Environmental Science Services Administration
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.[1] 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).
Agency overview
The first U.S. Government organization with the word "environment" in its title,[2] 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.[3]
Components and activities[edit]
Headquarters[edit]
ESSA was headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, with the ESSA Administrator as its senior executive.[5] 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").[6]
Flag[edit]
The flag of the Environmental Science Services Administration was in essence the flag of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, modified by the addition of a blue circle to the center of the red triangle, within which was a stylized, diamond-shaped map of the world. Because the Coast and Geodetic Survey retained its identity after it was placed under ESSA in 1965, ships of the Survey's fleet continued to fly the Coast and Geodetic Survey flag as a distinctive mark while the Survey was subordinate to ESSA.
Legacy[edit]
The first U.S. Government organization to address environmental science and earth sciences holistically,[2] ESSA pioneered the revolutionary organizational concept of uniting scientific and engineering activities that had been scattered among its subordinate agencies so as to establish unified mission support to meet environmental science and technology objectives.[7] ESSA's successor, NOAA, continued and broadened the application of this organizational concept by adding marine life sciences to its portfolio of holistic study of the oceans and atmosphere alongside the earth sciences subordinated to ESSA. ESSA served as the prototype not only for NOAA but also for the United States Environmental Protection Agency,[17] which was established two months after NOAA, on 2 December 1970.
ESSA's work in designing weather satellites and managing their missions was a major step forward both technologically and in terms of weather monitoring and prediction. It prompted further development of weather satellites in the exploration of their use, playing a major role in the development of modern weather satellites.[18]