[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 88 (Friday, May 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 26254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11146]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) Strategic
Plan FY 2011-FY 2015
AGENCY: Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), Oceanic and
Atmospheric Research (OAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of publication and availability of the office of Ocean
Exploration and Research Strategic Plan FY2011-FY2015.
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SUMMARY: NOAA'S Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is
electronically publishing the OER Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year (FY)
2011-2015. The strategic plan is published to meet the requirement for
program direction under Public Law 111-11, Section 12104(b). The OER
Strategic Plan describes the vision, mission, goals, core activities,
and organization of the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Electronic copies of the OER Strategic
Plan and Public Law 111-11 Chapter XII are available and may be
obtained from http://www.regulations.gov or from the OER Web site at
http://explore.noaa.gov/OERPlan.
If you need further information, please contact: NOAA Office of
Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), Attn: OER Plan Questions, 1315
East-West Highway-R/OER, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
Executive Summary of the OER 2011-2015 Strategic Plan
The ocean is important to humanity and is still mostly unknown.
Current methods of studying its interior, boundaries, processes,
resources, and changes are slow and expensive, causing management
decisions to be made from relatively uninformed and incomplete
knowledge. NOAA formed OER to explicitly address these issues,
accelerate the pace of discoveries, and increase our understanding of
the ocean.
OER supports a continuum of ocean science that makes discoveries
via exploration and research, and transitions the new knowledge and
capabilities to the rest of NOAA, and the national and international
science, technology, and ocean management communities. OER integrates
science, education, and outreach to raise awareness and increase ocean
science literacy.
OER discoveries and activities help address issues such as the
causes and consequences of natural events and human activities (e.g.,
climate change, ocean acidification), establishing the baseline in
order to assess changes in biodiversity, marine life and other natural
resources or habitats, understanding the dynamics of complex
ecosystems, and improving the ability to model and predict future state
of ocean and Great Lakes ecosystems.
This plan is centered on four cornerstone goals: Exploration,
research, advanced undersea technology development, and education and
outreach. OER enables discovery through the interdisciplinary efforts
of ocean scientists. NOAA mission-related discoveries are transitioned
to focused research (Exploration to Research = E2R) sponsored by OER
and by other agencies and programs with ocean-related missions.
Subsequent research-to-application and technology-to-application
transitions (Research to Application = R2A) are the ultimate goal of
OER activities and will strengthen science, education, and awareness of
the ocean role in the life and health of our planet, and will result in
improved societal understanding and management of the ocean.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and
Research (OER) is publishing the OER Strategic Plan Fiscal Year (FY)
2011-2015, to meet the requirement for program direction under Public
Law 111-11, Section 12104(b). The preparation of the Plan was also
directed by the Appropriations Committee in the Joint Explanatory
Statement and Senate Report (S. Rept. 110-124) accompanying the
Consolidated Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations (Pub. L. 110-161).
OER seeks to better understand our ocean frontiers through bold and
innovative exploration, research and technology development. The Office
explores, maps, observes, detects and characterizes ocean areas and
phenomena; obtains, archives, and distributes ocean data in new ways to
describe the ocean's marine life and features, living and non-living
resources, and physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Data
and observations resulting from OER investments will result in new
discoveries, insights, knowledge and identification of new frontiers,
and will likely lead to new or revised understandings of our largely
unknown ocean. The OER Strategic Plan describes how NOAA will implement
Chapter XII of Public Law 111-11 through the vision, mission, goals,
cores and activities, and organization of the Office of Ocean
Exploration and Research.
Dated: May 2, 2011.
Mark E. Brown,
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer, Office of Oceanic
and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-11146 Filed 5-5-11; 8:45 am]
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