OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 91 



Basin in Carderock, Md. Other similar research is being sponsored 

 at universities and nonprofit institutions. At the present time, this 

 program, although unclassified, has not been included in the inven- 

 tory of oceanographic research either by the Navy or others; instead, 

 it has been associated with hydrodjmamic programs in naval archi- 

 tectiu'e.®^ 



(c) Office oj Naval Research* — There remains an exceedingly broad 

 area of basic research critically necessary for the preservation of U.S. 

 naval superiority. Applications of such knowledge are frequently 

 unpredictable and the philosophy of the Office of Naval Research has 

 thus been to foster a broad program in a wide variety of fields to 

 improve an understanding of the ocean itself, leaving for the Bureau 

 of Ships and other materiel bureaus the possible application of results. 

 Programs by the Office of Naval Research are conducted, to a great 

 extent, through contract with universities and non-profit laboratories 

 to which should be added their support of collateral studies at their 

 own facilities, the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. 

 A list of typical studies conducted by the Office of Naval Research is 

 given in the following: 



Table 15. — ONR program in basic oceanic sciences 



1. Wave studies, including long swells, and spectra of random wave heights 

 and frequency of occurrence. 



2. Tides and tidal currents. 



3. Geology in the deep sea, including sea mounts, fracture zones and causes of 

 these features; seismological structure of sediments, bottom photographs, beach 

 and bay formation, flushing of estuaries. 



4. Physical oceanography, including distribution, random and seasonal varia- 

 tions of surface and deep currents, temperature, transportation of sediments, 

 molecular properties of water using infrared techniques, water motions at various 

 depths. 



5. Geochemistry, including determination of age of sediments, distribution of 

 chemical elements in sea water, processes of diffusion and mixing. 



6. Geophysics, including observations of Earth's magnetic and gravitational 

 field, at the surface and near the bottom, light scattering and transmission. 



7. Acoustical properties, including transmissibility, reverberation effects, am- 

 bient background noise, thermal micro-structure of the sea and its effects, sound 

 channel phenomena, transmissibility in sediments, sound scattering by plankton. 



8. Radioactivity studies, including background of radioactive isotopes in the 

 ocean normally, and as a consequence of various types of disturbances. 



9. Marine biology, including ecological and population dynamics of plankton, 

 estuarine pollution and other effects contributing to deterioration of anti-fouling 

 measures, development of anti-fouling paints, role of bacteria in nutrient cycle 

 of fish. 



10. Oceanic meteorology, including studies of heat budget of the Earth, and 

 energy exchanges between sea and atmosphere, interaction of wind and waves, 

 wave forecasting. 



11. Chemical oceanography concerned with demineralization of sea water, chem- 

 ical waste disposal. 



{d) Bureau of Naval Weapons. — Representing the 1959 consolida- 

 tion of the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Bureau of Ordnance, the 

 Bureau of Naval Weapons has a prime responsibility for the Navy of 

 developing devices and systems for the destruction of hostUe craft in 

 the air, on, and under the sea. Inasmuch as many of these weapons 

 are either focused on destruction of submarines or are initially launched 

 from submarines, the Bureau has the same vital interests in the prop- 

 erties of the ocean as does the Bureau of Ships. Homing acoustical 



•' The interdisciplinary nature of the marine sciences is discussed subsequently In the context of pro- 

 viding an additional reason for coordination to make the most effective ase of scarce manpovrer. 



