expansion. If anything, the program has been handicapped by 

 its virtually level funding. It is important that when the decade 

 ends, these funds continue to be earmarked for long-term, multi- 

 disciplinary, cooperative ocean studies. 



• NSF and the scientific community should start ^eftin^ or^ajiized 

 now for the work that is to follow when the decade ends. The 

 process of identifying goals and guidelines for a future effort in 

 comprehensive studies of the ocean should develop from a broad 

 base, not only in ocean science, but also in other disciplines 

 which can contribute considerations of practical productivity and 

 usefulness. These include economics, law, political science, medi- 

 cine, and engineering, among others. 



We suggest that the program which emerges when the decade ends 

 not be as strictly limited to the oceans themselves as is the IDOE, so 

 that oceanic processes can be studied in the most appropriate manner, 

 even when that includes work conducted on land. We hope that topics 

 such as climate, which — while not entirely oceanic in nature — are signi- 

 ficantly affected by the oceans, will be included. Studies of seabed re- 

 sources and metallogenesis should find ways to bridge the gap between 

 continents and oceans. Parts of the earth which were under the sea 

 millennia ago when minerals began to form are on land today, and 

 geologists and geophysicists studying these processes should not be arbi- 

 trarily constrained to stop at today's shoreline. This may require a pro- 

 gram specifically designed to bring terrestrial and marine geophysicists 

 together, just as the IDOE has brought together physical, chemical, and 

 biological oceanographers. 



In addition, of course, these ocean-related studies will benefit from 

 coordination with other ongoing programs on related subjects. Studies 

 of seabed resources should continue to be coordinated with the Inter- 

 national Gcodynamics Project; studies of ocean pollution might be more 

 closely integrated with international efforts in en\ ironmental preservation 

 such as the UN Environment Program; studies of oceanic circulations 

 and their interaction with the atmosphere might be jointly planned with 

 the Global Atmosj:)heric Research Program, which is already planning for 

 a possible Climate Dynamics Decade in the 1980's. 



While we see a continuing need for programs supporting long-term, 

 rnultidisciplinary, cooperative studies, we do ncH beliexe it is necessary 

 for all international cooperative efl'orts to be expensi\e rnultidisciplinary 

 programs, especially since many of the smaller nations cannot easily afford 

 to participate in such ambitious projects. The fact that IDOE has incor- 

 jDorated both of these aspects — bigness and internationalism — does not 

 mean that tliey must or should remain tied together. There is a need for 

 international cooperation in studying problems of global scope, such as 

 those invoking the oceans. Such problems can lie attacked by large or 



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