MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Subj: MINUTES OF THE 3 MAY 1999 NATIONAL OCEAN RESEARCH LEADERSHIP COUNCIL MEETING

1. These are the minutes of the fifth National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) meeting held in Room 1853 of the Herbert H. Hoover (Dept. of Commerce) Building on 3 May 1999.

The Vice Chair called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. and presided until the Chair arrived at 1:45 p.m.

Attending:
Mr. Richard Danzig, Secretary of the Navy (Chair)
Dr. D. James Baker, UnderSecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (Vice-Chair)
Dr. Rita Colwell, Director, National Science Foundation
Dr. Neal Lane, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Dr. Michael Luther , representing the Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dr. Charles Groat, Director, United States Geological Survey
Admiral James Hull, representing the Commandant, United States Coast Guard
Dr. Thomas Kitsos, Acting Director, Minerals Management Service
Captain Albert C. Myers, USN, representing the Director, Defense Advanced Res. Projects Agency
Ms. Kimberly Newman, representing the Director, Office Management and Budget
Dr. Norine Noonan, representing the Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Dr. Aristides Patrinos, representing the Deputy Secretary, Department of Energy

AGENDA

2. Opening Remarks

The Vice Chair welcomed all participants and, after asking all attendees to introduce themselves, introduced Dr. Steven E. Ramberg, Chair of the NOPP Interagency Working Group to describe the Consent Calendar Agenda items.

3. Consent Calendar

Four Consent Calendar items were approved as presented:

o Circulate FY 1999 proposed NOPP program to Council for concurrence [May/June]

Proposals received in response to the NOPP FY99 Broad Agency Announcement have been sent out for external peer review. Two review panels (one for Topic A - Data Assimilation and Modeling and one for Topic B - Ocean Observing Capabilities) will be convened on 4-6 May 1999 and will provide a list of projects to be recommended for funding to the Interagency Working Group of NOPP. The IWG will meet on 21 May 1999 to review and discuss the recommendations from the panels. As a result of this meeting, the IWG will recommend a package for funding and circulate this to the NORLC. Consequently, the proposals should be approved for funding by late May/ early June 1999.

o Seek two additional ORAP members [favor industry representation]

The Ocean Research Advisory Panel of NOPP is required to have at least 14 and may have up to 18 members. Currently, the Panel has 16 members and the industrial sector is an area requiring additional representation. The IWG will prepare a list of nominees to the ORAP for consideration by the Secretary of the Navy.

o Develop and release FY 2000 NOPP solicitation, including new topics on:
- Initial IOOS elements
- SOSUS Data Access Pilot

In the last three years, the Broad Agency Announcement for NOPP has been released in late fall. It is important that the release date be moved up by several months in order to avoid conflict with the proposal review processes of individual agencies and to allocate the funds earlier in the fiscal year. The IWG is prepared to begin drafting the FY 2000 funding announcement for release as early as August 1999. In addition to ongoing topics in ocean modeling and observation technologies, the IWG would like to include additional topics on a) initial elements of an Integrated Ocean Observing System, and b) the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) Data Access Pilot. The announcement will also contain an opportunity for existing two-year projects to request renewals.

o Prepare a NOPP education and outreach strategy for fall review by NORLC

The overall goals of the NOPP include " strengthening science education and communication through improved knowledge of the ocean." In order to further promote this aspect of the Program, the IWG would like to convene a subcommittee to develop recommendations for enhancing the education portion of the program. The report and recommendations of this subcommittee will be forwarded to the NORLC for review and discussion at the Fall 1999 NORLC meeting.

o IWG explore invitation for Federal Oceanographic Fleet Coordination Council [FOFCC] to join NOPP as Subcommittee to NORLC

The Federal Oceanographic Fleet Coordination Council (FOFCC) was created several years ago to coordinate operations among the oceanographic research vessels of different agencies. Both NOPP and FOFCC would benefit from a closer relationship; the IWG would be charged to discuss with FOFCC the mutual advantages of functioning as a subcommittee under the NORLC.

4. NORLC Status Report

A. FY 1999 Program Update

Dr. Ramberg provided a brief update on Partnership projects funded in FY97 and FY98. Members of the NORLC noted the increase in funding to industry between FY97 and FY98 and Mr. Danzig indicated that the Navy has a strong interest in technology and the role of industry in NOPP. The NORLC members expressed an interest in seeing more data in the future on the funding diversity of NOPP.

B. Ocean Research Advisory Panel Update

Dr. John Knauss, University of Rhode Island and Chair of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel (ORAP), presented an overview of the activities of that group. He indicated that this is a talented and powerful group of individuals and that he is concerned about keeping them involved in NOPP. The ORAP is very interested in the development of the Integrated Ocean Observations System (IOOS) and seeks a more direct involvement. Dr. Knauss requested that the NORLC provide a direct tasking to the ORAP to oversee this effort. The NORLC agreed to send a letter charging the ORAP to update the current IOOS Plan.

C. Legislative Actions

A number of actions were charged to the NOPP under FY99 legislation.

i. Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) Data Plan

Language in the Conference Report to the FY99 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 3616) requested the Chair of the NORLC to conduct an assessment of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). Rear Admiral Paul Gaffney, Chief of Naval Research reported on the recommendations of a Working Group that examined this issue and reported in the NOPP FY1999 Report to Congress.

