1999 NOPP Report to the U.S. Congress

Report to the U.S. Congress on the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program
(Fiscal Year 1999)
on behalf of the
National Ocean Research Leadership Council
(NORLC)

The Honorable Richard Danzig
Secretary of the Navy
Chair of the NORLC

The Honorable D. James Baker
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Vice-Chair of the NORLC

1 March 1999

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Summary
III. Fiscal Year 1998 Activities
IV. Fiscal Year 1999 Plan/Activities
V. Fiscal Year 2000 Plans
VI. Interagency Coordination Activities

VII. Appendices 1. FY 1998 National Oceanographic Partnership Program Summaries 2. FY 1998 and FY 1999 University-National Oceanographic Laboratory [UNOLS] Academic Ship Survey Schedules 3. 1998 National Ocean Research Leadership Council Meeting Minutes 4. Ocean Research Advisory Panel Meeting Summary 5. NOPP FY 1999 Research Solicitation [Broad Agency Announcement] 6. Sound Surveillance System [SOSUS] Data Plan 7. Year of the Ocean [YOTO] Ocean Buoy Project 8. 1998 NOPP Annual Report [w/o Appendices]

I. Introduction

The National Oceanographic Partnership Program [NOPP] was established in Fiscal Year 1997 through Public Law 104-201. Supplemental legislation for appointments to the NOPP oversight body, the National Ocean Research Leadership Council [NORLC] and the Ocean Research Advisory Panel [ORAP] is contained in Public Law 105-85, the FY 1998 Defense Authorization Act.

The Secretary of the Navy is charged in Subtitle E of title II, Division A, Public Law 104-201 to establish a National Oceanographic Partnership Program to:

1) promote the national goals of assuring national security, advancing economic development, protecting quality of life, and strengthening science education and communication through improved knowledge of the ocean; and

2) to coordinate and strengthen oceanographic efforts in support of those goals by -

a) identifying and carrying out partnerships among Federal agencies, academia, industry, and other members of the oceanographic scientific community in the areas of data, resources, education, and communication, and

b) reporting annually to Congress on the Program.

This report of the Fiscal Year 1999 Partnership Program meets that statutory requirement.

II. Summary

As the National Oceanographic Partnership Program [NOPP] moves into its third year, Program activities to date are summarized below:

The successful FY 1997-98 Partnership Program continues and consists of twenty-three research and education projects, over eight-hundred academic survey ship days, and support to the MEDEA Ocean Panel. The FY 1998 Research Project Summary is at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 contains Academic Ship Survey Schedules for FY 1998 and FY 1999. Primary support for these projects is from ONR and NSF, with participation by the other NOPP Agencies.

The National Ocean Research Leadership Council met April 6, 1998 and October 26, 1998. The Minutes of those meetings are at Appendix 3;

The Ocean Research Advisory Panel convened for the first time September 9, 1998. Minutes of that meeting and a list of members are at Appendix 4;

The Fiscal Year 1999 Partnership Program Research Solicitation [Broad Agency Announcement] was issued November 16, 1998. That call is at Appendix 5. Sixty-nine proposals were received on February 9, 1999 and following Council Approval, awards are expected to be in place by June 1999;

Ongoing interagency activities continue, including Year of the Ocean [YOTO] actions and liaison with other established Federal coordination groups, such as the MEDEA Ocean Panel, the Federal Oceanographic Fleet Coordination Council, and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Environment and Natural Resources;

A response to the request contained in Conference Report H.R. 105-736 for an assessment of four issues related to the use of Sound Surveillance System [SOSUS] data for civil research and education is at Appendix 6;

The Program is responding to a Congressional request to the National Ocean Research Leadership Council to "propose a plan to achieve a truly integrated ocean observing system". A Task Team, Co-chaired by Worth Nowlin, Texas A&M University, and Thomas Malone, University of Maryland was established under the NOPP Ocean Research Advisory Panel to prepare a draft response. That response entitled "Toward a U.S. Plan for an Integrated Sustained Ocean Observing System" is being forwarded under separate cover.

The Partnership Program funded over one-hundred Ocean Drifter Buoys as part of the international Year of the Ocean Program serving both science and education. A summary of that ongoing effort is at Appendix 7.

The Program opened discussions with the Sloan Foundation regarding a "Census of Marine Life" initiative fostered by the Foundation. The agencies expressed interest in the concept and have undertaken a collaboration to address two major challenges to such an initiative; adequate observational techniques, and a sufficient modelling/theoretical framework for assessing the observations. It was agreed to seek co-sponsorship of proposals this year that might be submitted under the NOPP solicitation(s).

