ns 



ered in regions where life was heretofore 

 thought impossible. Without better under- 

 standing of tlie ocean's ecology, man shall be 

 unable to increase in a rational way the yield 

 of food from the oceans. 



Tlie ocean presents a host of unsolved bio- 

 logical problems, many of which may be 

 linked with the goal of increasing the produc- 

 tion of food. The core emphasis of marine 

 biological research must be placed on under- 

 standing the dynamics of oceanic ecosystems. 

 It is necessary to understand the flow of en- 

 ergy and of matter through them, the utiliza- 

 tion of nutrients, the efficiencies of conversion 

 between various trophic levels, and a host of 

 related matters. A comprehensive under- 

 standing of ecosystem dynamics would be a 

 major advance toward prediction and ulti- 

 mate control of biological events. This under- 

 standing is closely related to ph^^sical, chemi- 

 cal, and meteorological investigations of the 

 mechanisms of environmental change. This 

 understanding is -required for constnictive 

 management of the living resources of the 

 sea. 



Concern with the living creatures of the 

 .sea, however, must extend beyond the supply 

 of edible species. The phytoplankton in the 

 sea supply by photosynthesis much of the 

 oxygen in the atmosphere. Plankton scatter 

 the light necessary to photosynthesis. Mol- 

 lusks, bacteria, and other organisms foul un- 

 derwater machinery' and destroy submerged 

 materials. Schools of fish complicate sonar 

 transmission on which we are so reliant. 

 Shellfish and seaweed consume much of the 

 waste material diunped into the sea. 



In the deep ocean, living matter is found 

 in an environment of remarkable stability 

 and homogeneity under high hydrostatic 

 pressure without light and with unchanging 

 physical and chemical characteristics. Food 

 supplj- to the deep (K-ean floor amounts to a 

 mere trickle. Little is known about the fauna 



of this unique environment and even less 

 about the effects of the environment on the 

 ecology and physiology of the animals living 

 there. 



Physical Oceanography 



And what of the sea itself, its phenomena, 

 its current systems, its temperature structure, 

 and its long- period changes? Here the con- 

 cern is with a fluid in motion whose varia- 

 tions range the full spectrum of time and 

 space scales. The work of the Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution on the structure 

 of the Gulf Stream has revealed the complex 

 nature of this important ocean current sys- 

 tem. The South Atlantic sediment studies of 

 the Lamont Geological Obsen-atory have in- 

 dicated the possibility of strong deep ocean 

 currents which have hitherto been unsus- 

 pected. 



Later in this chapter, we advance a pro- 

 posal for a global environmental monitoring 

 system that will yield much of the infor- 

 mation required, and propose research pro- 

 grams essential to its implementation. But 

 there are problems of the deep ocean circula- 

 tion about which little is known — the mecha- 

 nisms and rate of exchange of the deep 

 waters, the interaction of the deep oceans 

 with the surface layers and its implication for 

 primary production and fisheries, as well as 

 its relation to changes in surface conditions 

 affecting the weather. 



Polar Seas 



The polar seas present special problems. 

 The processes of the polar oceans are closely 

 linked with the global ocean and atmos- 

 pheric processes. Tlie polar seas are the source 

 of the bottom waters of the oceans. 



Exploration of the polar oceans, while less 

 prominent than other national marine efforts, 

 is nevertheless a present national concern. 

 The need for prediction of ice conditions has 

 long l>een recognized for ocean trade, but 



