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.

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.

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 small¹)), 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.

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

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 fisheries¾ 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 warfare¾ 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,¾ 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)¾ 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 facilities¾ 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 environment¾ 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 ¾ 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 Declaration², 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,

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²Document 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.

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 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 interests¾ 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 Group¾ are listed below and broadly defined as indicated:

In essence, the set of issues which the oceanographic community is bracing to address are enormous when considered by any dimension¾ 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.

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.

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 databases¾ 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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 all¾ 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..

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 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.

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.

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. 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