NOAA News || NOAA Home Page

April 14, 1999 — Since NOAA’s beginning, a large percentage of its oceanographic, atmospheric, hydrographic, fisheries and coastal data has been collected on NOAA ships and aircraft. This fleet of platforms is managed and operated by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, an office made up of civilians and officers of the NOAA Commissioned Corps (a uniformed service of the United States). In addition to research and monitoring activities critical to NOAA’s mission, NOAA ships and aircraft provide immediate response capabilities for unpredictable events, such as recovery and search efforts after the TWA Flight 800 crash, damage assessment after major oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez and Persian Gulf War, and several hurricanes during the 1997 season.

NOAA Corps officers, in addition to managing and operating ships and aircraft, are also scientists and engineers. These officers provide NOAA with a useful blend of operational, management and technical skills that support NOAA’s science and surveying programs both ashore and at sea. Corps officers serve in NOAA’s research laboratories and program offices throughout the Nation and in remote locations around the world; for example, an officer serves as station chief at the South Pole, Antarctica.

The Office of NOAA Corps Operations operates and maintains the largest fleet of research and survey ships operated by a Federal agency. The fleet ranges from large oceanographic research vessels capable of surveying the world’s deepest ocean, to smaller ships responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the United States. The fleet supports a wide range of marine activities, including fisheries research, nautical charting/mapping, and long-range ocean and climate studies. Few ships in the United States can conduct joint operations of fishery stock assessment and oceanography as do NOAA’s fishery research vessels.

The Office of NOAA Corps Operations also manages a fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. These aircraft operate throughout the world, providing a wide range of research capabilities from hurricane prediction research to coastal mapping and charting. Few aircraft outside of NOAA have the structure necessary to carry instrument packages appropriate for NOAA’s missions. There are no comparable aircraft in the commercial fleet to support NOAA’s atmospheric and hurricane surveillance/research programs.

To provide ships capable of serving NOAA missions well into the next century, NOAA began a modernization program. Five of the older, less efficient ships have been taken out of service; two new ships have been placed into service, one in 1996 and the other in 1997. The condition of the remaining ships in the fleet has improved significantly since the modernization program started and most ships will continue to operate for the next few years. NOAA believes that its fisheries research ships will need to be replaced by modern platforms within the next 10 years, and plans have been made accordingly.

NOAA is fulfilling its ship support needs by complementing NOAA ships with ships from other sources, such as the private sector and the university fleet.

These charters will meet both short- and long-term NOAA needs for oceanography and fisheries research projects. Where practical, NOAA is contracting directly for collection of hydrographic data.

NOAA’s ships and aircraft are flexible, multi-purpose platforms that support a wide range of activities related to weather forecasting and prediction, public safety, navigation and trade, natural resource management and environmental protection. NOAA ships and aircraft are the only such platforms in the United States with the capability of meeting NOAA’s program requirements. One such example is the combined fishery-oceanographic research and fishery stock assessment vessels. Under NOAA management, NOAA ships and aircraft are cost-effective and have demonstrated a tremendous safety record and successful mission accomplishment while operating in frequently hazardous environments.

Through the Office of NOAA Corps Operation’s commitment to diligent maintenance, NOAA ships currently operate well beyond the normal service life of comparable research and survey ships. Such commitment has resulted in a cost savings to the taxpayers.