III. Fiscal Year 1998 Activities

Merit based competitive procedures were employed to select twelve Partnership Program Research Projects in FY 1998 involving sixty-one institutions in seventeen states. This 1998 Program encumbered $17M for the following science and technology partnership efforts:

Coastal and Open Ocean Observational Systems to establish the means for continuous, high-resolution measurements of oceanic processes;
Sensors and Sensing sensors and instrumentation compatible with future systems;
Regional Scale Coastal and Open Ocean Prediction Systems to integrate and/or network military and civil systems to capitalize on future capabilities;
Education, Training and Outreach - a continuation of FY 1997 projects;
MEDEA Ocean Panel continuation of ocean-related declassification for national needs;
Partnership Program Office - current contract continues on annual options.

The FY 1998 Partnership Program Summaries are at Appendix 1.

The University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System [UNOLS], working with the Naval Oceanographic Office, developed a comprehensive $7.5M oceanographic ship survey program that employed 397 academic ship survey days to address validated Navy operational requirements. The 1998 survey schedule is at Appendix 2a.

The Ocean Research Advisory Panel met on 9 September 1998. This statutory Panel is established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to advise the National Ocean Research Leadership Council regarding administration, policy and procedures for the Partnership Program. Fourteen members were present at this inaugural meeting and they selected Dr. John Knauss, University of Rhode Island as Chair and Dr. Robert Frosch, Harvard University, as Vice Chair. The primary goal of the Panel is to identify the most important and useful ocean research and education topics to be addressed by the Partnership Program. Initial findings from the Panel included:

the duration of the grants, which the ORAP felt should be increased;
the need to embed education efforts into the program;
and the need for greater communication about and outreach on NOPP to groups beyond the scientific research community.

A report of the inaugural Panel meeting and biographies of Panel Members is at Appendix 4. The next meeting is scheduled for April 12, 1999. The Panel has reviewed the Ocean Observations Report that was prepared in response to the request from Congressmen Saxton and Weldon.

The NOPP oversight body, the National Ocean Research Leadership Council (NORLC) met in April and October 1998. The Minutes of those meetings are at Appendix 3. The Council approved the following actions at the April meeting:

Process for NORLC Chair/Vice Chair designation;
NOPP Review Process;
ORAP Process;
FY 1999 Plans;
NOPP promotion actions.

The Council approved the following at the October meeting:

Re-election of the NORLC Chair/Vice Chair;
Development of an Ocean Observation Plan in response to a request from Congressmen Saxton and Weldon;
Development of a SOSUS Data Plan in response to Congressional report language;
A plan for response to Congressional language regarding NSF and the Ocean Studies Board (OSB) Report.

IV. FY 1999 Activities/Plans

The FY 1999 National Oceanographic Partnership Program contains the following elements:

$14M for the following Science and Technology Partnership Program Topical Areas:

-- Data Assimilation and Modeling to foster a community-wide "hub" and "node" structure for model development and use as well as data assimilation techniques;

- Ocean Observation Capabilities for innovative sensors and measurement techniques to obtain chemical, biological, and optical oceanographic variables in 3-D space and time to augment physical oceanography data;

-- Program Office - current contract continues.

$7.5M for oceanographic ship survey operations. The University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System [UNOLS] and the Naval Oceanographic Office have again developed a schedule using academic research vessels to address validated Navy requirements. That survey schedule can be found in Appendix 2b.

The FY 1999 Partnership Program Research Solicitation [Broad Agency Announcement] was released November 16, 1998 through the Office of Naval Research. Sixty-nine research proposals were received on February 9, 1999 and a comprehensive peer-review process is currently underway. Upon approval by the National Ocean Research Leadership Council, research awards are expected to be in place by June 1999.

Congressmen Curt Weldon (R-PA) and James Saxton (R-NJ), Chairs of the House Subcommittee on Military Research and Development and the House Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans respectively, requested the Chair and Vice Chair of the National Ocean Research Leadership Council to "propose a plan to achieve a truly integrated ocean observing system." This request followed from a number of YOTO activities but particularly the National Oceans Conference in June of 1998 and a House hearing on ocean observations in July of 1998. Dr. Baker, as Vice-Chair, agreed to take the lead for the Council to prepare a plan in response to this request. A Task Team, Co-chaired by Worth Nowlin, Texas A&M University, chair of the Steering Committee for the international Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and Thomas Malone, University of Maryland, chair of the U.S. Coastal GOOS Steering Committee, was established under the NOPP Ocean Research Advisory Panel to prepare a draft response. That response entitled "Toward a U.S. Plan for an Integrated Sustained Ocean Observing System" is being forwarded under separate cover. This first step toward an interagency plan is likely to become a "living document" and a regular component of future NOPP annual Reports. The primary Task Team Members were:

