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THE GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH PROGRAM 153 



IMPLEMENTATION 



The remainder of the history of GARP is best told in terms of its 

 achievements."'® In 1974, the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment was 

 conducted in the equatorial Atlantic off the coast of Senegal. Scien- 

 tifically, this experiment addressed the problems of the tropical at- 

 mosphere and ocean and their interaction with the global circulation. 

 Politically and organizationally, it served to test the previously untried 

 notion that scientists, technicians, and support personnel of many na- 

 tions could work intimately and effectively on a common goal in the 

 stressful circumstances of a major field program. Both objectives were 

 achieved with remarkable success. Other preparatory, process-oriented 

 experiments were also launched in the ensuing years, such as the Air 

 Mass Transformation Experiment (AMTEX), organized largely under 

 Japanese leadership in the western Pacific. 



Meanwhile, planning for the Global Experiment continued. The 

 details of its observing program are largely irrelevant to the present 

 discussion. In essence, it sought to obtain accurate observations of the 

 atmosphere and the underlying surface with a resolution in space and 

 time that numerical experiments had indicated would be adequate for ef- 

 fective weather prediction research. These stringent requirements 

 demanded not only global satellite data, but also in situ measurements 

 over the tropics and the oceans. Assembly of the many observing 

 systems that might be contributed by many countries was a complex and 

 challenging task. Moreover, regional programs such as the Monsoon Ex- 

 periment (MONEX) arose to take advantage of the observational net- 

 work of the Global Experiment. It is not surprising that the Global Ex- 

 periment, first proposed for 1972, was postponed many times because of 

 problems in one or another observing system. 



Throughout, the JOG set scientific objectives and priorities and 

 served both as a court of mediation and as a court of last appeal seeking 

 to maintain a program that wouldl^e both scientifically meaningful and 

 operationally achievable. JOCs success in this difficult endeavor is 

 evidenced not only by the execution of the largest international scien- 

 tific field program to date, but also in the continued vitality of the 

 worldwide research effort based on the GARP experiments. 



IMPLICATIONS 



What lessons may be drawn for the design of international scientific 

 efforts from the history of GARP, and what guidelines may be deduced 

 for U.S. involvement in such activities? First of all, I believe we must 



