The a p p l i c a t i o n of e l a s t i c t e t h e r i n g t e c hn o l o g y t o t h e d e s i g n of s u r f a c e and n e a r -s u r f a c e buoy systems has resulted in improved data coll e c t i o n and h i g h r e s o l u t i o n n a v i g a t i o n i n t h e r el a t i v e l y s h a l l o w w a t e r s c o v e r i n g t h e c o n t i n e n t a l s h e l v e s . T h e s e e l a s t i c , t a u t buoy systems possess t h e a b i l i t y t o w i t h s t a n d t h e m e c h a n i c a l s h o c k exp e r i e n c e d a s a r e s u l t of t i d e and wave f o r c e s . Continuous tension supplied by the compliant moori n g a r r a y t y p i c a l l y limits t h e h o r i z o n t a l e x c u rs i o n of t h e buoy t o 5 t o 10 p e r c e n t of the water depth. This paper touches on t h e h i s t o r y of t h i s t e c h n i q u e from i t s development in the mid-1960's a s d a t a c o l l e c t i o n p l a t f o r m s t o i t s p r e s e n t r o l e as offshore benchmarks for hydrocarbon explorat i o n .The r e s u l t s of selected programs in which t h i s t e c h n i q u e was used a r e d i s c u s s e d .

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