Name /Institution

Worth Nowlin / Texas A&M University
Tom Malone / University of Maryland Horn Point
Jonathan Berkson / US Coast Guard
Mel Briscoe / Navy/ONR
Mike Fogarty / University of Maryland, Chesapeake Bay

Laboratories, Solomons

Linda Glover / Navy/Oceanographer
Keith Good / Mineral Management Services
Fred Grassle / Rutgers
Eric Lindstrom / NASA
Bob Molinari / NOAA
Paul Pan / EPA
Tom Spence / NSF Geosciences

Contributions from many others, including public comments from a web posting, have been incorporated.

An assessment of data from the Sound Surveillance System [SOSUS] for research and education was prepared in response to a request contained in H.R. Report 105-736, the Conference Report accompanying the FY 1999 Defense Authorization Act. A Task Team was established under Navy auspices to address the issue and that assessment with the list of Task Team Members, is at Appendix 6.

V. Fiscal Year 2000 Plans

The President's FY00 budget request includes the following NOPP requests (funds indicated) and the following examples of NOPP-related agency investments pertaining to ocean observation, instrumentation development, ocean modeling and data assimilation:

ONR/Navy - $10M for ongoing and new NOPP efforts on modeling, data access/assimilation.

NOPP-related activities include:

Ocean modeling and assimilation for Naval tactical uses
Complimentary autonomous underwater sensor and vehicle developments
Coordinated ocean instrumentation for research and for tactical uses
Operational forecasts and surveys for Fleet use

NOAA - $4M in designated NOPP funding to construct, deploy, and operate an array of 1000 profiling autonomous floats for real-time basin-wide measurements

NOPP-related activities include:

An additional $13.5M in new funding to implement ocean and coastal ecosystem monitoring
Ongoing funding to detect and forecast oceanic components of climate variability, facilitate safe and efficient marine transportation, preserve and restore healthy marine ecosystems, manage living resources for sustainable use, mitigate natural hazards, and ensure public health

NSF - Approximately $2M for ongoing and new NOPP efforts

NOPP related activities include:

Support for the development of new technology and instrumentation including in situ sensors
Support for extensive ocean observations including several long time series
Support for a variety of assimilation activities and model development for ocean climate, biogeochemical and ecological data

NASA - Approximately $2M designated for NOPP

NOPP related activities include:

Focus on GODAE
Develop partnership between data global assimilation team and coastal applications

DoE

NOPP-related activites include:

Ocean research activity focusing on the use of microbiology tools to explore carbon and nitrogen cycle linkages in marine microbes

USCG

NOPP-related activities include:

Waterways Management and Vessel Traffic Management
Short-Range Aids-To-Navigation
Detection and Indentification of Icebergs
Marine Environmental Protection and Pollution Prevention and Abatement

USGS

NOPP-related activities include:

Ocean research underway in modeling of coastal and nearshore geologic and sediment transport processes

VI. Interagency Coordination Activities

Ongoing interagency activities continue, including Year of the Ocean [YOTO] actions and liaison with other established Federal coordination groups, such as MEDEA Ocean Panel, the Federal Oceanographic Fleet Coordination Council, the ad hoc Ocean Principals Group and the NSTC Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources. A partial listing of key interagency cooperative efforts complementary to the National Oceanographic Partnership Program are listed below.

A. U. S. Global Change Research Program [USGCRP]

http://www.gcdis.usgcrp.gov

B. The Global Ocean Observing Systems [GOOS]

http://www.usgoos.noaa.gov

C. The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment [GODAE]

http://www.bom.gov.au/bmrc/mrlr/nrs/oopc/godae/homepage.html

D. The University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System [UNOLS]

http://www.gso.uri.edu/unols

E. Climate Variability and Predictability [CLIVAR]

http://www.clivar.ucar.edu

F. Year of the Ocean [YOTO]

http://www.YOTO98.noaa.gov

G. Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms [ECOHAB]

http://www.redtide.whoi.edu/hab/nationplan/ECOHAB/ECOHABhtml.html

These represent a range of example activities and planning on an interagency basis.

Go to next section: Appendix 1: FY 1998 National Oceanographic Partnership Program Summaries

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