SECT. 2] LARGE-SCALE INTERACTIONS 285 



serve the valuable function of suggesting what may be the crucial links and pro- 

 cesses to isolate for intensive controlled study ; they have further opened the 

 communication channels, mutual stimulation, and body of shared experience 

 between meteorologists and oceanographers. 



9. Concluding Remarks 



Two conclusions that one might be tempted to draw from a casual reading 

 of this chapter are first that our greatest need to advance in these studies is 

 more and better data ; and second, that air and sea are so closely coupled to 

 each other that one cannot profitably study either medium without full con- 

 sideration of the other. Like most generalizations in geophysics, these are only 

 partial truths and thence can be misleading. It is hoped that the more serious 

 reader has been led to see from the material herein the underlying reason, the 

 same in both cases, why these two much- quoted statements, while certainly 

 not false, are not adequate to communicate either the progress in the field to 

 date, nor its needs in order to make further progress tomorrow. 



In the matter of data and observations, it is, of course, plain that more and 

 better are needed. As we saw, many of our studies were forced either to restrict 

 themselves with doubtful assumptions or to settle for ambiguous conclusions 

 because of data limitations. In part, the brave new technology culminating in 

 the glamor-gadgets such as satellites will help out, if miracles are not demanded 

 of them, particularly in the radiation realm. However, many data are needed 

 close to the air-sea boundary itself, in the upper-ocean and lower-air layers, on 

 a routine basis, that cannot foreseeably be sought from vehicles in space. The 

 day of the ocean weather ships, without which many of these studies could not 

 have become quantitative, should not be allowed to close. Nor should the 

 usefulness of the research vessel have even approached its prime ; much of the 

 boundary data must be obtained from a platform containing intelligent beings, 

 some of whom are aware of the problems, possess experience and intuition and 

 are capable of making decisions, frequently departing from orthodox pro- 

 cedures. 



The outstanding feature, however, of the data of the marine sciences is the 

 appalling expense, not only in money but in indispensable human effort. The 

 budget studies we have described were enabled as by-products of the large-scale 

 routine networks, often supplemented by special expeditions. Considered from 

 start to finish, the hours and years of work in instrument development, planning, 

 installation, testing, measurement on station, evaluation, processing and 

 storage of data — to say nothing of the laborious extraction from archives by 

 the research workers whose names finally appeared as authors — would stagger 

 the imagination, even of other physical scientists. It is, therefore, paramount, 

 out of the vast myriad of measurements that could be made on the earth's fluids, 

 from the atmosphere's outer fringes to the sea's bottom, to apply a selection 

 process. Concerning what do we need more and better data the most? How is the 

 selection to be guided? And is it primarily inadequate data which is the obstacle 



