166 EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OCEANOGRAPHY 



A network of island stations can be a very important part of a programme of detailed research 

 and survey in an ocean area. Such a network is an integral part of the EPOC plan for a co- 

 operative study of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and is a part of the plan for the Indian Ocean 

 Expedition. In the tropical Atlantic there exist a series of oceanic islands which could be similarly 

 employed in that region. 



Ocean Station Vessels (weather ships ) 



These platforms, operating at fixed points in the open sea for weather observations and air- 

 sea rescue, under the auspices of ICAO and other agencies offer a magnificent, but largely un- 

 used, opportunity for obtaining time- series data on physical, chemical and biological parameters 

 both at the surface and at various depths. To take advantage of this opportunity, all such ships 

 should be provided with suitable oceanographic winches and Other oceanographic equipment, and 

 with a small team of oceanographic observers. Supplementary meteorological observation of 

 special interest to oceanography may be added to the present routine weather observation in con- 

 sultation with interested specialists. 



It is also possible to employ a local network of anchored instrument buoys in connexion with 

 a weather ship, the data being gathered by the ship by the removal of data records or by tele- 

 metering to obtain time- series at a number of points simultaneously. 



Weather vessels can also be of great value in obtaining repeated hydrographic and biological 

 sections when travelling to their stations and their home ports. 



Manned Anchored Platforms 



Light ships have for many years been employed to collect various types of oceanographic 

 data. Their continued, and expanded, use should be encouraged in order to obtain time series, 

 at fixed locations in deep water, of some types of data, which are not currently amenable to 

 automatic instrumental recording, there are under development special- purpose manned stations, 

 such as the FLIP stations of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the similar station being 

 developed for use in the Mediterranean by the group at Monaco. Such stations are costly, and 

 will, therefore, probably be used in only small numbers, but they will have capabilities not 

 possible in the small unmanned buoys. 



Unmanned Stations (buoys ) 



Although oceanic islands and weather ships offer good possibilities for obtaining important 

 synoptic and time- series oceanographic data, their locations are not under control of the oceano- 

 grapher, and there are large areas of the sea in which they do not exist. In order to obtain, at 

 deep sea locations, such data at reasonable cost, there are being developed in a number of 

 laboratories, anchored data- collecting systems which can be placed where needed. 



A network of such instrument- systems needs to be established at suitable points in the World 

 Ocean and especially at such critical points as the regions where deep water is formed, at 

 current boundaries, at places where the mixed- layer depth is highly variable, etc. 



From such stations can be taken automatically data from the atmosphere, such as barometric 

 pressure, wind direction and velocity, and solar radiation, and data from the sea, such as 

 temperature at various depths, current direction and velocity and transparency. Instruments 

 under development will make possible the automatic recording of salinity, oxygen, and some 

 simple biological parameters. Such data may be stored in the buoy and retrieved by ships, or 

 may be read out by telemetering systems. The telemetering may be at long-range to shore 

 stations, or by short-range telemetering on demand to aircraft or satellites. 



Technical problems which are not yet fully or satisfactorily solved include anchoring 

 systems, data transducers, data storage devices, power sources, data readout and telemetering 

 systems. Close co-operation in developing these new instrument systems could greatly facilitate 

 the solution of such problems. 



