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Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships (1992)

Chapter: 2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences

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Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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2
Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences

Since about 1950, scientific research in the United States has been characterized by federal funding of academic scientists to conduct research of general interest to the government. This defines a partnership of sorts, a mutually beneficial relationship between the federal government and academic scientists. In ocean science to date, these traditional partnerships have consisted primarily of scientists in academic and private institutions submitting proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). This funding system is powerful and flexible, allowing NSF and ONR to fund excellent scientists whose areas of expertise are those necessary to solve problems at the forefront of oceanography. The two agencies encourage and sustain basic research programs at academic and private laboratories. The numerous federal agencies involved in marine science and policy differ greatly in their use of marine science knowledge and in their responsibility to the academic community. Agency responsibilities range from NSF's and ONR's active promotion of the health of basic science to highly specific and practical rule-making procedures of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a wide range of responsibilities in ocean matters but is just beginning to develop significant research programs in many of its areas of responsibility. The future vitality of basic oceanographic

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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research within academia may depend on its forging productive partnerships with NOAA. No simple description can usefully encompass the range of partnerships between federal agencies and the academic oceanography community. However, under the traditional arrangement, mission agencies (e.g., EPA) received relatively little direct intellectual input from academic and private scientists, and provided relatively little funding to academic institutions. Yet, although such agencies have relied on academic scientists for much of the basic knowledge required to understand policy questions, they have not assumed a serious responsibility to advance that knowledge. These agencies, whose short-term missions often require applied research, rely primarily on agency scientists to carry out their missions with optimal short-term efficiency.

The traditional scientific partnerships that have existed over the past 40 years are likely to change because the focus of oceanography and the way it is carried out are changing. Increased emphasis on the global scale and on multidisciplinary research, the changing emphasis of naval oceanography, and increasingly limited resources relative to an expanded capacity to conduct science by using modern instrumentation and computing are all contributing to change. These factors are pushing the field of oceanography toward serious consideration of the greater efficiency that could be achieved by a better coordinated national oceanography effort.

Our nation is faced with many pressing problems whose solutions would benefit from increased cooperation between federal agencies and nongovernmental scientists. Ocean research programs that developed from scientists' curiosity about nature have a new social context and urgency. A salient example is global change in all its aspects, including ocean circulation, air-sea transfer of gases, response of organisms, sea-level rise, and other effects of a potentially warming Earth. A balance should be maintained between the complementary approaches of large programs and individual investigator science in order to preserve the diversity and vigor of the field. Individual investigator science can be a fertile source of innovative ideas, whereas large programs can garner the resources for global-scale studies and can add momentum, collective wisdom, and resources for long-range planning.

A major impetus for new partnerships in oceanography is the realization that a global scale of study is now both possible and desirable. The design and deployment of a global ocean observing system, now being discussed, will be possible only with coopera-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

tion among the world's ocean scientists and its governments. Such a system will be necessary for obtaining enough long time-series global data to understand the global climate system and predict its response to human influence.

Oceanography is changing rapidly from its focus on the capabilities and interests of single or small groups of investigators involved in studies of limited duration to a focus on scientific questions of global scope, involving large numbers of individuals, institutions, and governments; spanning decades; and having major significance to society. The role of the individual investigator in this context has not lessened. Mechanisms must be developed by which these new large-scale efforts are sustained in a scientifically and technically sound manner and the plans of a variety of federal agencies and nations are coordinated.

A major reason for the preeminence of U.S. marine science is the great diversity of institutions in the field. This diversity is a key to future strength and it needs to be maintained. This statement does not suggest, however, that the present numbers and types of institutions are necessarily optimal for the future.

GENERAL PARTNERSHIP THEMES

The health of the marine sciences in the United States must be maintained because of the continuous need for fundamental knowledge as the basis for developing sound public policy. The health of ocean science depends on a complex symbiosis that must be constantly nurtured. The academic and private oceanographic institutions, working with the federal government, have shown remarkable ingenuity in developing mechanisms to coordinate multi-institutional resources (e.g., the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI)). UNOLS is a multi-institution system for coordinating scheduling, safety, refitting, and replacement of academic oceanographic vessels. JOI, governed by representatives of 10 of the largest oceanographic institutions, was founded initially to manage the Deep Sea Drilling Project; JOI now undertakes broader responsibilities for large programs and new technology. In addition, several research programs (e.g., the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere program, Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment, Geochemical Ocean Sections, and Coastal Upwelling Ecosystem Analysis) successfully combined the efforts of U.S. government agencies, agencies of other countries, and federal and nongovernmental scientists, both domestically and internationally.

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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As the context in which oceanography is conducted changes, how can partnerships between federal agencies and oceanographers in academic and private institutions be strengthened and improved? In general, the partnerships must extend beyond financial relationships to include the sharing of intellect, data, instrument development, facilities, and labor. Key elements in such partnerships are encouraging individual scientists to take intellectual risks in advancing basic knowledge, providing support that is tied to solving existing problems, and encouraging scientists to cooperate in the development of large shared research endeavors.

