) offer a major capability enhancement.

The ability to assimilate significant amounts of disparate data in
real-time and on scene together with very capable but relatively
inexpensive numerical processing machines make a "model-mediated"
approach very possible in the near to midterm (3-5 years). An
opportunity exists to forge partnerships which bring together archival
and near real-time collected data, large-scale computational facilities,
predictive models and the methods to distribute results for operational
purposes and correction of or improvements to the operational
oceanography system.

*Labs/Infrastructure*

Laboratories and the collection of facilities that comprise the
infrastructure of oceanography (e.g., large systems of instrumentation,
such as ocean bottom seismometers) are as unique to the field as the
research platforms. Again, the diversity of the field has been
translated into specific technical strengths at individual laboratories.
The U.S. Navy has particular capabilities for acoustic studies, for
example, whereas the expertise for developing open ocean buoys resides
at only a handful of academic and federal laboratories. The optimal
exploitation of these facilities can only be attained through a program
of sustained and active partnerships between the institutions.

Growing national security and other U.S. interests in littoral regions
together with an emerging science and technology capability to
adequately address this complex environment, offers an opportunity for
interagency partnerships to establish a portfolio of coastal natural
laboratories. These would be visited regularly to provide baseline data
to understand processes, validate models and algorithms, and to test
operational products across the various agencies and participating
industry. In this way, positive feedback of engineering models to
fundamental physics and process studies can be used to shorten product
development time as well as fidelity/skill.

Carefully chosen locations for coastal natural laboratories can also
serve as ground-truth for remote sensing (acoustic, space, and airborne
techniques) and should be co-located with fiducial sites wherever
possible. Notably, the world's marine laboratories are the repositories
of collections and historical data of critical importance for coastal
research. They have facilities to provide access to marine habitats,
institutional stability , and a history of working together. An
excellent example is provided by the National Association of Marine
Laboratories' "LABNET," which will provide on-site access to data from
the diverse mosaic of U.S. coastal zone habitats.

**EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION**

**Education and The Year-Of-The-Ocean**

A major change in what the ocean sciences community knows about how
people learn, especially how people learn science, has occurred in the
last two decades. How, what, and why the ocean sciences community
teaches science and mathematics, therefore, must be re-conceptualized.
The purpose of education is to empower learners to make information
meaningful, in contrast to memorizing a multitude of disconnected facts.
What an individual knows about a topic influences the meaning he or she
can extract from new information. Abstract concepts must be put in the
context of experiences with which the learner is familiar. Furthermore,
learners cannot be given concepts. They must construct concepts for
themselves. Instructional strategies, subsequently, need to focus on
learning, rather than on teaching, as a means for transmitting
information. Moreover, the target audience for science education is all
Americans, in contrast to science for the elite. Mathematics educators
are calling for mathematical literacy for all, and technology educators
are speaking of technology education for allinstead of it being limited
to students bound for the workplace after grade 12. The revolution in
science education requires the study of the interactions of science and
technology, a transdisciplinary approach.

The oceans have an aesthetic appeal to humans and the study of
oceanography is inherently interdisciplinary. The oceanographic
community has an opportunity to make the oceans a major context in which
to study the interactions of science, technology, and society, and from
which to learn basic science and mathematical concepts.

Partnerships between oceanographers and educators with current
perspectives on learning are necessary. There are reciprocal benefits
between the two cultures, oceanography and education. The former focuses
on generating new knowledge about the ocean. The latter focuses on tying
pieces of information into a whole picture that can be made relevant to
other scientists and to non-scientists. Together they can develop new
courses.

Oceanography is an ideal platform for education, focusing on the
interaction of forces and processes across a palette of disciplines,
including biology, chemistry, physics and geology. The ocean is also a
wonderful arena for applying concepts in mathematics (everything from
the algebra of determining salinity, to the calculus of ocean currents).
There are a handful of initiatives throughout the country attempting to
build curricula along these lines. The formal educational community
(including all components from kindergarten through graduate school)
would realize immediate benefit from partnering through the
establishment of oceanography-specific coalitions of educators.

