The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) was a United States federal executive agency created in 1965 as part of a reorganization of the United States Department of Commerce.Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965. Its mission was to unify and oversee the meteorological, climatological, hydrographic, and geodetic operations of the United States. It operated until 1970, when it was replaced by the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The first U.S. government organization with the word "environment" in its title, ESSA was the first such organization chartered to study the global natural environment as whole, bringing together the study of the oceans with that of both the lower atmosphere and the ionosphere. This allowed the U.S. government for the first time to take a comprehensive approach to studying the oceans and the atmosphere, also bringing together various technologies – ships, aircraft, satellites, radar, and communications systems – that could operate together in gathering data for scientific study.
Establishment and mission
In May 1964, the U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for science and technology, Dr. John Herbert Hollomon Jr., established a special committee to review the environmental science service activities and responsibilities of the United States Department of Commerce. Committee members included the director of the United States Weather Bureau, Dr. Robert M. White (1923–2015); the director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Rear Admiral Henry Arnold Karo (1903–1986) of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps; the director of the National Bureau of Standards, Allen V. Astin (1904–1984); and a panel of scientists from industry and academia. The committee's goal was to consider ways of improving the Department of Commerce's environmental science efforts by improving management efficiency and making the provision of environmental science services to the public more effective. The committee's work resulted in its recommendation that the Department of Commerce consolidate various scientific efforts scattered within and between the Weather Bureau, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and National Bureau of Standards by establishing a new parent agency – the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) – which would coordinate the activities of the Weather Bureau and Coast and Geodetic Survey and bring at least some of their efforts, along with some of the work done in the National Bureau of Standards, together into new organizations that focused scientific and engineering mission support for shared areas of inquiry.history.noaa.gov NOAA's Heritage: Environmental Science Services Administration
In a message to the United States Congress dated 13 May 1965 in which he formally proposed the creation of ESSA, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson described ESSA's mission in this way:
The new Administration will then provide a single national focus for our efforts to describe, understand, and predict the state of the oceans, the state of the lower and upper atmosphere, and the size and shape of the earth.
The director of the Weather Bureau, Dr. Robert M. White, explained that the creation of ESSA:
responded to an increasing national need for adequate warnings of severe natural hazards (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, floods); responded to technological advances in capabilities to observe the physical environment and communicate and process environmental data; and would enable scientists to investigate the physical environment as a "scientific whole" rather than a "collection of separate and distinct fields of scientific interest."
ESSA was established on 13 July 1965 under the Department of Commerce's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, bringing the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau together under a single parent scientific agency for the first time. Under his own authority, United States Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans transferred the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory from the National Bureau of Standards to ESSA in October 1965.
Although the Weather Bureau and Coast and Geodetic Survey retained their independent identities under ESSA, the offices of Director of the Weather Bureau and Director and Deputy Director of the Coast and Geodetic Survey were abolished. These offices were replaced by a new administrator and deputy administrator of ESSA.
Components and activities
Headquarters
ESSA was headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, with the ESSA administrator as its senior executive.NOAA Photo Library: Image ID: pers0027, NOAA's People Collection (caption). It consisted of five principal service and research elements, each of which reported directly to the ESSA administrator: the Institutes for Environmental Research, reorganized in 1967 as the ESSA Research Laboratories; the Environmental Data Service; the United States Weather Bureau; the National Environmental Satellite Center; and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Various other headquarters staff elements also reported directly to the administrator, including the U.S. ESSA Commissioned Officer Corps (or "ESSA Corps").
Institutes for Environmental Research/ESSA Research Laboratories Institutes for Environmental Research (1965–1967) To tackle scientific and technological problems related to understanding the global environment,history.noaa.gov NOAA -- AT ITS CREATION: The Environmental Science Services Administration ESSA created the Institutes for Environmental Research, based in Boulder, Colorado. The four institutes were:
The Institute for Telecommunications Sciences and Aeronomy, made up mostly of personnel from the National Bureau of Standards′ old Central Radio Propagation Laboratory and the Geoacoustics Group of the National Bureau of Standards. The Institute for Earth Sciences, made up of staff from the Research Division of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Institute for Oceanography, made up of Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel. The Institute for Atmospheric Sciences, mostly staffed by personnel from the U.S. Weather Bureau's Office of Meteorological Research.
