OCEANOGRAPHY 93 



marine geology, detect anomalies within the substructure and provide still an- 

 other means of defining petroleum accumulations. 



Interest in the physical characteristics of the oceans has been influenced by 

 the industry's participation in the manufacture of instruments and systems for 

 military applications. For work in the field of antisubmarine warfare, the in- 

 dustry's research and advanced studies groups are conducting investigations into 

 acoustic propagation through water and the detection of submersibles by mag- 

 netic techniques. 



At this point, I think it appropriate to specify how we in the geophysical 

 industry feel that we can contribute to a program in oceanographic research and 

 surveys. I will discuss, in some detail, industry's ability to conduct production 

 marine surveys. To a lesser extent, I will comment on capabilities in the gen- 

 eral areas of instrument design and data processing. It might be pointed out 

 that it was only because of the economic need to find oil and other minerals that 

 exploration geophysics enjoys the relatively high order of development it has 

 attained. 



MARINE SUR^'ET CAPABILITY 



In reviewing the testimony as presented before this committee and the various 

 documents which have been circulated pertaining to proposed programs in the 

 marine region, it is industry's view that a definite need exists in the area of 

 oceanic surveys. A common item of testimony has been the scarcity of qualified 

 men and equipment to perform satisfactorily those operations required of a 

 comprehensive oceanographic program. If I may again quote, a Committee 

 on Oceanography publication remarks on "* * * routine survey tasks that are 

 not the proper work of a research organization and contribute little to the 

 laboratory except as a financial stopgap." While this remark is necessarily 

 out of context, I believe that it effectively summarizes the relationship — at least 

 as an operational arrangement — between research and surveys. 



It is industry's belief that marine surveys can be accomplished more efficiently 

 and with greater economy as surveys rather than as a part of research. The 

 conduct of comprehensive oceanographic surveys, on a production basis, could 

 relieve the universities and nonprofit institutions of an essentially routine oi)era- 

 tion and free valuable oceanographers for research. 



Here, an industrial capability peculiar to the geophysical industry may pro- 

 vide a service in the conduct of the required surveys. The collection of earth 

 sciences data, on a production basis, forms the major jxirtion of the geophysical 

 industry's business. In the last year, 180 geophysical exploration parties, both 

 land and water, were dispatched by the industry to almost every free country 

 in the world. Staffed from a total industrial personnel capability of over 5,000 

 geophysicists, these parties conducted seismic and gravimetric surveys in the 

 search for petroleum. 



In a highly competitive environment such as exists in the geophysical indus- 

 try, close attention must be paid to cost and performance considerations. Pro- 

 duction survey work must produce, both in quantity and in quality. For this 

 reason, the industry's scientific exploration parties are organized to perform 

 their activities in the most efficient, economical manner. Data gathering activi- 

 ties which can be accomplished by semiskilled or unskilled labor are performed 

 by such labor, supervised, from a quality-control standpoint, by party scientists. 



The amount of offshore marine survey work conducted by the industrj' is 

 modest as compared to the total amount of work i)erformed by nonindustrial 

 agencies. However, the volume is a direct reflection of the need within the {petro- 

 leum industry for such work. For example, in the peak year of marine explora- 

 tion activity, 1954, there were some 28 ships and smaller vessels active. In 1959, 

 this peak had been reduced by about 64 percent to a total of 10 vessels or less. 



The marine surveys conducted b.v the geophysical indu.stry required the use of 

 specializefl personnel, so a decline of 64 percent in the marine survey market 

 should certainly have necessitated the wholesale discharge of such personnel. 

 However, it has been the industry's pleasant experience to find that field per- 

 sonnel in the applied sciences — physicists, geophysicists. and the like — adapt 

 readily to marine survey work. Therefore, since a falloff in the marine survey 

 market was accompanied by an increase in land survey requirements, "marine"' 

 personnel were merely reassigned duties with exploration parties working on 

 land. 



The "environmental" versatility of applied scientific personnel has led the 

 geoph.vsical industry to the conclusion that general oceanographic surveys can 

 55944 — 60 7 