Communication

Many mission agencies and academic scientists have little experience interacting with one another, but both groups would benefit from doing so. The board recommends that each agency with an ocean mission and without existing strong links to the nongovernment community establish permanent mechanisms for ensuring outside scientific advice, review, and interaction. The obvious advantage of external consultation is that it provides an objective evaluation of agency needs and poses possible solutions from a new perspective. The National Research Council (NRC) is but one possible source of external advice. These advisory groups should report to a level sufficiently high that their views are presented directly to agency policy makers and the relationships are eventually institutionalized to establish a collective memory.

The board recognizes that the existence of multiple marine agencies with differing mandates brings a vigor and diversity to the field. However, the lack of coordination and cooperation among agencies that conduct or sponsor marine research detracts from this advantage. Informal attempts at coordination have been largely unsuccessful; a formal mechanism is necessary. The board recommends that, because no single agency is charged with and able to oversee the total national marine science agenda, an effective means be found for the agencies to interact at the policy level and formulate action plans.

One model for such interaction is the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology. Regardless of the coordinating mechanism chosen, it must permit the agencies to develop a synergistic approach to addressing national problems and to coordinating programs and infrastructure. High-priority tasks for such a group would be examination of the appropriate balance

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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between individual investigator awards and large project support and the establishment of guidelines for the large, global change projects.

Agency Responsibility to Basic Science

The vitality of basic ocean research in the United States resides principally in its academic institutions. The board recommends that federal agencies with marine-related missions find mechanisms to guarantee the continuing vitality of the underlying basic science on which they depend. In some agencies, the best mechanism is direct funding of individual investigator grants; in others, consultation and collaboration work well. NSF and, secondarily, ONR should retain primary responsibility for the vitality of the basic science, with NOAA becoming increasingly involved. Also, mission agencies such as EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) must share more fully in this responsibility. It is particularly important to encourage the involvement of mission agencies in sampling and monitoring programs pertaining to long-term global change issues. At present, a disproportionate share of the funds is provided by NSF. As these programs expand, resources for individual investigator grants could be reduced if other agencies do not assume responsibility for some of the funding.

Responsibility of Academic Institutions

Through the years, academic oceanographic institutions evolved different organizational structures ranging from typical academic departments to large comprehensive institutions that operate multiple ships and shared facilities. As the benefits of cooperation became evident, arrangements for the cooperative use of ships and some other facilities have developed. The board recommends that academic oceanographic institutions find additional ways to achieve cohesiveness among the institutions and a sense of common scientific direction. It is essential that this cooperation be achieved at both the administrative and the working-scientist levels so that the interactions are based on the needs of science as well as the needs of the institutions. The board also recommends that academic institutions, individually or through consortia, take a greater responsibility for the health of the field, including nationally important programs. In particular, the large, long-lived global change programs could benefit from institutional responses that are of longer duration and more stable than those of individual scien-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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tists. Also, the heavy dependence of academic oceanographers on federal support, compared with other fields, suggests that academic institutions should explore mechanisms for the stable support of their researchers. Academic scientists have a responsibility to help the federal agencies that fund them when it comes to applying research results to agency missions. Partnerships imply shared responsibilities and anticipation of the future needs of both partners.

Sharing of Academic and Federal Resources

The board recommends that federal and academic researchers improve the sharing of data, the cooperative use of facilities, and the conduct of joint research. Some mission agencies encourage cooperation with academic scientists, but increased formal interaction could significantly improve the efficiency of the national oceanographic effort. The major facility available to the marine science community, the research fleet, is a national resource. Maintaining, developing, and operating the fleet in the most efficient and cost-effective manner should be paramount in all discussions of shared resources.

Development of Instrumentation

Some advancement of oceanographic knowledge has come through the development of new observational technologies. Effective operational systems to solve the complex problems facing mission agencies will consist largely of instruments that either do not now exist or have not yet been redesigned for oceanography. The development of both in situ and satellite oceanographic instrumentation requires a long-term investment in novel technologies and in the extensive field trials necessary to make instruments operational. The board recommends that to ensure continued progress in instrumentation, new mechanisms be found to address the long time frames necessary for instrument development in oceanography. Mission agencies, whose future success will depend increasingly on instrumentation that does not yet exist, should initiate suitable roles in the development of new technology.

Transfer of Responsibility

The division of tasks between academic scientists and agencies will depend on the agencies' missions, resources, and internal

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

capabilities vis-à-vis the academic community's. Mechanisms must be developed to provide smooth transition from research activities to operational measurements. In particular, the proposed global ocean observation system will necessitate unprecedented levels of monitoring. The board recommends that academia and federal agencies work together to ensure that appropriate long-term measurements are extended beyond the work of any individual scientist or group of scientists and that the quality of such measurements is maintained.

