98 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



6. Recently initiated research on marine genetics, utilizing paper 

 chromatography. 



Contract Sponsored Research 



Contract work accounts for a considerable share ol the research 

 budget of the Institution. 



Under contract with the Office of Naval Research, the Institution 

 is engaged in a long-term program of basic research on ocean currents, 

 gravity waves of a wide range of frequencies, the temperature and den- 

 sity structure of the ocean, submarine geology and geophysics, Arctic 

 physical and biological oceanography, and aspects of underwater sound. 



The Office of Naval Research also supports work on marine fora- 

 minifera, marine wood-boring organisms, non-visual methods by which 

 fish detect obstacles, and the behavior of deep-sea microorganisms. 



Under contract with the Office of Naval Research, the Bathyther- 

 mograph Division processes all bathythermograms taken by Navy and 

 oceanographic research vessels in the Pacific, and conducts research 

 on bathythermogram data. 



The Bureau of Ships for several years has supported investigations 

 of marine physics and the development of oceanographic instrumenta- 

 tion and during the past year has, with the Air Force, supported a large- 

 scale program concerned with marine optics. 



Under contract with the Beach Erosion Board, there has been an 

 extensive investigation of beach erosion processes, nearshore currents, 

 and sedimentation. 



The Air Force supports an investigation of the physics and chem- 

 istry of the air-sea boundary layer. 



A study of nearshore recent sediments is supported by the Ameri- 

 can Petroleum Institute. Field work under this program is conducted 

 on the Texas coast and in the east Mississippi Delta area. 



A study of the fish life of the local kelp beds is conducted under 

 a contract with the Kelco Company. 



Expeditions 



Since 1950 the Institution has conducted under Navy sponsorship 

 four long expeditions into the Pacific. In 1950 the Mid-Pacific Expedi- 

 tion, carried out jointly with the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, 

 went to the Marshall Islands. In 1951, the Institution's vessel HORI- 

 ZON travelled to the Gulf of Alaska on Northern Holiday Expedition. 

 In 1952, HORIZON^ as part of a large-scale cooperative venture known 

 as Operation CO-OP, conducted the Shellback Expedition to Peru. In 

 1952-53, HORIZON and SPENCER F. BAIRD investigated the geology and 



