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Next: 2010s
1970s
- 1970
- 1970
- 1971
- 1971 Undersea science research in NOAA begins as the Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office. Coordinated manned research with universities began in 1978 to use submersibles and remote underwater technology to perform underwater marine science research.
- 1971
- 1972
- 1972
- 1972
- 1973
- 1973 The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory forms as a small research laboratory with emphasis on water quality and environmental impact issues in Puget Sound, off the Oregon and Washington coasts, in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, and in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
- 1973 The Endangered Species Act protects species and populations whose numbers are low or declining. NOAA Fisheries is responsible for marine species under the law.
- 1974
- 1974 The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory is established following a joint U.S.-Canada International Field Year of the Great Lakes that focused scientific research on Lake Ontario during 1973.
- 1974 An outbreak of 148 tornados impacted 13 states and parts of Canada over a 24-hour period, killing 315 people. This outbreak spurs the development of the second generation of weather radars.
- 1975
- 1975
- 1975
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976 The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory deploys the first successful moored equatorial current meter - the beginning of the Tropical Atmosphere/ Ocean array.
- 1977
- 1977 NOAA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is established to support laboratories and research needs. ORD would later become the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
- 1978
- 1978 NOAA collaborates with the U.S. Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration on a program demonstrating that Doppler radar improves tornado warnings and measures wind shear. This results directly in the three agencies procuring a nationwide network of Doppler radars.
- 1978 NOAA Fisheries begins receiving federal funding for the Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program. In 1980, Congress enacted formal program authority to fund fishing industry development projects and expanded this authority in 1983, establishing a minimum percentage of S-K funds to be used to provide financial assistance to projects.
- 1978 The National Weather Service establishes Center Weather Service Units to help with forecasting for air traffic. NWS meteorologists are embedded in each of the 21 FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers to enhance critical weather dissemination within the National Airspace System.
- 1978
- 1979