Data Management and Exchange

The board recommends that the present system for data management and exchange within and among the various elements of the marine science community be modernized to reflect the existence of distributed computing systems, national and international data networks, improved satellite data links, and on-line distribution of oceanographic data. Also, provision must be made for future access to existing data.

SPECIFIC PARTNERSHIPS

These general recommendations form the basis for building new partnerships between federal and academic interests in ocean science. Of course, they do not apply to all agencies to the same degree. This section discusses aspects of specific partnerships of the academic oceanography community with each federal agency having a significant ocean program.

Oceanography is now supported by a number of federal agencies using a variety of mechanisms. Federal-academic arrangements differ; the paternal care by the early ONR immediately after World War II, the creation of NSF to foster basic research, the mandated joint fiscal partnership of the National Sea Grant College Program, and cooperative agreements between academic institutions and federal laboratories are salient examples. This section explores aspects of establishing new partnerships between academia and several federal agencies: NSF, the Navy, NOAA, EPA, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), DOE, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The discussions are not meant to be inclusive. Further, these discussions are sketches of issues and possibilities, not definitive blueprints. The design of new partnerships and their sustenance must be a fully collaborative pro-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

cess between agency representatives and marine scientists in academic institutions. Some collaboration has already occurred; other cooperative arrangements need to be developed.

Partnerships between the academic community and the agencies that fund ocean research can be improved in several ways. One major improvement would be for the academic institutions to make it career enhancing and attractive for scientists to serve as short-term scientific officers (rotators) at federal agencies. There is a perennial shortage of rotators at these agencies. Rotators should be respected among their peers within the academic community, and assignments should be chosen carefully to benefit both the government and the scientist. Also, scientists should be rewarded for service on federal advisory panels and on community-wide management groups such as the committees of the Ocean Drilling Program.

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation was formed in 1950 to increase the nation's base of scientific and engineering knowledge and to strengthen its ability in research and education in all areas of science and engineering. NSF supports fundamental, long-term, merit-selected research in all the scientific and engineering disciplines, including oceanography. NSF maintains strong relationships with academic scientists and is the major source of funding for basic ocean research.

NSF depends heavily on external scientists for program management, program review, individual peer review of proposals, and review panel memberships. The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) is the primary supporter of ocean science research within NSF, with specific programs for physical oceanography, chemical oceanography, biological oceanography, marine geology and geophysics, ocean technology, the Ocean Drilling Program, and a program to support facilities for oceanography. Ocean science research is also supported by the Division of Polar Programs, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Division of Earth Sciences, and Division of Environmental Biology.

OCE depends on its Advisory Committee on Ocean Sciences (ACOS), which prepares long-range plans for the Division of Ocean Sciences. These plans, prepared with input from the ocean science community, identify needs and priorities for ocean science research and research infrastructure. The past two plans were reviewed by the Ocean Studies Board (OSB). A new strategic plan

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

for ocean sciences is being prepared by ACOS, and OSB is expected to be involved.

The Ocean Studies Board (in conjunction with the NRC Board on Earth Sciences and Resources) reviewed the Ocean Drilling Program Long-Range Plan. NSF also depends on outside groups for program and facility management. For example, the Ocean Drilling Program receives advice from the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling, an international consortium with advisory groups of scientists from the academic community.

The present partnership is basically healthy, and the continued vigor of marine science will depend more than ever on NSF leadership in maintaining the fundamental science. Numerous aspects of the partnership require constant attention: the need for NSF to broker interagency funding for basic science as its own resources are outstripped; the balance between organized scientific efforts and individual investigator, independent grants; and determination of the proper balance among disciplines.

Department of the Navy

The Office of Naval Research has enjoyed a healthy partnership with the academic oceanographic community since its inception. Specifically, ONR funded basic academic research and was largely responsible for the early development and maintenance of oceanography. The academic partnership with ONR has been intellectual as well as financial. ONR depends on external scientists to review its programs through site and program-level reviews and to help develop its science programs through topical workshops. ONR also receives academic advice on program opportunities from the Naval Studies Board and Marine Board of the NRC and the Navy Committee of the Ocean Studies Board. Additional academic input is gained from rotators who come to ONR from the academic community for a few years and then return to academia. ONR's support of academic ship operations has declined in the past few years, which has led to questions about its balance of field and theoretical programs. A joint ONR-academic study of this balance would be useful.

With the end of the Cold War, the focus of Navy-funded research is almost surely going to shift, along with the general level and direction of Defense Department funding. For example, it has been suggested that the recent war in the Persian Gulf implies a greater focus on nearshore problems. However, the Navy, along with NSF, has been the backbone of the U.S. commitment to

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

basic ocean science with a long-term view. Any diminishing of that commitment can, in the long run, undermine both science and national security. The board notes, for example, that the Office of Naval Research is virtually the only federal agency supporting basic research in ocean acoustics.

