Federal Program In Marine Polymetallic Sulfide Research

The largest pool of federal resources available for research directed solely toward polymetallic sulfides is derived from three agencies: The National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce, and the Geological Survey (USGS) within the Department of Interior. Programs of these three agencies are the subject of this paper. A fourth, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in the Department of Defense sponsors activities which are supportive in a peripheral way. Each program reflects the missions of its parent agency, and through various techniques, including cooperation among bench level scientists, is mutually supportive and nonduplicative. Support for the DSRV ALVIN is a joint effort among NSF, ONR, and NOAA.