by chemists, microbiologists, botanists, zoolo- 

 gists and mathematical modelers. 



The first CEPEX experiment is being carried 

 out at Saanich Inlet, Vancouver, British Co- 

 lumbia, Canada. During the summer of 1973 

 three prototype enclosures (2x10 meters) were 

 built and tested in the Inlet. (Fig. 2.) At the 

 same time researchers surveyed the pollutant 

 baseline levels and the natural plankton popu- 

 lations in the experimental areas. If these 

 pilot experiments confirm present expecta- 

 tions, full-scale enclosures (10x30 meters) will 

 be built the second year. 



Figure 2 



Goals 



A primary goal of the biological effects 

 projects is to determine whether open ocean 

 organisms are more sensitive to pollutants 



than the inshore forms. If they are, the fact 

 that they receive less pollution may be can- 

 celled by their greater sensitivity. If a given 

 trophic level is more affected by pollutants 

 than others, then one would expect that level 

 in the ocean food chain to be the critical link 

 in the biological response of the ocean to 

 pollution. Recognition of these types of rela- 

 tionships will contribute to the intelligent 

 management of ocean resources. 



GEOCHEMICAL OCEAN 

 SECTIONS STUDY (GEOSECS) 



The Geochemical Ocean Sections Study 

 (GEOSECS) is significant to both the Environ- 

 mental Quality and the Environmental Predic- 

 tion Programs. The multi-year project, de- 

 signed to provide global baseline data and to 

 further understanding of physical oceanic pro- 

 cesses, involves geochemists from 15 U.S. uni- 

 versities and participation from Canada, 

 France, the Federal Republic of Germany, In- 

 dia, Italy and japan. Major portions of the 

 U.S. program are based at the Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution and the Scripps In- 

 stitution of Oceanography. 



Man's exploitation and conservative man- 

 agement of planetary resources depend on 

 detailed understanding of oceanic processes 

 including stirring and mixing in the deep 

 sea, the interchange of energy and material 

 between deep and surface water and the ex- 

 change of energy and material between the 

 water and the atmosphere. 



Background 



The ocean appears to resemble a great con- 

 vective cell in which the upper layers are 

 heated by the sun and stirred by wind-driven 

 waves and currents. Cold water sinking in 

 the polar regions where surface waters lose 

 their heat and increase in salinity through ice 

 formation seems to provide the mechanism 

 which drives this circulation. New bottom 

 water, thus formed, flows as abyssal currents 

 to the deep basins of the oceans. Although 

 two areas are known where abyssal currents 

 originate — namely, the North Atlantic Ocean 

 and the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic region 

 of the South Atlantic — the rates at which 

 such water masses form, the nature of their 

 subsequent sub-surface flow within the dif- 



g 