The Navy recently completed a major consolidation of its laboratories. The result is one ''corporate" laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and four centers: the Naval Air Warfare Center, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and the Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center. These organizations, which primarily conduct research on weapon systems and sensors, provide limited general funding and program support to the academic research community. In addition, NRL has a strong continuing relationship with the applied physics laboratories of four universities: Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Texas at Austin. As the nation faces budgetary constraints, it is likely that NRL and its centers will explore more cooperative activities with the academic research community, especially in light of the reduction in number of the Navy's dedicated oceanographic ships.

The Office of Naval Technology supports Navy laboratories, universities, and private corporations to carry out its mission in the Navy's Exploratory Development (6.2) program. The academic institutions refine and transfer basic research results into technical feasibility and demonstration plans.

The Oceanographer of the Navy, who serves on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, is primarily responsible for providing the oceanographic products and services needed by the Navy's operational forces. In terms of direct funding of research, the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy and its supporting organizations have only a modest relationship with the academic research community. However, the oceanographer's office provides the oceanographic community with access to global data sets and modeling capability. Data available from the Navy's monitoring network could be an important component of a global ocean observing system. The Navy possesses classified data about the ocean that could benefit ocean science research without compromising national security. It is noteworthy that the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy has worked over the past three years to declassify much of the data it possesses on seafloor and sea surface topography. Oceanographers look forward to receiving access to more of the data possessed by the Navy. Also, the

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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Oceanographer of the Navy sponsors all its new oceanographic ship construction, including Navy-owned research ships that are operated by academic institutions. As part of the modernization of the Navy's 1960-vintage oceanographic fleet, the Oceanographer of the Navy ordered three new ships (AGOR class) for the academic research community. The first of these 275-foot-long, multipurpose, deep-ocean-capable research ships (R/V Thomas Thompson) was delivered in 1991 to the University of Washington. One of the remaining two new ships will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the other by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

An important initiative begun by the Oceanographer of the Navy in 1990 was the sponsorship, in cooperation with the Chief of Naval Research and the OSB, of a tactical oceanography symposium to familiarize the academic community with the Navy's operational needs and requirements. This initiative has become an annual event, and the Office of Naval Technology joined as one of the sponsoring organizations in 1992. The Oceanographer of the Navy is striving to facilitate closer links between the operational side of the Navy and the research community.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was formed in 1970 from a combination of existing government entities. Its mission is to explore, map, and chart the global ocean and its living resources and to manage, use, and conserve those resources; to describe, monitor, and predict conditions in the atmosphere, ocean, Sun, and space environment; to issue warnings against impending destructive natural events; to assess the consequences of inadvertent environmental modification over several scales of time; and to manage and disseminate long-term environmental information.

Several partnerships now exist between NOAA and the academic community. The National Sea Grant College Program provides support for the study of estuaries and coastal regions, marine applied research, and the application of research to practical problems. Sea Grant is different from most other government-funded research programs in that it is a mandated partnership. Every two dollars of federal funds must be matched by at least one dollar, often from state agencies. Because of this mandated fiscal partnership, policy makers at the state level are generally more aware of Sea Grant research than of research sponsored by

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

other federal agencies. Sea Grant also provides public service through its marine extension and public information components. The partnership has been successful, but its prospects for growth are limited by budget constraints. Further interaction with the academic community will depend on whether the program can find new directions that will justify increased funding.

NOAA also has marine laboratories located near academic oceanographic institutions. The laboratories often support graduate students who carry out thesis research of direct interest to NOAA. Educational opportunities for federal employees range from formal degree programs to seminars and library facilities available at universities. There are also opportunities for cooperative research programs and several NOAA/university joint institutes have been developed. Cooperative agreements between academic and federal laboratories should be expanded to develop stronger intellectual ties between NOAA and the universities.

NOAA provides modest extramural research funds as part of its Climate and Global Change Program and its Coastal Ocean Program, and through the National Marine Fisheries Service. These programs are a good start, showing agency recognition of the need for a broad base of support. The extramural programs should be strengthened to lend stability and to develop close intellectual ties, which are essential if the research is to meet agency needs. Further, critical issues such as the transition of the global ocean observing system to an operational phase must be examined in the context of NOAA's overall responsibilities and of research results from the Climate and Global Change Program and the Coastal Ocean Program. Development and implementation of a global ocean observing system, led by NOAA, would require better partnerships among agencies and between NOAA and academic scientists.

