24 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



it. Control of climate, however, is both more significant economically, 

 and more possible, technologically, for climate involves much longer 

 range processes than the transients of weather that may be triggered 

 from purely local atmospheric instabilities. 



The influence of the sea on terrestrial climate, the manner in which 

 the oceans or currents such as the Gulf Stream modulate the climate 

 of contiguous land masses is familiar to all. 



The first step, however, is not in control of ocean currents by build- 

 ing dikes to divert them, but research to understand what they are 

 doing and to predict what will happen so we can, in turn, see how this 

 affects the climate and the weather. Our ability to forecast climate is 

 nil. We have no idea what the climate will be like on Earth 50 or 100 

 years from now, or even 10. In the system of heat energy coming 

 into the Earth from the Sun and affecting the atmosphere and oceans, 

 the ocean is the great flywheel that significantly influences climate, 

 and it is only by understanding the oceans that we can hope to pre- 

 dict climate as opposed to the prediction of weather a few weeks in 

 advance. 



To be more specific, the most important contribution of the oceans is 

 their being the source of rainfall. Virtually all of the moisture formed 

 in clouds originates through evaporation from the oceans. This 

 moisture returns to the Earth in the form of precipitation, either by 

 rain or snow. That falling on land eventually finds its way back to 

 the oceans, carr^'-ing with it the granular material eroded by mechan- 

 ical action of the rain and winds, by the scouring action of running 

 water, the wedging action of water expanding when freezing. These 

 sediments may later form continents. The accurate prediction of 

 annual rainfall would be a first target of the application of ocean 

 sciences to eventual climate control. 



Man has suffered the extremes of climate; the places he has chosen 

 to live have been severely influenced by many random factors of 

 convenience, transportation, proximity to essentials, and subtle influ- 

 ences of commerce, etc., but not the least factor in selection has been 

 climate. Often other factors predominate and man puts up with 

 inconvenience and discomfort because of the other benefits — but he 

 would like to control the extremes of temperature, and to control any 

 natiu-al phenomenon requires some understanding of the phenomenon. 

 The salutary economic implications for the climatically less attractive 

 regions of the world, particularly in an era of burgeoning population, 

 are obvious. 



Still other implications for economic development are discussed in 

 the succeeding chapter, particularly concerning improvement in 

 fisheries, in sea transportation and in scientific knowledge generally. 

 The essence of this dual potential for oceanic research was sum- 

 marized by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Dr. James H. Wakelin, Jr. : 



It has been said that, like the subject "Atoms for Peace," we can use the oceans 

 for peace. We must have leadership on the oceans in the face of the threat of 

 war and equally we must have leadership on the oceans in our hopes and our 

 work toward peace.'* 



'< "Frontiers In Oceanic Research," op. elt., p. 49. 



