2 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



At the left is Mr. Haggard, who spent many jesiTs \vith the Navy 

 on the Navy's AROWA project and worked in maritime meteorology 

 and particularly in the research in tropical storms and hurricaDes. 



On the right is Mr. Laro, who has been trying to pull together all 

 of the various activities and programs into a coordinated whole and to 

 prepare a 5-year program insofar as the Weather Bureau's maritime 

 meteorology program is concerned. 



Mr. Miller. If you would like to have those men at the table 

 with you, we will make room for them. 



Mr. Reichelderfer. It will not be necessary at the present stage. 

 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Under the statutes and executive orders governing meteorological 

 services provided by the U.S. Government, the Weather Bureau is 

 responsible for collecting essential weather reports from tlie oceans, 

 the Great Lakes and other bodies of water in which the United States 

 has a meteorological interest, and for preparing weather maps, 

 climatological charts, storm warnings and other weather advisories 

 for the high seas and water areas within or contiguous to the United 

 States and its territories. 



The Weather Bureau is responsible also for meteorological research 

 in support of ocean weather services and in particular, for boundary 

 zone research involving the oceans and the atmosphere in their direct 

 relations to weather and climate. 



The importance of scientific studies into the relationships between 

 atmosphere and oceans is evident in many of the meteorological 

 phenomena tliat determine in large measure man's activities and 

 welfare. 



Most of the water that falls on the continents as rain or snow comes 

 from moisture evaporated from the oceans. Many of the severe 

 storms which bring destruction as well as beneficial precipitation to 

 land areas are gejierated over the oceans. Certain research has 

 tried to show that hurricanes, the most violent general storms to be 

 found anywhere, are formed only wlien the surface temperature of the 

 tropical ocean, where they are generated, exceeds a certain critical 

 degree. This hypothesis needs more research to confirm or modify it. 

 In numerous other wa3^s, meteorology and physical oceanography are 

 closely related. 



Responsibilities of the national meteorological service under the 

 Weather Bureau necessaril}- hivolve a very extensive international 

 weather reporting system and a well-organized service for providing 

 warnings of dangerous storm tides and damaghig winds that strike 

 the islands and the coastal communities of the United States. 

 Interaction of air and sea in causing destructive conditions of wdnd and 

 water over the oceans and along the coasts is so involved and in- 

 separable that for many purposes meteorology and oceanography 

 must be regarded as one and the same science. 



The need for studies in this field has been emphasized in the report 

 "Oceanography 1960 to 1970" by the NAS-NRC Committee on 

 Oceanography with which your committee is well acquainted, and I 

 need not emphasize this point further. 



Among other comments on this subject in the report just mentioned, 

 is the statement that the interchange which "takes place between the 

 sea and air affects persistent weather patterns." Tlie remainder of 

 this statement will be devoted to summary descriptions of the principal 



