FRONTIERS IN OCEANIC RESEARCH 7 



Today it is possible to make fairly long-range forecasts of waves 

 with the result that it is now possible to route transport vessels along 

 the path of least resistance, rather than the shortest path in terms of 

 miles, and in that way shorten the time for a transatlantic crossing 

 appreciably, and indeed the Navy now is making very important use 

 of these forecasting techniques in the scheduling of their own trans- 

 ports. 



We have only seen the beginning as to what can be done, but already 

 in savings to the Navy, the research that has gone into this has more 

 than paid oil' by a considerable margin. 



Ice forecasting is another important area. We are now doing this 

 fairly well, but there is considerable room for improvement. 



The forecasting of surface temperatures, and of surface and deep 

 sea currents, can be very important from the point of view of aiding 

 submarines in their navigations, in making full use of the rather newly 

 discovered underwater currents which exist. There is one stream 

 which has been found in the equatorial region which flows in an oppo- 

 site direction to its surface current, and where the net waterflow 

 corresponds to thousands of times the flow of the Mississippi River. 

 Now, in principle, one can make use of these underwater currents. 

 Submarines can just float along, so to speak, and in that way save 

 fuel. This is perhaps not so important from the military point of 

 view, as from the point of view of underwater marine transportation. 



The forecasting of marine biology can be extremely important. 

 Again from the defense point of view, but also from the point of view 

 of being able to forecast where you are going to find fish and how 

 many you are likely to find of what type. 



All of these things can in principle be done if we were to know 

 more about the oceans than we now know. 



I have discussed the defense problems. I would like to close that 

 discussion with one other aspect, and that is, today we hear quite a bit 

 of discussion about disarmament. I believe that all of us would like 

 to see a world created which is a peaceful world in which arms are in 

 some way limited. 



The submarine presents a very serious problem from this point of 

 view, because today nobody knows how one goes about monitoring 

 submarines. 



Any disarmament program must contain as an essential part, rules 

 and regulations and techniques for the monitoring and handling of 

 submarines. 



It may well be, as some of our committee members have suggested, 

 that the law of the sea may have to be changed in such a way that any 

 unknown — any vessel which is submerged, and which does not identify 

 itself upon demand, is an aggressor. 



I point this out just to point up another extremely difficult problem 

 which we have but begun to comprehend. 



Now, the next area of importance involves that of ocean resources. 

 The population of the world is increasing with considerable rapidity. 

 A large part of the world is badly undernourished, and the main aspect 

 of the malnutrition involves a shortage of protein. 



We don't know how many fish there are in the sea, but we can guess 

 that the seas can be fished considerably more efficiently than they are 

 being fished at the present time. 



