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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF DEEP (>1000M) SUBMERGENCE SCIENCE 



TESTIMONY OF 



PROFESSOR PAUL J. FOX 



(GRADUATE SCHOOL OF OCEANOGRAPHY. URI) 



CHAIR, DEEP SUBMERGENCE SCIENCE COMMTTTEE 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY-NATICHSIAL OCEANOGRAPHIC LABORATORY SYSTEM 



BEFCHIETHE 



SUBCCM^MTITEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY. GULF OF MEXICO. 



AND OUTER CCWTINENTAL SHELF 



OF THE 



cc»iMrrTEE (ys merchant marine and rsheries 

 U.S. house of representattves 



March 24. 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittees: 



I appreciate the oppoitunity to testify on behalf of the community of investigators interested in deep 

 submergence science. Others here today are much better qualified to offer comments specific to 

 NOAA's National Undersea Research Program (NURP). Instead, I will focus my comments on the 

 deep water component of submergence science and address a range of relevant issues. In so doing, I 

 wiU show how a component of NURP ccmtributes in significaitt ways to deep submergence science. 



RATIONALE: The vast interior of the global ocean and the underiying seabed is arguably this 

 planet's last frontier. This iimer space holds answers to fundamental questions in biology, chemistry 

 and geology, and these questions can only be addressed through the effective use of deep submergence 

 assets that provide the investigator with a cognitive presence aind a capability to carry out controlled, 

 manipulative and interactive tasks. Presently, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) 

 provide this capability; autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs) are still largely developmental, but 

 hold great potential for the future. 



PRESENT STATE OF DEEP SUBMERGENCE SCIENCE: 



• Scientific Objectives - Although deep submergence science is still characterized by unexpected 

 discoveries and each experiment has an elemenc of exploration, we know enough to identify a host 

 of challenging questions the answers to which are critical to our understanding of how the earth 

 works. For example, the largest biomass and the greatest diversity of animal communities on this 

 planet reside within the irtterior of the ocean. In addititm. the benthic organisms that inhabit the 

 sediments of the deep sea represent another vast habitat of great apparent diversity. These 

 communities are comfdex arid exceedingly dynamic and represent the greatest gap in our 

 understanding of this planet's biology. The answers to questions of direct societal interest such as 

 the global carbon cycle and waste di^xi&al will be incomplete until the ecological processes of the 

 ocean's interior and underlying sediments are understood. Another example of a natural system that 

 can only be adequately investigated with deep submergence assets is the Mid-Oceanic Ridge, the 

 most striking single feature on our planet that encircles the earth. The ridge system is in excess of 

 50.000 km in length and is the locus of 20 km^ of new oceanic crustal production every year. In 

 this dynamic environment, there are a host of physical, chemical and biological processes mvolved 

 in the interactions between circulating seawater and newly created crust that have important 

 implications for our imdetstanding of the composititm of seawater. origin mineral deposits and early 

 life on this planet. 