ESSA Research Laboratories (1967–1970) To more precisely reflect the scope and mission of the individual elements of the Institutes for Environmental Research, ESSA reorganized them into the ESSA Research Laboratories in 1967. The ESSA Research Laboratories were made up of:docs.lib.noaa.gov ESSA TECHNICAL REPORT ERL 175-ITS 112: On the Role of Vertical Neutral-Gas Motions in Producing Ion Convergence at E-Region Heights The Earth Sciences Laboratories at Boulder, Colorado, which studied geomagnetism, seismology, geodesy, and related earth sciences; earthquake processes; the internal structure and accurate figure of the Earth; and the distribution of the Earth's mass. The Atlantic Oceanographic Laboratories at Miami, Florida, which studied oceanography, with an emphasis on the geology and geophysics of ocean basins, oceanic processes, sea-air interactions, hurricane research, and weather modification. The Pacific Oceanographic Laboratories at Seattle, Washington, which studied oceanography, the geology and geophysics of the Pacific Ocean Basin and its margins; oceanic processes and dynamics; and tsunami generation, propagation, modification, detection, and monitoring The Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry Laboratory at Boulder, Colorado, which studied the physics of clouds, precipitation, and the chemical composition of and nucleating substances in the lower atmosphere, and conducted laboratory and field experiments examining ways of developing feasible methods of weather modification The Air Resources Laboratories at Silver Spring, Maryland, which studied the diffusion, transport, and dissipation of atmospheric contaminants and the development of methods for the prediction and control of air pollution. The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton, New Jersey, which studied the dynamics and physics of geophysical fluid systems and the development of a theoretical basis for the behavior and properties of the atmosphere and the oceans through mathematical modeling and computer simulation,. The National Hurricane Research Laboratory at Miami, Florida, which examined tropical cyclones scientifically in order to improve predictions. The National Severe Storms Laboratory at Norman, Oklahoma, which studied tornadoes, squall lines, thunderstorms, and other severe local convective phenomena with a goal of improving methods of forecasting, detecting, and providing advance warnings of such storms. The Space Disturbances Laboratory at Boulder, Colorado, which studied the nature, behavior, and mechanisms of space disturbances and the development and use of techniques for continuous monitoring and early detection and reporting of important space disturbances. The Aeronomy Laboratory at Boulder, Colorado, which conducted theoretical, laboratory, rocket, and satellite studies of the physical and chemical processes controlling the mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere and ionosphere of the Earth and equivalent regions of the atmospheres of other planets. The Wave Propagation Laboratory at Boulder, Colorado, which sought to develop new methods for remote sensing of the geophysical environment, with a special emphasis on the propagation of sound waves and of electromagnetic waves at millimeter, infrared, and optical frequencies. The Institute for Telecommunications Science in Boulder, Colorado, which served as the central U.S. Government agency for research and services in the propagation of radio waves, the radio properties of the Earth and its atmosphere, the nature of radio noise and electromagnetic interference, information transmission and antennas, and methods for the more effective use of the radio spectrum for telecommunications. The Research Flight Facility in Miami, Florida, which outfitted and operated aircraft specially instrumented for research and made aerial environmental measurements for ESSA and other groups.
Environmental Data Service Under ESSA, the National Data Center was renamed the Environmental Data Service (EDS). In 1966, ESSA transferred the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's Seismology Data Centers to Asheville, North Carolina, where they merged with the U.S. Weather Bureau's National Weather Records Center to create ESSA's Environmental Data Center.
United States Weather Bureau
Under the 1965 reorganization, the United States Weather Bureau became subordinate to ESSA. It retained its distinct identity as the U.S. Weather Bureau while under ESSA. It was renamed the National Weather Service (NWS) in 1970.
National Environmental Satellite Center
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began weather satellite programs in 1958, and ESSA inherited these upon its creation in 1965. ESSA's National Environmental Satellite Center worked jointly with NASA to develop weather satellite capabilities. It managed the first operational U.S. polar orbiting weather satellite system, known as the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Program. These satellites, launched between 1960 and 1965 and known as TIROS 1 through 10, were the first generation of American weather satellites. These early satellites carried low-resolution television and infrared cameras. Designed mainly to test the feasibility of weather satellites, TIROS proved to be extremely successful. Four were still operating when ESSA was established in 1965.