206 OCEANOGRAPHY 1961 — PHASE 3 



However, I have a short statement in explanation of the approach 

 that the professional surveyors, if you wish, of the ocean, have used 

 in the past. 



Perhaps as a word of introduction : I am director of systems re- 

 search for Western Geophysical Co. Our company has been doing 

 oceanographic surveying, of a specialized type admittedly, for a num- 

 ber of years. We started in the water in 1938, and during the past 6 

 or 7 years we have done more than half of all the contract geophysical 

 exploration at sea in the world. And at the present moment, as of 

 yesterday — ^I cannot g-uarantee that it is true today — we are operating 

 19 vessels. 



Mr. Miller. Where are these located? Not all of them, individ- 

 ually, but in what areas do you operate ? 



Mr, Savit. At the moment there are several in the Persian Gulf, 

 several in the Mediterranean, some in South American waters, some 

 along the Atlantic coast, and some in the Gulf of Mexico. There may 

 be some along the East Coast of Africa. I am not sure. 



Mr. Miller. What I wanted to bring out was that your operation 

 specifically is a worldwide operation. Even though your head- 

 quarters are in Los Angeles, it is not confined to the Pacific coast. 



Mr. Savit. As a matter of fact, sir, it just happens that there are 

 none operating on the Pacific coast at the moment. We have operat- 

 ing bases in various foreign countries and various cities in the United 

 States, logistic bases. 



I will proceed with the short statement that I have prepared. It 

 may overlap the statement of Dr. Blake somewhat. 



American industry has during the past decade expended more than 

 $300 million on oceanographic exploration. Motivated by the search 

 for petroleum and other valuable mineral resources, commercial geo- 

 physicists have measured water depths, magnetism, and gravity at sea. 

 They have probed the earth beneath the seas with coring tools and 

 with both the reflection and refraction seismographs. 



In the course of these activities, commercial marine geophysicists 

 have had to study such ancillary matters as propagation of sound in 

 the water, as well as other physical, chemical, and biological aspects 

 of oceanography. 



Wliile the physical quantities measured by commercial oceanog- 

 raphers are essentially the same ones measured by academic oceanog- 

 raphers, the ^ differences in motivation have in the past resulted in 

 two distinguishing characteristics of commercial oceanographic data. 



Commercial data had to be obtained in extremely fine detail, and 

 as a result vast quantities of data had to be processed in incredibly 

 short times. 



Thus, fine detail and overall speed have served to distinguish the 

 commercial effort from the academic. 



As an example, one recently completed commercial seismic refrac- 

 tion survey in the Persian Gulf has, in a few months, resulted in 

 more individual oscillographic traces than have been produced by all 

 universities and oceanographic institutions since oceanographic sur- 

 veying began. 



In the past 10 years. Western Geophysical Co. alone has obtained 

 more than 100 million oscillographic traces at sea. 



