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Fox/Dorman Letter to Editor of Science 



16 April 1993 Page 3 of 3 



• Given the scale of the global ocean, the broad range of fundamental 

 scientific questions to be addressed, and the large community of scientists who wish to 

 carry out experiments using deep submergence facilities, the challenge is to devise a 

 comprehensive investigative strategy and an implementation plan that best integrates and 

 utilizes the complete range of deep submergence assets available to the community. Even 

 as new technological capabilities are made available in the form of ROVs and AUVs, such a 

 challenge is daunting in the face of funding levels that remain restrained, as they have 

 for oceanographic facilities during the last decade. Indeed, it is the diminished level 

 of support, when measured against the requirements for utilization of deep submergence 

 science assets, that ftames the ongoing dialogue. A King Solomon-like solution that 

 chooses a technological capability at the expense of another is a solution that does not 

 serve the needs of the scientific community. 



The inner space of the global ocean and its underlying seabed are arguably this 

 planet's last frontier and a family of technological capabilities are needed to carry 

 investigations of the abyss forward into the 21st century. To meet this challenge, a 

 long-term programmatic commitment is necessary to assure the continued development of 

 required deep submergence facilities, and the implementation of a wide range of 

 scientific experiments that will greatly increase our understanding of the physical and 

 biological processes in the deep ocean. 



