sponsored in estuarine ecology and tropical marine ecology by the Smithsonian Institution. These investigations are conducted at the Instutition's Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Sciences and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In its effort to examine the impact of man on the environment, Smithsonian will expand the research program at the Chesapeake Center for Environmental Studies. In addition, the program at the Tropical Research Institute will be increased to assess the potential consequences of building a sea level canal. Marine Environmental Prediction Service for Maritime Navigation DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE Many Federal operations in marine environmental prediction (MAREP), because of their applicability to a number of users and because of their support to other Specialized MAREP Services, are included as integral parts of the Basic MAREP Service; yet their particular significance to maritime navigation is apparent. Nearly all marine forecasts, advisories, and warnings produced under the Marine Meteorological Service are of importance and of direct application to navigation. The shipping industry, fishing fleets, and recreational boatmen use these products mainly for the protection of life and for the altering of ship tracks so as to minimize damage to vessels and cargo and to effect optimum transit between ports. Elements of the Basic MAREP Service of importance to maritime navigation include sea-and-swell forecasts, storm surge and seiche forecasts, tropical and extratropical storm forecasts, and studies of sedimentation in channels and harbors. Also of primary importance are marine atlases, sailing directions, tide and tidal current prediction tables, and other special publications. Conversely, nautical charts, navigational tables, periodic navigational publications, and electronic navigation materials are not considered to be part of these MAREP Services; consequently, they are not included in this Plan. Programs of the Departments of Defense and Transportation which uniquely serve the specialized requirements of a MAREP Service for Maritime Navigation include those concerned with ice forecasts and warnings, and with ship-routing and channel maintenance services. Perhaps the best known MAREP service of the Coast Guard is its management and operation of the International Ice Patrol, established by the maritime nations of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) to advise shipping of the ice menace in the northwestern North Atlantic Ocean. Aircraft reconnaissance and shipboard oceanographic observations support a program of reporting icebergs that enter the shipping lanes near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and of predicting the drift of these icebergs. In FY 71, the International Ice Patrol activities of the Coast Guard cost $683,000. Other Coast Guard activities, reported under the Basic MAREP Service, contributing to the MAREP Service for Maritime Navigation are the environmental analyses and forecasts which support the flight operations and the operation of two small specialized centers which support the Coast Guards' Maritime Search and Rescue Control Centers in New York City and San Francisco. The Department of Defense maintains a capability for sea-ice observations and forecasts by flying BIRDSEYE and fleet ice reconnaissance aircraft flights over the Arctic icepack and by providing observers for aerial ice reconnaissance of the Arctic and the Antarctic regions. In FY 71, Defense spent $865,000 in ice observations. Experimental interpretations are also made of ice features from satellite photographs, and 15- and 30-day ice forecasts are prepared for the Arctic and Antarctic in support of operations by Defense, the Coast Guard, and NSF. The Fleet Weather Facility at Suitland provides specialized ice forecasting services and the Fleet Weather Centrals at Alameda, Norfolk, and Guam operate the Navy's Optimum Track Ship Routing (OTSR) Program. OTSR offers a high probability of one or a combination of the following: (1) least steaming time en route; (2) best weather route; and (3) bypassing of areas where storm damage may be expected. This service is available to naval ships, Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) ships, and vessels under contract to the Government. The Navy's OTSR Program provided routing services to approximately 2,400 ships for the Department of Defense during 1970. Major processing activities of the Department of Defense provide over 3,000 separate oceanographic prediction products daily to meet existing requirements. As technology progresses and data acquisition becomes adequate, the number and type of products increase and the modes of product application also expand. PLANS FOR SERVICE IMPROVEMENT There are no plans for increased funding by the Departments of Transportation and Defense in FY 72; however, there are continued plans for improvement and expansion of the specialized MAREP Service for Maritime Navigation through more efficient utilization of existing resources. It should be understood that the Coast Guard's expenditures in support of the International Ice Patrol depend on actual costs incurred ($683,000 in FY 71) which could conceivably increase or decrease during FY 72. The Department of Commerce will establish in FY 72, as part of the Basic MAREP Service, a Marine Forecast Unit at San Francisco which will primarily serve mariners in the eastern Pacific and along the west coast. The products will be prepared by NOAA's Marine Forecast Center and National Meteorological Center (NMC); product dissemination will be accomplished by radiofacsimile, voice, and radiotelegraphy from the new Coast Guard communication facility near San Francisco. RELEVANT RESEARCH PROGRAM Research programs in support of the specialized MAREP Service for Martime Navigation are currently sponsored by the Department of Transportation and by NASA. The Coast Guard, through its Oceanographic Unit and Office of Research and Development, conducts studies of water mass exchange and currents affecting the occurrence and distribution of sea ice and icebergs in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in Arctic regions. This research, totaling $651,000 in FY 72, shows an increase of $500,000 over FY 71, the largest portion of this increase will be expended on a sea-ice reconnaissance research program, using side-looking airborne radar that is under development and endeavoring to make field tests that enhance the capability to locate, identify, and classify sea ice and icebergs. These radars will not only improve International Ice Patrol services, but will assist Coast Guard operations in the Arctic and in the Great Lakes. In case of the latter region, a principal goal is the development of a capability to extend the present safe navigation season to its greatest practicable extent. Another Coast Guard research and development program, designed to improve its capabilities to perform search and rescue (SAR) missions, involves the investigation at sea of the response to wind, waves, and currents of various boat hulls, rafts, and lifesaving devices. The Corps of Engineers, through its Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) at Hanover, N.H., investigates engineering problems associated with the Arctic ice cover. These investigations include an understanding of ice fracture patterns, physical properties, and driving forces as they relate to structures; an improve ment of bathymetry charts and remote techniques for measuring ice thickness which are required for ship routings; and a means for detecting ice-surface roughness and effects of extreme wind velocities, both of which affect the operation of air cushion vehicles. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsors three projects which are concerned with understanding the Arctic environment and ice cover for a number of naval applications, including navigation. Much of the field support for these efforts is obtained through the Navy's Arctic Research Laboratory (ARL) at Point Barrow, Alaska. Funds for these projects are reported under the Basic MAREP Service in this Plan because of their general applicability. NASA, through the Spacecraft Oceanography (SPOC) Project operated by the NAVOCEANO, sponsors research projects which are designed to improve capabilities in the MAREP Service for Maritime Navigation. These projects involve investigations of ocean dynamics, sea state, and sea ice by remote sensing from aircraft and satellites. |