Ocean research offers countless benefits, from improving fisheries management to discovering new drugs to enabling early detection of tsunamis and hurricanes. At the request of the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (JSOST), the National Research Council convened a committee to review the draft and final versions of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy described in Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States: Research Priorities for the Next Decade, which represents the first coordinated national ocean research planning effort involving all federal agencies that support ocean science. The plan presents an ambitious vision for ocean research that will be of great benefit to the ocean sciences community and the nation. This book contains both sets of findings (i.e., the committee's review of the JSOST's draft plan [A Review of the Draft Ocean Research Priorities Plan: Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States] and the review of the final plan). This book recommends that JSOST employ a variety of outreach mechanisms to continue to engage nonfederal partners in ocean research planning efforts, such as establishing external committees to provide scientific and technical advice and to review progress on implementation of the research plan.
Table of Contents


Front Matter
Part I: A Review of the Draft Ocean Research Priorities Plan: Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States, Executive Summary
Summary
1 Introduction and Background
2 Development of the Ocean Research Priorities Plan
3 Assessment of the Overall Plan
4 Evaluating Thematic Priorities and Cross-Theme Integration
5 Interdisciplinary and Multi-Mission Ocean Research
6 Evaluation of Near-Term Priorities
7 Infrastructure and Intellectual Capital
Part II: A Review of the Final Ocean Research Priorities Plan and Implementation Strategy, Summary
1 Evolution of the Plan in Response to Community Input
2 Planning, Review, and Implementation
References
Appendix A Committee and Staff Biographies
Appendix B Acronyms