Secondly, the nature of basic research itself is such 

 that new ideas, new techniques, and new materials often provide 

 the direction in which a continually changing research program 

 will proceed. To be efficient in this type of operation, the research 

 scientist must be very closely allied with the development of his 

 instruments. Again, this is in contrast to the survey situation 

 where most of the measurements are of a routine nature, there- 

 fore, the instrument requirements can be made known in advance. 



The contrasting situations between research and surveys I 

 have just described illustrate why a different approach to their 

 respective instrumentation problems is desirable. As I have 

 mentioned earlier, however, there are many instances where the 

 two aspects overlap, the difference between research and surveys 

 being primarily the purpose for which each is being performed. 

 For example, a bathymetric survey may entail a description 

 of the bottom topography needed for navigational purposes. In 

 such a survey, the description or resulting chart is the end pro- 

 duct. The same information may be desired by the research 

 scientist who is interested in learning about the origin of the 

 features of the ocean bottom or to prove his hypothesis on the 

 structure of the sea floor. In either case, I am sure you recog- 

 nize the same instrument could be used to do both jobs. In fact, 

 for the majority of the cases of routine measurements, survey 

 and research instruments will not differ. Consequently, the list 

 of survey instruments you have received will also provide a guide 

 for some of the routine instrumentation needed aboard the new 

 research ships (fig. 3.1). Here the instrumentation for research 

 and surveys will be handled as a single program. 



In addition to instruments required for research ships, we 

 are faced with an increasing need of special platforms from which 

 to carry out our research programs. These special platforms 

 each have peculiar and often difficult problems, of which you 

 will hear in more detail tomorrow. Among the platforms re- 

 quired are specially adapted and instrumented buoys, both an- 

 chored and drifting, which must be capable of measuring, 

 recording, and in many cases, telemetering information over 

 large distances. Of a similar, but perhaps simpler nature, are 

 the requirements for instrumentation aboard fixed towers (fig. 

 3.2) such as the Texas Towers, oil platforms, and other plat- 

 forms now being installed by the Coast Guard to replace lightships. 

 Deep sea research vehicles are already a reality and the part 



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