temperature, salinity, sediment, and chlorophyll concentrations assist 

 in distinguishing one water mass from another. They are easily observed 

 using satellite, moored, and airborne sensors, making it possible to 

 monitor climatic change or seasonal development of the distribution and 

 magnitudes of spring blooms of phytoplankton. Surface fronts concen- 

 trate both phytoplankton and pollutants (including those materials from 

 oil spills and waste dumping—two currently controversial issues 

 requiring documentation as to their concentration, dispersion, and 

 impact on aesthetics, production, and value of resources). 



Within a water mass, day-by-day assessments of the Lagrandigan 

 properties of the shelf or open sea are necessary for understanding the 

 transport of organisms, pollutants, or their interactions between 

 polluted water masses and nonpolluted water masses. For instance, in 

 the case of dumping at the 106-mile Deep Water dumpsite, it would be 

 desirable to follow the movement of the materials as they are mixed 

 within the original water mass dumped material, sludge, acids, or 

 spoils. Knowledge of frontal and eddy positions is also essential for 

 determining the position of future dump sites. Access to high- 

 resolution imagery will enable real-time inspection of the dynamic 

 environment, biological character, and certain physical properties of a 

 dumpsite. It will also aid dumpers (1) to target quadrants that, at the 

 time, are not occupied by water having significant biological activity 

 and (2) to avoid water masses such as warm core rings and other entrap- 

 ment features, should that be desirable. Furthermore, use of the MAREX 

 products will permit environmental managers to maintain a real time 

 assessment of catastrophic events in which materials, detectable at the 

 surface, can be tracked over large geographic areas through time. 

 Immediate use of such information will make it possible to provide 

 advice in regard to the effects of spills, determine directions that 

 contaminated waters are moving in, and clean up spilled materials. 



3-8 