There exist too few pre-college teachers, specifically elementary
teachers who have the content, knowledge and confidence to teach
science. This is one of the primary reasons that too many elementary
students perform poorly in the sciences. It is well documented that a
key to reversing the dangerous lack of scientific understanding being
demonstrated by students is through teaching the teachers. Successful
workshops, and undergraduate and graduate courses relative to marine
sciences, should remain as an area of priority and be expanded at the
local, state, regional, and national level. When new technologies and/or
advances in scientific theory are developed, workshops and courses must
be made available for teachers, thereby allowing them to infuse this
"new" knowledge and complementary methodologies/activities into existing
curricula, as advocated by the *National Science Education Standards*
(NRC, 1996). New or revised curricular materials may also need to be
developed. Teaching/learning experiences to assist with integrating
these materials into classrooms would follow. The National Ocean
Sciences Bowl, initiating a nationwide high school level competition
during this Year of the Ocean, is precisely the kind of highly visible
and exciting educational program that can re-energize pre-college
education with an oceans-related emphasis.

New and/or extended partnerships need to be developed among the
education community and marine scientists in government, academia, and
the private sector. These partnerships must include, but should not be
limited to, fiscal support, equipment, personnel, and/or resource
materials (hard-copy, audio/video, diskette, laser discs, Internet, or
other related types of materials). The ocean science community can
collaborate with instructional material developers to produce correct
and content-current materials, and can rapidly modify existing materials
to add new content. Year-round academic years for precollege students
are increasing in various school districts and parishes within the
United States. This paradigm shift will provide the opportunity for
increasing the competitiveness of this nation's youth in a global
marketplace..

**Informal Education**

The average American probably knows more about space than he or she does
about the ocean. Given that so much of the quality of life and economic
prosperity are dependent on oceanography, it is timely during this Year
of the Ocean to address the need for increased public awareness of this
field. The ocean research community is a treasure trove of fascinating
findings. There are a very limited number of efforts to provide regular
educational opportunities in oceanography for the public. Related to
this need is the issue of providing information to policy makers at the
federal, state, and local levels. Networks or coalitions are needed to
foster this kind of dissemination of information, as well as to serve as
focal points for ocean-related issues.

Ocean science data can be too fragmented or hidden in difficult to
understand scientific papers with little relevance to "society" or
legislators on all levels. The timely, accurate transfer of information
(i.e., data, analytical products, synthesis documents) on marine
environment issues to public leaders, educators and the general public
is crucial if the ocean's role in human activities is to be properly
understood. Many problems with stewardship of the marine ecosystem,
response to natural and human-induced hazards, and the full appreciation
of the ocean, arise either from the lack of information or the great
difficulty in locating relevant data and products, or incompatibility
between the few existing delivery systems. This situation concerning the
informational flow to the public concerning marine issues requires
initiatives to make the available information useful, to supply it in
formats compatible with robust analysis packages, and to provision for
an interested party to obtain more detailed answers dependent on the
needs of the particular user.

Current technologies provide various models for making it relatively
easy to transmit information. The challenge is to provide a "useful
information flow" and a backup set of experts to handle questions. The
useful information flow envisioned here would consist of a searchable
catalog of data and products together with an efficient delivery system.
Such a database must be accessible by multiple users such as media,
legislators, public, or anyone looking for information. The opportunity
is especially strong now with some on-line networks and Internet access
tools.

**THE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM AND U.S. OCEANS POLICY**

The value of partnerships is defined in terms of the guiding principles
outlined above. Additionally, the partnerships proposed by the National
Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) serve as particularly efficient
mechanisms for overcoming hurdles, some of which are unique to the
oceanographic community. Some of these singular hurdles are:

**Funding mechanisms.** Ocean science is primarily supported through
grants and contracts from government agencies. The lack of a long term
foundation of support (e.g., "hard money" for faculty positions at
research universities) dictates that mechanisms (including leveraging
the infrastructure investments in oceanographic research and development
in the military and industrial sectors) are needed to maintain the long
term continuity of the community. U.S. federal funding for basic
research in ocean sciences effectively has been halved (by virtue of
remaining flat) for nearly two decades, while the total federal support
of basic research has nearly doubled. Given the broadening mission for
the ocean sciences community, this situation is increasingly out of
balance. The dollars are shrinking while the research requirements grow.

**Multiple Committee Jurisdiction in Congress.** Primary funding for the
conduct of basic research in the ocean sciences emanates from the
Congress of the United States. Nine federal agencies seek funding from
Congress for ocean science and technology associated with their
missions. But, to address funding needs of each of these nine agencies,
over 40 committees and subcommittees of the House and Senate are
involved in carrying out their relevant authorization and appropriation
responsibilities. As a result, unless there is some clear integrating or
cross-cutting process for Capitol Hill to deal with the broad national
policy and programmatic issues surrounding ocean science and technology,
any partnership arrangement limited solely to certain stakeholders would
lack substance. Better horizontal integration of broad ocean science and
technology policy and programs across the many federal agencies, is
necessary if this nation is to maintain its lead in this critically
important area and do so at minimum cost. This is particularly true
during the post Cold War reappraisal of national priorities under more
constrained budgets. This hurdle to the efforts in ocean science and
technology needs to be addressed by the legislative and executive
branches in cooperation.

