as coral reefs, is another essential long-term component of the living resources 

 program, and preliminary work aimed at program definition was initiated 

 last year. 



North Pacific Experiment (NORPAX) 



Convergence of several recent advances in the state of the art of marine 

 science and technology has encouraged a number of the leading U.S. ocean- 

 ographers to formulate NORPAX, an extensive experiment in the North 

 Pacific. Among these advances are demonstrations of data buoy performance 

 and reliability during the past few years in the North Pacific pilot study. 



Hypotheses have been formulated describing the behavior of the circula- 

 tion of the North Pacific Ocean and its changing influence over the climate 

 and weather of North America. To test these hypK)theses, the ongoing North 

 Pacific study, sponsored by the Navy, is being expanded in a joint supported 

 effort with IDOE to cover key locations over the entire North Pacific Ocean. 



Several more large buoys — the so-called monster buoys — will join the two 

 presently deployed and operating in the North Pacific. A number of smaller 

 buoys will be moored in a cluster surrounding each monster buoy at a radius 

 of several hundred kilometers. Their data will be transmitted to the shore 

 station on the Scripps campus and ultimately archived in the NCC at 

 Asheville, N.C., and in the NODC at Washington. In addition, data from 

 transoceanic commercial jet aircraft, satellites, island stations, ships, and 

 historical records will be assembled at the Scripps' NORPAX facility for use 

 by participating scientists. 



The North Pacific study, now in its third year, is expected to continue for 

 another decade. From this Experiment may come knowledge of the oceanic 

 events that accompany persistent changes in weather and climate, and 

 numerical models that improve the accuracy of long-range v/eather and 

 marine forecasts. 



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