MARINE SCIENCE 67 



TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGING VIEWPOINT 



Senator Magnuson commented earlier on the fact that the ocean 

 is usually regarded in a negative sense. Tliroughout history seagoing 

 has been regarded as uncertain, difficult, and dangerous. Romantic 

 novelists since Homer, traders since the Phoenicians, and more re- 

 centl}^ poorly equipped marine scientists have tended to emphasize 

 negative aspects of the ocean such as: distance, storms, and waves. 

 In recent years many oceanographers have come to believe that this 

 negative attitude about the ocean is not justified and with improved 

 technologj' — such as buoys, submersibles, instruments, and more ships 

 working at sea can be vastly improved ; in fact, many things can be 

 done better at sea than on land. 



For example : Maneuverability over the water in a reasonable ship is 

 much easier than traveling through swamps, jungles, or mountains. 



LoAvering instruments 3 miles down from a ship on a wire is funda- 

 mentally much easier than raising instruments 3 miles above the 

 surface of the earth. A normal size submarine can carry enormous 

 payloads compared to our largest satellite or airplane. 



TEMPERATURE A'ARIATIONS 



The great temperature extremes found in outer space are not pres- 

 ent in the depths of the sea where temperatures are uniform to within 

 a few degrees or even a few hundredths of a degree. 



Background noise is so much less at sea than on land that the 

 French oceanographer Costeau titled his book "The Silent World." 

 There is also reason to believe that a seismograph station on the bottom 

 of the ocean can be made much more sensitive than one on land. 



POLITICAL AND CJEOGRAPHIC EREEDOiJr 



AVe can wander over and explore the high seas without a treaty, a 

 passport, or a trade agreement. 



In past years the great size and depth of the ocean have proven 

 to be formidable obstacles to the limited A'-ehicles, instruments, and 

 techniques which ha^-e been available to oceanographers. 



By developing new techniques and by making wider use of the best 

 existing techniques there is every reason to believe that within the next 

 decade the ocean can be "brought down to a manageable size" and sea- 

 going scientists and engineers can approach their problems with tech- 

 niques and background data more comparable to those of present day 

 scientists on land. 



Modern techniques will help the marine scientist in two ways. They 

 will, through such devices as the bathyscaph, return him closer to the 

 use of his basic senses and methods in new regions of exploration. 

 The biologist can use a modified butterfly net again, and the geologist 

 a modified prospecting pick. 



Senator Lausche. Illustrate that in thought. I just can't follow it. 



Mr. Vine. With a newly designed vehicle that can cruise along the 

 bottom equipped with a manipulating arm the scientist sees a rock or 

 a marine creature that he wants to pick up, can take a sample and 

 bring it back. 



