80 THE NAVY OCEANOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS PROGRAM 



Sea and Northwest Indian Ocean and in the vicinity of the 

 Japanese islands and China coast. A technical report describing 

 the major current systems of the North and South Atlantic is in 

 press. Seasonal charts of the major current systems of the 

 world have been updated with new information. 



Future requirements call for more observations and analyses 

 of subsurface currents and the application of computer techniques 

 for more sophisticated analysis of the numerous surface current 

 determinations. 



WAVES 



Severe seas and high swell can hinder nearly any naval oper- 

 ation. It is imperative, therefore, to have the most accurate, 

 quantitative description that is possible of the distribution of wave 

 heights over all ocean areas. Subsurface wave motion and surf 

 conditions are important derivatives of surface waves. The best 

 available information on waves is contained in the sea and swell 

 section of the Oceanographic Atlas for the North Atlantic Ocean. 

 Numerous studies have been made of particular ocean areas to 

 provide information on such wave processes as generation, prop- 

 agation, refraction, decay, filtering, and subsurface pressure 

 fluctuations for use by the Fleet, various government agencies, 

 and marine engineers. Digests of wave statistics, have been 

 prepared to aid in the routing of ships. 



PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES 



With the increasing sophistication of naval operations and 

 equipment, knowledge of the physical pl-operties of the oceans 

 becomes increasingly important, not only in actual naval oper- 

 ations but also in the development and testing of new weapons 

 systems. Also, before environmental prediction and surveillance 

 systems can be perfected, the operating environment must be 

 described statistically. 



In the past few years the Oceanographic Office has produced 

 atlases, studies, and reports containing detailed analyses of the 

 physical properties of sea water, both horizontally and vertically, 

 for such diverse areas as the North Atlantic Ocean (Oceanographic 



