INTRODUCTION 



A report on environmental science is at best 

 a risky undertaking. As was noted in the third 

 report of the National Science Board, Environ- 

 mental Science — Challenge for the Seventies 

 (NSF3 71-1): 



Environmental Science is conceived ... as 

 the study of all of the systems of air, land, 

 water, energy, and life that surround man. 

 It includes all science directed to the system- 

 level of understanding of the environment, 

 drawing especially on such disciplines as 

 meteorology, geophysics, oceanography, and 

 ecology, and utilizing to the fullest the 

 knowledge and techniques developed in such 

 fields as physics, chemistry, biology, mathe- 

 matics, and engineering. 



Indeed, the natural environment is so all-encom- 

 passing, so complex, that any attempt at exposi- 

 tion would appear doomed from the outset. 



This report has a more limited, but per- 

 haps more crucial, purpose: to assemble, in 

 one place, enough material to permit the iden- 

 tification of fundamental patterns that might 

 help in appraising the status of environmental 

 science today. It seeks a basis for tentative 

 assessments of: 



1. The availability of essential data and 

 successful theoretical formulations; 



2. The present capability of environ- 

 mental science to predict future events; and, 

 hence, 



3. The capacity of science to serve 

 society in its growing concern with the condi- 

 tion of the natural environment and what man 

 is doing to it. 



To achieve this end, many leading environ- 

 mental scientists were asked by the National 

 Science Board to prepare informal statements on 

 specific, assigned topics covering a representative 

 sample of environmental phenomena. They were 



asked to include their personal opinions and judg- 

 ments on the current status of scientific knowl- 

 edge and understanding. This volume comprises 

 a selection among the responses to those requests. 



In order that the document not be mis- 

 understood, or be judged with reference to 

 inappropriate criteria, several important ca- 

 veats need to be stated. 



First, no attempt has been made to provide 

 a complete description of the natural environ- 

 ment. Rather, the topics have been selected to 

 illustrate a fundamental feature of environmental 

 science — namely, that interactions prevail among 

 all environmental regimes. 



Second, the report does not attempt a defini- 

 tive scientific review of environmental science. 

 Such a review, representing the consensus of 

 informed opinion, is probably not possible today 

 and, at the very least, could not be undertaken 

 without a massive team effort. Nor does the 

 report attempt to duplicate the many excellent 

 surveys that continue to be prepared on the status 

 of individual disciplines within the "environ- 

 mental sciences." 



Third, this volume is not primarily concerned 

 with pollution, a subject of enormous environ- 

 mental concern but one that is receiving extensive 

 attention in many other places. 



Fourth, in preparing this report for publica- 

 tion, it has not been feasible to update the original 

 papers. Thus, the material is now nearly two 

 years old. In most instances this does not affect 

 the conclusions presented, even though advances 

 in environmental science are being recorded at an 

 increasing rate. 



Finally, it has been assumed, as a matter of 

 policy, that all the material included in this report 

 has a reasonable scientific basis, even though 

 some of the opinions expressed may cause con- 

 troversy among specialists, both contributors and 

 others. In certain instances, differences of opinion 

 will be observed in statements devoted to the 



