36 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



The development of new, more versatile, more highly sensitive and 

 more compact instruments is a second major element that will imple- 

 ment exploration of the sea. Crude, bulky mechanical instruments 

 with limited sensing or recording capabilities can now be replaced by 

 compact, transistorized units to measure almost any quantity in or 

 under the sea better than their predecessors. Moreover, contemporary 

 techniques with instrumentation permit the transmission of such data 

 over great distances either directly b}^ wire or telemetered by radio. 



By way of example, the synoptic picture of the sea over a wide area 

 can now be potentially developed through large numbers of floating 

 buoys in conjunction with aircraft. Each buoy can be fitted with 

 devices to measure sea state, wind, and weather and to record these 

 data on magnetic tape. Although widely distributed, these buoys 

 may then be interrogated by an aircraft flying over the entire matrix 

 of buoy stations, and the buoy-stored information telemetered to the 

 plane for permanent recording. With the magnetic tapes of the buoys 

 automatically wiped clean, they are then ready to record a second 

 sample. The location and velocity of subsurface currents, together 

 with their temperature, salinity, etc., can be measured similarily using 

 "Swallow" buoys that are designed to drift at predetermined mid- 

 depths and can also be remotely interrogated for stored intelligence. 



The significance of s}^loptic data, both on or beneath the surface, 

 cannot be overemphasized because the sea involves a complex d}Tiamic 

 mechanism which is changing with time everj^where. Its behavior can 

 thus be revealed only if a large number of measurements over a large 

 area are recorded simultaneoush^. 



It is thus clear that any description of the ocean will entail huge 

 quantities of numerical data. Even if the ocean were to be described 

 at any one instant, this number of simultaneous observations would 

 be enormous; but to describe these changes and moreover, to deter- 

 mine relationships among the different variables would until recently 

 be so herculean a task as even to discourage the attempt. 



Automatic computational devices which have found wide applica- 

 tion in other fields have an untapped potential in relation to the ocean 

 sciences. Enormous quantities of data may be stored, selectivel}^ re- 

 trieved, indexed, correlated, and even subjected to interpretation. By 

 standardizing methods of recording, data collected in the future any- 

 where in the world and by any nation could readily be incorporated 

 into a single data center and thus the knowledge represented by these 

 data would be cumulative rather than compartmented. A similar 

 attack is being made on the atmosphere through improved data col- 

 lection and interpretation in order that weather may be forecast more 

 accurately. Because of the ultimate relationship of weather and cli- 

 mate with the atmosphere and the oceans, correlation of meteorological 

 and oceanographic data is essential. 



Simultaneously with the engineerirg developments outlined, scien- 

 tific research in relevant collateral fields has been so accelerated that 

 studies of the ocean may now utilize a rapidly uicreasing base of fun- 

 damentals from phj'sics, chemistry, geology, and biology. Advances 

 include the use of radioactive dating techniques for the study of the 

 "age" of "fossil" water at great depths as well as of geological speci- 

 mens, and the use of radioactive tracers for other experiments such as 

 ))eacli erosion. 



