Anonymous@symcom.math.uiuc.EDU (11/13/87)
/* Written 7:12 am Nov 12, 1987 by marshek@ut-ngp.UUCP */ /* in symcom:comp.graphics */ In response to my original article, I got some responses which mentioned an organization called NOAA. What is the full form of NOAA ? Thanx /* End of text from symcom:comp.graphics */ National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration I have a friend who recently became an ensign in NOAA. Around here (Champaign, IL) NOAA is mainly recognized because our local cable TV weather station features NOAA radar-based weather reports. NOAA is one of the two non-military uniformed services of the federal government (the other is the Public Health Service). The reason I was given for NOAA and PHS to be uniformed services, with commissioned officers and a hierarchy similar to that of the military, is so that NOAA and PHS officers can be sent into hazardous situations where civilians could perhaps not be. Examples: sending PHS officers into a quarantine area to provide relief and perform immunizations, or sending a NOAA research ship out to investigate atmospheric conditions at the edge of a hurricane. NOAA does a lot of the hands-on part of basic research in oceanography and weather study. Lest you fear that our government has overlooked an opportunity to exploit science for military purposes, I will tell you that NOAA also sometimes does odd jobs for the Navy, such as sweeping for mines, or laying out the underwater equivalents of spy satellites. That is another reason to give NOAA a quasi-military structure: so that NOAA employees can be placed under extra security restrictions if need be. I know, I know, that's more than you wanted to know. I get carried away sometimes. -------- Cameron Smith Symbolic Computation Lab "You knew the job was dangerous Math Dept. when you took it, Fred!" University of Illinois -- SuperChicken Urbana IL 61801 (217) 333-4654 cameron@symcom.math.uiuc.edu