Our oceanographers have proposed a network of drifting 

 telemetry buoys. Such a network would provide a continuous 

 picture of oceanographic conditions (fig. 9). Prototypes 

 have been tested. These buoys, if released periodically in 

 the western Pacific Ocean, would drift to North America, 

 taking up to 2 years. They would transmit their data on 

 locations, salinity, and temperature to vessels at sea, land 

 stations, or even satellites (fig. 10). By 1969, satellites will 



be capable of relaying data from ocean stations. Our lab- 

 oratory already has equipment to communicate with buoys 

 via satellite signals. 



Modern shipboard equipment gi'eatly speeds the col- 

 lection and analysis of oceanographic data (fig. 11). Nansen 

 and other sampling bottles collect water for chemical an- 

 alyses. Bathythermographs record the temperatures. 



FIGURE 10.— Transmission of data from drifting buoys via sat- 

 ellites is under development. Monitor stations will trigger buoys 

 to report oceanographic data and buoy locations. 



FIGURE 11. -Data from an automatic STD (salinity-temper- 

 ature at depth) sensor (left) lowered from a ship are collected 

 on a recorder (right) or may be processed immediately with a 

 shipboard computer. 



— 8 — 



