has been given to the Tropical Experiment because so little is known of the 

 behavior of tropical weather systems and how to incorporate them into global 

 models. 



From nations participating in GATE will come some 20 or more research 

 vessels, in excess of 10 research aircraft, and automated data buoys to meas- 

 ure environmental processes in experimental areas involving tens of thou- 

 sands of square miles of ocean surface and the vertical column from the sea 

 bed to the stratosphere. Satellites will be a third type of data-gathering plat- 

 form in GATE, with polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites contributing 

 day and night images of weather and thermal patterns over the experimental 

 area. The Global Telecommunications System, Regional and World 

 Meteorological Centers, and World Data Centers will manage the huge col- 

 lection of data expected from GATE, and a special GATE Data Center 

 planned at Bracknell, England, will receive and integrate data destined for 

 eventual archiving in World Data Centers. 



Although the oceanographic component of GATE is not yet as well de- 

 veloped as the meteorological part, interest is increasing rapidly, and ocean- 

 ographers have begun to formulate a program. The need is apparent, for 

 example, for measurements that further define the heat budget of the upper 

 oceanic layers and interactions across the air-sea boundary. U.S. participa- 

 tion in GATE is being coordinated by NOAA. The GATE oceanographic re- 

 search program for the United States is being developed by the Ocean Affairs 

 Board of the National Academy of Sciences. 



AIDJEX 

 PROJECT 



^ MAIN CA/ViP 

 • SATELLITE CA/ViP 



Xdata buoy 



n SOVIET STATIONS 



O ORIGINAL U.S. 

 STATION 



96 