NOAA and the academic community should together evaluate the effectiveness of NOAA research. This examination should include the existing NOAA/university joint institutes, environmental research laboratories, and extramural research support. Improving the quality of scientific research within NOAA, clarifying its role vis-à-vis external science and agency missions, and stabilizing support for extramural research over the long term are clearly in the national interest. A panel of outside experts should work with NOAA's administration to review alternative approaches for extramural and intramural support, including the merits of different funding mechanisms (e.g., the NSF peer-review model, the ONR omnibus contract model, and the existing NOAA cooperative institute model).

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

The present NOAA fleet consists of 23 ships, of which 5 are inactive and many are old compared to the UNOLS fleet. NOAA's fleet is used primarily to carry out its operational mission in mapping, charting, and fisheries assessment, as well as NOAA research. The fleet occasionally supports other federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and private industry through various arrangements. For several years, NOAA has experienced funding shortfalls for ship operations, resulting in unmet program requirements. NOAA will have to replace its aged fleet and/or use ships owned by others. Under a cooperative arrangement with the academic community, NOAA Corps officers operate the Vickers, owned by the University of Southern California. This experiment has not yet concluded and thus has not been evaluated. NOAA and the academic institutions should consider other mechanisms for cooperative ship use, including the use of academic ships by NOAA scientists.

Discussion of the future shape and use of NOAA research vessels should take place within the larger debate on how to manage, upgrade, and use the research vessels operated by all agencies. The concept of a national research fleet is providing a context for this discussion. It is clear that we can no longer afford the luxury of regarding individual agency vessels as unrelated, with no sharing of resources.

A major obstacle for marine science lies in the difficulties of developing and managing spaceborne instruments over the next decades. Historically, NASA developed meteorological spacecraft that eventually evolved into operational systems managed by NOAA. However, for marine observations, apart from long-standing efforts in visible and infrared sea surface temperature observations and microwave sea ice measurements (both of interest to short-term forecasting), there is no effective mechanism for the systematic development or transfer of technology from research to operations. Some mechanism must be found to routinely collect such observations that are important to the NOAA mission. NOAA will need additional funding to carry out these observations, and a partnership arrangement will be necessary to identify the essential variables to be observed.

Another area of potential partnerships involves data bases, especially their accessibility. NOAA is responsible for the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). Created in the 1950s, NODC is intended to provide both present access to data and an archive for future generations. However, the center has failed to keep abreast of changing technologies in observation and data base man-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

agement. As global programs generate increasing volumes of data and place new demands for the use of data from all sources, the need for modern national data facilities will become increasingly urgent. Because working scientists are often the source of many of the data and are often the largest potential users, they should participate in the design and use of these important data bases. The Joint Environmental Data Analysis center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which involves active scientists in the quality control and decisions of archiving data, is a first step in developing such partnerships.

Environmental Protection Agency

Since its founding in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency has developed numerous regulations relative to both air and water, and environmental quality in many previously heavily polluted areas has improved as a result of these controls. Now, as environmental problems on regional, national, and international scales are increasingly recognized, EPA's challenge is to improve our understanding and management of the sources of pollutants and the environments that receive waste. The EPA Science Advisory Board (1990), in its landmark report Reducing Risk, stated that too little attention is paid to environmental problems that have significant large-scale consequences and low reversibility (e.g., global climate change and loss of habitats and biodiversity). In the past, EPA has relied on internal expertise for scientific input, but the range of problems and their complexity can no longer be handled in this way. EPA has made a commitment to the increasing use of scientific advice throughout its activities. Meeting this commitment will require strong partnerships with the academic community.

EPA's need both to view pollution control from a larger environmental perspective and to increase its reliance on science offers prospects for partnerships with the academic ocean science community. EPA engages scientists in its environmental research laboratories, a relatively small extramural grants program, exploratory environmental research centers, and environmental management programs, including the National Estuary Program. An expanded EPA partnership with the academic community could include the following:

  • expansion of the extramural grants program and creation of additional environmental research centers collocated with univer-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

sities and specifically focused on present and future problems in the marine environment;

  • agreements between EPA research laboratories and nearby academic or private institutions;

  • training of EPA personnel in newly emerging science that enhances the science perspective in order to balance the strong regulatory perspective that exists within the agency; and

  • increased reliance on academic experts in areas in which they may be better positioned than commercial consultants (e.g., analysis of long-term and large-scale environmental problems).

Problems with the agency's approach to academic grants and centers have discouraged many university-based experts from working with EPA. In addition, the program and regional offices and the Office of Research and Development laboratories often rely on contractual mechanisms that prevent EPA from obtaining the best outside scientists to work on agency issues. EPA should move quickly to bolster its grants and centers programs. The agency should also implement a long-term plan to replace contractual mechanisms that may be detrimental to obtaining the best possible scientific information.

