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Future Directions in 

 Ocean Sciences 



The possibility of and the need for studying the ocean on a 

 global scale provide a major impetus for new partnerships in ocean- 

 ography. The design and deployment of a global ocean observing 

 system, now being discussed, will be possible only with the coop- 

 eration of ocean scientists and governments throughout the world. 



THE SCIENCE OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



Oceanography, the science of the sea, serves many purposes 

 while deriving impetus from many sources. All of oceanogra- 

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

 scientists interested in advancing basic knowledge. Ocean scien- 

 tists have made a number of exciting discoveries in the past 30 

 years that have changed our view of Earth. The discovery of 

 oceanic eddies has been important for an understanding of ocean 

 circulation, propagation of sound in the ocean, fisheries produc- 

 tivity, and other ocean processes. Verification by ocean drilling 

 that Earth's crust is divided into moving plates that are created at 

 mid-ocean ridges and recycled into Earth's interior replaced the 

 traditional view that the surface was essentially static. Discovery 

 of dense colonies of animals and bacteria at some deep-sea hydro- 

 thermal vents demonstrated that organisms could thrive in eco- 

 systems based on chemical energy from Earth's interior rather 



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