OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 19 



recommendations under these circumstances, several specialized panels^ were 

 formed for the purpose of making specific studies: 



Oceanographic Research Ships. 



New Devices for Exploring the Oceans. 



Ocean Resources. 



Radioactivity in the Oceans. 



International Cooperation in the Marine Sciences. 

 The memberships of the panels are listed at the end of this summary. The 

 Committee on Oceanography is greatly indebted to the panel members, who 

 gave extensively of their time to these studies, and without whose help the 

 recommendations could not have been formulated. 



The complete reports of the panels have been incorporated into the final report 

 of the Committee. Chapter headings of the final report are listed inside the 

 front cover of this summary. Individual chapters will be made available sepa- 

 rately through the National Academy of Sciences as soon as possible. In addi- 

 tion, a condensed version of the Committee's report shortly will be made 

 available for widespread distribution. The reader is referred to individual 

 chapters of the report for more detailed discussion of the background, facts and 

 reasoning which have led to the recommendations summarized in Section III, 

 General Recommendations. 



II. THE IMPORTANCE OP THE PROBLEM 



The Committee has found that relative to other areas of scientific endeavors, 

 progress in the marine sciences in the United States has been slow. There has 

 been a substantial amount of excellent work, more often than not undertaken 

 under extremely diflicult and trying circumstances. But generally speaking 

 progress has not been rapid when compared with the essential and exciting 

 information yet to be obtained by probing the vast and dark, but penetrable, 

 depths of water which cover so much of the earth's surface. 



The seas present a challenge to man which in magnitude approaches that of 

 space. At least we have been able to observe the moon, planets and stars directly 

 with our telescopes. But the ocean depths, shrouded in darkness, have been 

 obscured from our view. We know less about many regions of the oceans today 

 than we know about the lunar surfaces. Yet we have learned enough to know 

 that the major features of the ocean flood — 35,000-foot-deep trenches ; 2,000-mile- 

 long fracture zones ; flat-topi)ed undersea mountains ; broad ocean long ridges ; 

 abyssal plains as flat as a calm sea — are uniquely different from anything 

 either on the surface of the moon or on the land surfaces of earth. How and 

 when were these features formed and why are they so different? An answer to 

 these questions is essential if we are to decipher the history of our planet and 

 its sister planets. Part of the answer lies in the records of ancient earth history 

 locked in deep sea sediments; part will come from an intensive study of the 

 rocks under the ocean. These studies, combined with studies of the waters and 

 the living creatures of the sea, will also tell us much about the origin and evolu- 

 tion of life on earth. 



During the last few years, four great subsurface ocean currents — rivers in the 

 depths of the sea 1,000 times greater in flow than the Mississippi — have been 

 discovered using newly developed current measuring techniques. We suspect 

 that others exist and we need to know where the waters come from and where 

 they go. 



On the practical side the problems to be solved concerning the oceans are at 

 least as urgent as those of space. How many fish are in the sea? No man 

 knows, nor do we know what determines the numbers of fishes in different 

 regions, the quantities of plant and animal material on which they feed, or what 

 could be done to increase these numbers. We must learn these things if we are 

 to help solve the increasingly acute problems of providing animal protein food 

 for the growing numbers of underfed people in the world. Given more study 

 man can economically harvest considerably more food from the seas than is now 

 possible. Considering the position of the United States in the community of 

 nations, it seems appropriate, even essential, that we lead the way in this respect. 



About a third of the energy of sunlight is used to evaporate sea water. This 

 evaporation and the subsequent condensation are the primary means by which 



*The Committee as a whole acted as a panel on basic research, on education and man- 

 power, and on problems of operations, sponsorship, and funding. 



