Contact: Jeanne Kouhestani              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                        8/20/96

NOAA WELCOMES NEW SHIP TO FLEET; KA'IMIMOANA TO SUPPORT OCEANOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATE RESEARCH IN PACIFIC

A new federal research ship based in Hawaii will be used to help scientists better understand the forces in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that drive the world's climate. KA'IMIMOANA will receive a traditional Hawaiian blessing today as it is officially welcomed to its home port in Honolulu.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship KA'IMIMOANA (Ocean Seeker) and its mission will be introduced to members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, oceanographic research community, other federal agencies, and local businesses during the welcoming ceremony and to the general public during a subsequent open house.

"This addition to the fleet will help NOAA continue its important research on the El Niño phenomenon and other seasonal climate variations," said Rear Admiral William L. Stubblefield, director of the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, the commissioned service of NOAA that operates and manages the agency's fleet of ships and aircraft. "KA'IMIMOANA, which has replaced the 30-year-old DISCOVERER, will be used primarily to deploy, recover and service our approximately 70 deep ocean buoys that measure wind direction and speed, air temperature and humidity, and temperature of the ocean in the equatorial Pacific. The new ship and the support it provides will help ensure that this critical program can continue to provide NOAA and other agencies, both domestic and international, with the information needed to understand how the warm water of the equatorial Pacific affects climate not only in the Hawaiian islands, but worldwide, and to predict El Niño events and future climate changes."

The 224-ft. KA'IMIMOANA carries modern computer and laboratory facilities that will enable NOAA and collaborating scientists to conduct additional investigations and collect oceanic and atmospheric data for climate studies while underway to the buoy arrays. The ship's computer systems collect data from a multitude of ship and mission sensors, then integrate and store the data for presentation. High speed communications between the ship and shore facilities allow datasets to be transferred ashore on a near-real-time basis. These data and other information about the ship's current activities, as well as a high-resolution picture of the ship, are also available via Internet at: http://rho.pmel.noaa.gov/atlasrt/kaimi.html.

                              ###