Minerals Management Service

In 1973, in response to the threat of an international oil embargo, President Nixon announced an ambitious program for accelerated exploration and development of the oil and gas resources of the outer continental shelf (OCS) of most of the United States. Although it had managed offshore development in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico for many years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was suddenly required to evaluate the environmental consequences of greatly expanded exploration and development. Since that time, through the BLM (now MMS) Environmental Studies Program, the Department of the Interior has spent more than $259 million for studies of the climate, circulation, contaminant levels, ecology, living resources, geohazards, and effects of oil and gas development in all OCS areas, particularly those with no previous development.

Although many academic ocean scientists have been involved in MMS studies, the agency has traditionally relied on commercial procurement contracting to acquire technical information. Some consequences of this approach are that relatively little of the information produced was published in the open scientific litera-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

ture, whereby it could undergo peer review and perhaps gain broad credibility, and a cadre of environmental scientists, who could influence public opinion and policy, was not nurtured. Further, the program's emphasis on short-term results as opposed to long-term understanding provided limited opportunity for research innovation. To overcome these limitations, MMS has sought to increase the involvement of academic ocean scientists in its Environmental Studies Program through a variety of mechanisms: (1) two cooperative agreements with university groups to support investigator-initiated research on the long-term effects of petroleum development activities (i.e., the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in the Gulf of Mexico and the University of California-Santa Barbara in southern California); (2) other cooperative agreements with academic institutions that have unique capabilities for meeting MMS information needs; (3) the award of competitive contracts for large projects to academic institutions (e.g., Louisiana-Texas shelf physical oceanography studies at Texas A&M's Texas Institute of Oceanography and Louisiana State University); (4) extensive involvement of academic oceanographers on the scientific committee of the OCS advisory board and on quality review boards of various studies; and (5) increased emphasis on publication of study results in the open scientific literature.

MMS is already actively seeking to develop partnerships with academic oceanography, but to further these relationships, it should consider the following:

  • expansion of the cooperative agreements for strategic investigator-initiated research on long-term environmental and socioeconomic effects of oil and gas in developed OCS regions;

  • use of academic institutions (similar to the recently initiated physical oceanographic studies in the Gulf of Mexico and off California) for complex scientific studies that require the innovation and integration for which these institutions are particularly well qualified; and

  • participation in the shared use of the academic research fleet with other federal agencies through more active involvement with UNOLS. MMS research vessel requirements and scheduling constraints do not always coincide with the availability of UNOLS vessels.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration develops new technology for space, demonstrates its use for a variety of

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

scientific and technical purposes, and supports related science. NASA-developed technology provided the first synoptic views of Earth, and NASA Earth observation programs have since evolved into the present international operational and research missions for remote sensing of processes in the atmosphere and at the ocean and land surfaces. The great difficulty in observing the ocean by conventional means (ships and buoys) led oceanographers early in the post-Sputnik period to recognize the value of spaceborne observations.

In the more than 30 years since satellite imagery was first demonstrated, NASA and the ocean community have achieved notable successes. Satellite-measured sea surface temperatures are now routine input for weather and climate forecasting. NASA guided this technology to its present mature operational state. The Seasat and Nimbus-7 missions demonstrated the validity of the idea that the ocean surface's shape and color could be measured from space and would be useful. Data from these two satellite missions are still used by ocean scientists.

As part of the Earth Observing System (EOS), NASA plans a major data and information system, the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). EOSDIS will contribute to the Global Change Data and Information System, a joint venture of NASA, NOAA, and USGS mentioned earlier. Oceanographic data will form an important part of these data systems, and the oceanographic community should ensure that it is well represented on the advisory and management groups for these systems. Beginning in the early 1980s, NASA worked with the academic oceanography community to develop a plan for satellite oceanography and to build a first-class national oceanographic satellite capability. NASA established excellent scientific centers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Goddard Space Flight Center, and put together an effective headquarters team that oversaw the centers' research and supported research at academic institutions, many of them outside the mainstream oceanographic institutions. This effort, which was endorsed at the highest levels of the agency, led to a period of extremely effective collaboration and joint projects. Both NASA and the institutions learned from each other: NASA, a large federal agency oriented toward massive team efforts extending over many years, and the research community, which is often interested in smaller projects lasting no longer than a graduate student's thesis period.

The investment that NASA made in marine science in the

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

1980s is about to pay off in a surge of data from missions using satellites that will fly in the 1990s. Considerable expertise and experience now exist both within the NASA centers and in the nonfederal laboratories and universities—almost all of which can be attributed to the far-sighted NASA policies of a decade ago. The only parameter strongly recommended by the ocean community for measurement in the 1990s that is not included in present plans is Earth's gravity field; this oversight needs to be rectified by joint discussions between NASA and the European Space Agency.

As we look beyond the 1990s and well into the twenty-first century, a favorable outlook is not so clear for ocean satellite measurements. In the past several years, NASA has focused primarily on EOS, a series of satellites aimed at contributing to global change research. EOS's task is to provide a wide variety of data in the late 1990s, but limited budgets are reducing the number of instruments and delaying the launch of others. Certain segments of the ocean community have been involved in EOS planning, but the connection is not as broad as it should be. Moreover, the oceans branch at NASA headquarters has been subsumed into EOS planning, thus eliminating the focal point for ocean interests within NASA.