**Security concerns and classified applications.** The oceans are the
operating environment for national defense. In fact, it has been argued
that the seas of the world are this country's moats. Any research in
oceanography is immediately relevant to the operations of the U.S. Navy
and may have implications for national security. As such, there will
always be an awareness of the contribution of research and education in
oceanography to national security concerns and vice versa.

**Management and ownership of resources.** The oceanographic researcher
depends heavily on a major capital investment that has been made by
industry and agencies within the federal government in terms of research
platforms, equipment, laboratories, and general infrastructure. The
management of these resources, and their ownership, is dispersed among
public and private entities. Optimal use and upgrade of these facilities
requires a delicate coordination of missions,

plans, and funding. Furthermore, the human resources within the ocean
sciences community are heavily concentrated in a limited set of job
sectors. Management of the human resources will require a
diversification of the job opportunities and new educational initiatives
to help prepare students for more alternatives in employment.

**Communications.** The field of oceanography is represented by well
over 50 different technical journals and no less than 15 professional
organizations. While an isolationist approach to one's own research
field may have sufficed 50 years ago, the inherently interdisciplinary
nature of today's oceanographic issues dictates that marine researchers
and educators have an extraordinarily broad network for communication.

**Public Awareness.** Some recent dramatic demonstrations of the lack of
public scientific literacy have emphasized the need to bring
oceanographic research results to the forefront of general visibility.
The lack of attention paid to marine issues in the media is most likely
attributable to a lack of coordinated publicity by the ocean research
and education communities; it is not for lack of exciting showpieces
from the science and technology being performed in the ocean.

**CONCLUSIONS**

From such prestigious scientific bodies as the National Academy of
Sciences and its many associated Boards, from well supported needs
statements of the mission oriented federal agencies, and from a variety
of highly respected scientific organizations, the question of "what to
research" in the areas of ocean science and technology is outlined quite
well. The International Year of the Ocean provides opportunities to
highlight ways that new and enlightened partnerships can be established
to provide the bonding agents needed to pull the currently disparate
parts of the nation's oceanographic enterprise together.

**REFERENCES**

Consortium for Oceanographic Research & Education, *Oceans 2000,
Bridging the Millenia*, 1996, Washington, D.C.

National Academy of Sciences. 1995. *Allocating Federal Funds for
Science and Technology*. ISBN 0-309-05347-1. National Academy Press.
Washington, D.C.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 1995. *NOAA Strategic
Plan: A Vision for 2005*. Washington, D.C.

National Research Council Committee on Biological Diversity in Marine
Systems, 1995. *Understanding Marine Biodiversity*. ISBN 0-309-05225-4.
National Academy Press. Washington, D.C.

National Research Council Ocean Studies Board. 1992. *[Oceanography in
the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships]{.underline}*. ISBN
0-309-04794-3. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C.

National Science Foundation. 1991. *Characteristics of Doctoral
Scientists and Engineers in the United States: 1989*. NSF 91-317.
Washington, D.C.

"State-Federal Technology Partnership Task Force Final Report." 1995.
Gov. Richard Celeste and Gov. Dick Thornburgh, Co-chairs, Carnegie
Commission on Science, Technology and Government.

National Research Council, Committee on Science Education Standards and
Assessment, 1996, *National Science Education Standards*, ISBN
0-309-05326-9. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

**LIST OF ACRONYMS**

AUV autonomous underwater vehicles

CORE Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education

MEDEA Measurement of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis

NAS National Academy of Sciences

NMEA National Marine Educators Association

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NORLC National Oceanographic Research Leadership Council

NRC National Research Council

NSF National Science Foundation

ONR Office of Naval Research

ROV Remotely Operated Vehicle

TOGA Tropical Ocean−Global Atmosphere

[^1]: Less than 2,500 American Ph.D. level oceanographers are employed
    in U.S. academia, government, and the private sector (NSF, 1991).

[^2]: Document produced by the Advisory Committee on the Protection of
    the Seas (ACOPS) Meeting in Washington, D.C., May, 1997. ACOPS is an
    independent non-governmental organization primarily made up of
    foreign individuals. The Potomac Declaration does not necessarily
    reflect United States Policy.