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SUMMARY 



results must be communicated effectively to policy makers, with 

 gaps and uncertainties stated clearly and fairly. Also, basic under- 

 standing must continue to improve. 



MAINTAINING EXCELLENCE 



Since World War II, the United States has been the world leader 

 in oceanographic research. Maintaining this excellence requires a 

 talented population of scientists, an informed and educated pub- 

 lic, a society interested in and appreciative of new discoveries, 

 open lines of communication between oceanographers and the sci- 

 entific community at large, and the economic resources necessary 

 to conduct oceanographic research. Continued excellence in ocean- 

 ography is essential to our national interests and requires con- 

 stant improvement of both physical and human resources at aca- 

 demic oceanographic institutions. Solving both short- and long-term 

 societal and environmental problems will require well-trained and 

 dedicated scientists working in modern, well-equipped institutions, 

 with sufficient funding. It is critical to the vitality of the ocean 

 enterprise to continue nurturing the academic research environ- 

 ment in which students learn by performing research under the 

 guidance of professors at the forefront of oceanographic science 

 and engineering. 



FUTURE OF OCEANOGRAPHIC SCIENCE 



Oceanography, the science of the sea, serves many purposes 

 while deriving its impetus from many sources. All of oceanogra- 

 phy — physical, chemical, geological, and biological — is driven by 

 scientists interested in advancing basic knowledge. During the 

 past 30 years, marine scientists have verified that Earth's crust is 

 divided into moving plates created at mid-ocean ridges and re- 

 cycled back into Earth's interior at subduction zones. More re- 

 cently, dense colonies of animals and bacteria have been discov- 

 ered at some deep-sea hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps 

 in ecosystems that only indirectly depend on energy from the 

 Sun. Satellite observations have made possible global estimates 

 of important ocean parameters, such as primary productivity. Our 

 knowledge of interannual climate variations has improved to the 

 point that scientists are nov^ able to forecast El Nino climate 

 disturbances months in advance. These are but a few of the dis- 

 coveries that have characterized oceanography since the Second 

 World War. 