With this lack of focus, it is more difficult for ocean science to be heard regarding ocean priorities in space measurements. As a result of recent EOS downsizing, ocean instruments have lower priority, and the missions needed for broad coverage of ocean parameters in the twenty-first century are not well defined. If long-term planning does not begin soon, the required missions will not be available to provide continuity with missions flying in the 1990s.

Another problem is alluded to in the discussion of NOAA. For climate purposes, long continuous time series of ocean measurements must be sustained. Because of the requirement for open-ended measurements, the measurements resemble operational ones. Traditionally, NASA has asserted that it did not make operational measurements—that the technology would be transferred to NOAA for that purpose; but NOAA has not received adequate funding even for the limited measurements to be made from the polar and geostationary operational environmental satellites. A closer connection is needed between NASA and NOAA in the transition from research to operations. This problem has been identified by several national advisory committees; it was brought to the attention of the responsible interagency committee, the National Space Council, and is being debated there. Because glo-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

bal change research is a national concern, resolution of this problem of transition is urgent.

The transition of NASA technology to Department of Defense (DOD) operational measurements has had mixed success; the microwave radiometer is now operational in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, and data are provided routinely to academic investigators. The Navy has flown, and plans to continue to fly, additional altimeters for ocean surface measurements. However, NASA's attempts to work with DOD on the flight of other instruments for surface winds and ocean color have floundered; this area also needs attention.

Because of the importance of oceanography to the Global Change Research Program, NASA should reestablish some mechanism with sufficient stature at headquarters to communicate with the marine science community. NASA should formulate, in collaboration with other agencies and the academic community, a coherent sense of where its long-term responsibilities lie for the overall health of marine science. For example, NASA is the agency that can nurture the special scientific and technical expertise required for the use of satellite remote-sensed data, and it must do so. Partnerships are key; it is more important than ever for the ocean community to develop partnerships with NASA, as it has with other agencies. NASA should help foster these partnerships. Further, NASA needs to recognize the importance of supporting surface-based programs that both directly support and help maximize the scientific returns from its spacecraft.

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy, formed in 1977, is responsible for supporting the development of energy production and conservation technology, the marketing of federal energy supplies, nuclear weapons research and development, energy regulation, and the collection and analysis of data on energy production and use. DOE has carried out marine-related research for many years, most recently as part of its Carbon Dioxide and Coastal Ocean Margins Programs in the Office of Health and Environmental Research. The research focused initially on understanding the fate of radionuclides. DOE marine research is presently concentrated on chemical and biological aspects of the global carbon cycle to understand the fate of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere as part of energy production and use. In particular, DOE has funded studies of integrated regional biological productivity on the continental

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

shelf, the cycling and transport of organic carbon and nutrients across the shelf, the influence of western boundary currents (e.g., the Gulf Stream) on shelf physics and biological productivity, particle transport processes, and particle burial in basins along the continental margin.

DOE is one of the few agencies to support long-term research in coastal oceanography. Long time series are useful to determine whether the coastal ocean is changing because of anthropogenic influences and to separate directional changes from natural variations. Earlier programs supported the development of in situ instruments to measure optical properties, particle concentration and flux, chlorophyll, and nutrients, allowing important scientific advances. DOE's support of the successful Food Chain Research Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is an example of the value of its early academic partnerships.

Somewhat more than a decade ago, Congress assigned DOE the responsibility to collect information and maintain a major data base on carbon dioxide. Interest in carbon dioxide was growing because of the increasing body of theory suggesting a relationship between the greenhouse effect and energy production and supply. As part of the interagency focus on global change research, several programs initiated within DOE in the past few years capitalize on its experience and interests. Two major programs have emerged: the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program and the Computer Hardware, Advanced Modeling and Model Physics (CHAMMP) program. The ARM program is designed to make complete and detailed measurements at strategically chosen sites to enhance our understanding of clouds and solar radiation. The primary focus of CHAMMP is climate modeling. One of its major goals is to advance the speed of climate models by using highly parallel new computer hardware systems, other software techniques, and new algorithms. Many of the major ocean-atmosphere models from around the world are now being compared. In addition, DOE is requesting an increase in the fiscal year 1993 budget for its open ocean research thrust to fulfill its mission to understand the carbon dioxide balance and the ocean's role in this balance.

DOE funds both extramural research and research carried out at its national laboratories. DOE's national laboratory system employs approximately 50,000 people and has a budget of $6 billion to $8 billion. Marine research is a small part of the overall DOE research effort; Brookhaven National Laboratory is the primary site for marine research. As the oceanographic community

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

discusses its approach to the partnership it hopes to forge with DOE, the laboratories should be considered integral participants.

