Air-Sea Interaations; Program at IMST 



interest of this original approach is clear, but its success will be 

 ascertainable only after fulfillment of the anticipated experimental 

 progrann. Indeed, in spite of the growing evidence in favor of the 

 laboratory simulation of such geophysical phenomena, it is only by 

 direct comparison with field data that the exact degree of similarity 

 achieved with the natural process will be known. It Is, however, 

 reasonable to expect, at worst, a partial success of this approach, 

 namely the elucidation of some among the many unsolved aspects of 

 small scale air-sea Interactions. 



Besides this main point, a few results have been, to date, 

 obtained In various related domains. We shcill quote: some progress 

 In the understanding of effects of water vapor transfer and long-wave 

 radiation upon turbulent heat transfer In the atmospheric surface 

 layer; some Improvements In the technique of mlcrometeorologlcal 

 and wind- wave facilities; results on the measurement of turbulent 

 processes In water flows, with the aid of hot-film anemothermometers, 



It Is clear that much work still remains to be done, when the 

 present program Is necessarily limited in scope. On the other hand, 

 the described facilities will offer possibilities that will not be fully 

 exploited by only one scientific group. Therefore, It should be 

 possible In the future to consider some cooperation with other groups, 

 in order to take full advantage of the capabilities of that tunnel. 



The researches that can be performed with such an equipment 

 have multiple fields of application. The results of the present pro- 

 gram could obviously be useful for oceanography and naval hydro- 

 dynamics (wave forecasting, shlproutlng, fishing, pollution, oceano- 

 graphlc methods, etc.), as well as for meteorolory (long range fore- 

 casting, air pollution, future climatic control, etc.), and seem also 

 to be applicable In other domains: chemical engineering, air con- 

 ditioning, hellotechnlque , and even biological and agricultural 

 mlcrometeorology. Furthermore, new experiments could be planned 

 In the fields of acoustic wave propagation, light transmission or 

 reflexion, electromagnetic propagation, structural mechanics , and 

 so on. In short, this facility ought to be a kind of "pocket ocean- 

 atnnosphere Interface," where basic as well as applied experiments 

 could be done more easily and economically than In the field. 



VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This research program would have never been undertaken 

 without the Insight of a number of scientists who have encouraged us 

 to make a start In such an enterprise. In the first place, we have to 

 cite the name of President Maurice Roy who, after the lUGG-IUTAM 

 Symposium on Turbulence In Geophysics, held at IMST In September 

 1961, advised us to engage ourselves In some kind of laboratory 

 experiments related to air-sea turbulent Interactions. Then, the 

 Presidents and the members of the "Comlt^ de Recherches 



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