National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports the weather of the U.S. and its possessions and provides weather forecasts to the general public, issues warnings against such destructive natural events as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and tsunamis and provides special services in support of aviation, marine activities, agriculture, forestry, urban air-quality control, and other weather-sensitive activities; monitors and reports all nonfederal weather modification activities conducted in the U.S.; conducts an integrated program of management, research, and services related to the protection and rational use of living marine mammals; prepares and issues nautical and aeronautical charts, provides the Nation's precise geodetic surveys, and conducts broad research programs in marine and atmospheric sciences, solar-terrestrial physics, and experimental meteorology, including weather modifications; predicts tides, currents, and the state of the oceans, conducts research and development aimed at providing alternatives to ocean dumping; provides Federal leadership in promoting wise and balanced management of the Nation's coastal zone; provides satellite observations of the environment by establishing and operating a national environmental satellite system; conducts integrated program of research and services relating to the oceans and inland waters, the lower and upper atmosphere, space environment, and the earth; acquires, stores, and disseminates worldwide environmental data through a system of meteorological, oceanographic, geodetic, and seismological data centers; develops a system of data buoys for automatically obtaining and disseminating marine environmental data; promotes the development of technology to meet future needs of the marine community.