DOE has sought scientific advice on its marine research through workshops, standing committees of the National Research Council, and one-time reviews by NRC panels and other groups. The OSB has reviewed the Coastal Ocean Margins Program, has advised the Carbon Dioxide Program on oceanic carbon dioxide research, and is presently advising the Office of Health and Environmental Research on the application of molecular biological techniques to marine research. The Coastal Ocean Margins Program would benefit from a standing panel of outside experts to help its staff formulate a focused research plan that would build on the agency's strengths in long-term monitoring and regional research. The existing DOE partnerships with academic scientists in the Carbon Dioxide Program and in the area of molecular marine biology appear stronger.

A more general issue for the oceanographic community to consider is where, in light of DOE's missions, new common grounds might lie. There appears to be a genuine interest on DOE's part to enhance or change its role vis-à-vis Earth sciences. The energy implications of marine geology and geophysics research seems to be a natural field for initial discussions. The plans now being developed by DOE for small satellite missions to measure radiation might well be enhanced to include small satellite missions for ocean measurements. There are clearly many other areas in which energy research and energy supply options overlap with ocean science interests. Future partnership discussions with DOE might be aimed at assessing priorities and planning possible interactions in each particular area.

U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey was established in 1879. Its primary responsibilities are identifying and characterizing the nation's onshore and offshore land, water, energy, and mineral resources; investigating natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides); and conducting the National Mapping Program. To achieve these objectives, USGS prepares maps and digital and cartographic data; collects and interprets data on energy, mineral, and water resources; performs fundamental and applied research in Earth sciences to understand Earth processes and their variations in time and space; and publishes and disseminates the results of its investigations in the form of maps, data bases, and

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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reports. The USGS marine program has two components: (1) the Offshore Geologic Framework, and (2) Coastal and Wetlands Processes. The Offshore Geologic Framework components conduct regional scientific investigations aimed at understanding and describing the geologic framework, energy and mineral resources, geohazards, and seafloor environmental conditions of U.S. offshore and other areas that could potentially provide a continued supply of needed resources.

The overall objective of USGS coastal research is to improve our ability to predict coastal erosion, wetland loss, coastal pollution, and the location of marine hard mineral resources through a better understanding of processes and the geologic framework within which the processes operate. Improved predictive capabilities are needed by coastal zone planners and managers and are required for preservation of the nation's coastal resources. Thus USGS marine science activities range from a major systematic mapping of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to deep seismic exploration beneath the seafloor and continental margins, to transport processes within the ocean and in coastal areas. Recent increased focus on the coastal zone resulted from government interest in sea-level rise and pollution. Because USGS participates in many national and international research programs with academic scientists, it has developed effective means for peer review and communication of agency research results. An example of partnerships is the USGS Marine Program, begun in the 1960s. The program located it facilities near academic or oceanographic institutions (i.e., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of South Florida, Stanford University, and the University of Washington), which permits sharing of marine infrastructure and human resources. Numerous memoranda of understanding and cooperative agreements with other universities are also in place for specific program tasks and needs. USGS annually conducts a part of its field operations on UNOLS ships.

An expanded partnership between USGS and academia could include the following:

  • Increased use of external scientists to review the USGS ocean science program. This process might help to clarify the unique role of USGS in marine research. Aspects of the USGS Marine Program are presently reviewed by the Marine Board and other NRC boards.

  • Increased participation of external scientists on collaborative projects. Examples of recent successes include studies con-

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
×

ducted in California, Boston harbor, and Louisiana and the participation of academic scientists and students in EEZ mapping cruises.

  • Reexamination of USGS marine research goals in light of areas for increasing cooperation with academic scientists.

Suggested Citation:"2 Toward New Partnerships in Ocean Sciences." National Research Council. 1992. Oceanography in the Next Decade: Building New Partnerships. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2048.
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Oceanography has moved into the spotlight of urgent social concern, because of the oceans' impact on issues such as global climate change, biodiversity, and even national security. This new volume points to improved partnerships between ocean scientists, federal agencies, and the oceanographic institutions as the key to understanding the oceans and their effects on our lives.

Oceanography in the Next Decade outlines pressing marine research problems and offers recommendations for how they may be solved, with detailed discussions of:

  • How oceanographic research is currently conducted.
  • Recent discoveries and research needs in four subdisciplines—physical, chemical, geological, and biological.
  • Coastal oceanography, which is important because of growing coastal populations.
  • The infrastructure of oceanography, with a wealth of information about human, equipment, and financial resources.
  • A blueprint for more productive partnerships between academic oceanographers and federal agencies.

This comprehensive look at challenges and opportunities in oceanography will be important to researchers, faculty, and students in the field as well as federal policymakers, research administrators, and environmental professionals.

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