NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM LEGISLATION 515 



tures, and other factors influencing this aging process of the Great 

 Lakes, This requires an intensive exploratory and research effort 

 which must be undertaken now before it is too late and economic 

 disaster strikes the heartland of our Nation. In addition we should 

 note that the Great Lakes comprise the largest fresh water sea in the 

 world. What we learn in such a microcosm can be of infinite value 

 in our pursuit of knowledge within the world oceans. 



Fifth, although the scientific community has recognized the inter- 

 actions of the air-sea interface in the creation of both broad clima- 

 tological and local weather patterns, we have as yet scarcely scratched 

 the surface in learning how to modify these phenomena for man's 

 benefit. The area of weather control and manipulation may seem to 

 be unreachable now, but so did the moon 50 years ago. 



The difficulties to overcome are numerous, but just envision the day 

 when controlled buildup in the snowpack above a western reservoir can 

 help regulate streamflows for power, irrigation, pollution, abatement, 

 et cetera, or when controlled weather modification can replenish de- 

 pleted underground aquifers or transport water in rain over barrier 

 mountains to arid but fertile soils. A dream today ? Maybe so — but 

 it can be reality tomorrow. We but need a will and a program to 

 make it so. 



The work going forward toward more adequate weather warning 

 systems for tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods is fairly well known. 

 But also the JSTavy and Weather Bureau, in Project Stormfury, seek 

 to find means to modify, bend, or ameliorate these furious storms of 

 tremendous human and economic impact. The day when we can 

 modify the hands of nature for man's benefit — when such recent dis- 

 asters as the Northwest and Mississippi Valley floods are things of the 

 past^ — is not too far distant — if we accelerate and enforce our national 

 will to better understand the interacting marine and atmospheric 

 phenomena which cause them. The costs of such accelerated effort 

 are insignificant in comparison with the potential benefits. 



Sixth, the need for power to produce the wonders of our industrial 

 and teclinological age are apparent to us all. We are all familiar 

 with the disparity of power available to various parts of our country. 

 The potentials for the generation of such power by nuclear energy and 

 by the prospects of obtaining vast oil reserves on the Continental Shelf 

 or from the oil shale deposits of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah are 

 known. Equal, if not greater, power-generating potential exists 

 through the harnessing of tidal power at Passamaquoddy between 

 Maine and Canada. Similar opportunities exist in Alaska, lower 

 California, and many other places in the world. The French have 

 just completed the Ranee River project on the coast of Brittany making 

 tidal power a reality. 



Possibly of even greater importance as a source of oceanic power, 

 since it is not tied to a specific location, is the use of the ocean thermal- 

 cline as a source of power. In this system electric turbines are powered 

 by steam obtained from water at surface temperature at reduced pres- 

 sure. Experiments in this area are underway and the technology of 

 the near future should produce a workable powerplant of perhaps 4,500 

 kilowatts per unit with byproducts of fresh water, fish and plankton, 

 and mineral production. 