The Working Group recommended that NOPP fund a Pilot Project at an existing, functional SOSUS array to examine the utility of unclassified data to the broad research community. This project will be funded out of the FY 2000 NOPP budget and will be reported on in Fall, 2001. The cost for this pilot project is estimated to be about $500,000 but will ultimately depend on the proposals received and any cost-sharing provided.

The NORLC expressed an interest in reviewing a Pilot Project and an associated report to truly assess the value of these data to the larger research community including a cost analysis. Both the ORAP and the IWG will provide input to this assessment. Rear Admiral Gaffney indicated that he expects the response to the call for proposals to determine the interest in and, hence, the utility of the data to the research and education communities.

ii. National Science Foundation/ Ocean Studies Board Report

The FY99 VA-HUD Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4194) conference report contained language requesting the NSF Director to "communicate the findings of the [Ocean Studies Board 'Grand Challenges'] report and counsel with the National Ocean Leadership Council . . . to define ocean science initiatives that will help realize the economic and environmental benefits described in the report". Dr. Rita Colwell, Director of NSF, presented a report on the NSF response to this language.

Dr. Colwell indicated that there are a variety of ongoing programs at NSF that address all or part of the "grand challenges" listed in the OSB study. She emphasized the importance of a long term vision for oceanographic research at NSF. Two different approaches to accomplish this goal were described. First, biological interactions in the ocean need to be studied on a variety of time and space scales simultaneously and in conjunction with physical, chemical, and geological processes, i.e. oceanography needs to become more interdisciplinary. Secondly, oceanographers need to make observations and gather data differently. This goal will be furthered by the development of the new integrated ocean observations system being developed under NOPP. A further goal is long-term, in situ ocean observatories utilizing a variety of continuous, automated sensors. In addition, there is a need to tie oceanography more closely to the atmospheric sciences and to better integrate education with research.

iii. Ocean Observations Plan/ Saxton-Weldon Response

The Chair and Vice Chair of the NORLC received letters in August 1998 from Congressmen Curt Weldon (R-PA) and James Saxton (R-NJ), the Chairs of the Subcommittee on Military Research and Development and the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans, respectively. These letters requested the NORLC to "propose a plan to achieve a truly integrated ocean observing system". NOAA took the lead on behalf of the NORLC to prepare a plan in response to this request. That document was drafted by the Ocean Observation Task Team with subsequent review by the ORAP, approved by all of the agencies, and submitted to Congress on 28 April 1999. This plan for an observing system is informally referred to as the Integrated Ocean Observations System, or IOOS.

Dr. Neal Lane, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, indicated that he strongly agrees with the recommendations from Dr. Colwell with respect to the future of oceanography. At the same time, he cautioned that programs such as the IOOS need to determine and communicate priorities. These programs must address a variety of issues on different time and space scales and should clearly indicate the resources required to accomplish these goals. The NORLC discussed this in the context of the planned IOOS and agreed that the next version of the IOOS should address resource needs and provide a timeline and assessment of resources required for each step. After considerable discussion, it was agreed that the NORLC and ORAP should develop broad, long-term Policy Objectives as a baseline for development of IOOS. The NORLC agreed that the next version of the IOOS would be completed by December 1999 and included in the March 2000 Annual Report to Congress.

5. FY 2000 - The Way Ahead

Dr. Robert Corell, Associate Director of NSF for Geosciences, described a vision of NOPP for the future. The overall goal for NOPP is development of a comprehensive Ocean Observing and Prediction System to address the seven societal needs described in the initial Integrated Ocean Observation Plan combined with cross-cutting issues on research and education. The future of NOPP is envisioned as a central core of NOPP-funded programs that are closely coordinated with the larger body of programs sponsored by individual agencies that, in turn, are related to an even larger collection of technology and operational programs that rely on the NOPP products and NOPP coordination. The means by which the connections among these programs are maintained are not yet fully defined but the NORLC agreed that this the ultimate goal is seamless coordination. The agencies, research and technology communities, and ocean users need to agree on Key Drivers for the entire program. Models for this include the NASA Science Plan and the Interagency Arctic Research Program. The NORLC agreed that it must provide the long-term policy guidance as a "baseline" for the IWG and the ORAP.

6. Other Business

The NORLC agreed that an Executive Committee, Navy, NOAA, NSF, and NASA, will be used to approve items that cannot wait for the infrequent meetings of the full Council.

Dr. Neal Lane reminded all the members that the President's report on the oceans is due in June and that all agency principals should give it some attention when it is received.

The next meeting of the NORLC will be in Fall 1999. At this meeting, the IWG will report on the status of the FY 2000 funding solicitation.

7. Summary of Approvals/ Actions:

Approved:

o The IWG will circulate the FY 1999 proposed NOPP program to Council for concurrence;

o The IWG will identify additional ORAP nominees who represent industry and forward those names to the Chair, NORLC;

o The IWG will prepare a NOPP education and outreach strategy for fall review by NORLC;
o The IWG will develop and release FY 2000 NOPP solicitation, including new topics on:
- Initial IOOS elements
- SOSUS Data Access Pilot

o The ORAP will report on the status of the next version of the IOOS plan to the Chair and Vice Chair of the NORLC and IWG.

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