NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
areas of generation at rates sometimes faster than 
the wind speeds by which they are produced, and 
much faster than the rate of progress of the 
storm centers that cause them. Also, the effective- 
ness of the wind in producing waves depends on 
what it has to work with; that is, over what reach, 
and how high the sea is already. The consequence 
is that the sea at any particular point in time and 
space is the joint product of many, many storms, 
some of them hundreds or perhaps thousands of 
miles distant, some interacting with others in the 
regions of wave generation and all being felt to 
some extent at the point of observation. Finally, 
as the bottom shoals toward land, its contours and 
their orientation modify the waves which roll in 
from the open sea, often augmenting their al- 
ready formidable aspect. 
The importance of the atmosphere-ocean inter- 
action to prediction problems such as the genesis 
and life history of tropical storms is widely recog- 
nized. To increase the accuracy of short-range and 
long-range weather predictions oceanographic 
parameters are being considered and feed-back 
processes taken into account. Part of the energy 
which drives ocean currents and generates the 
waves at the sea surface is derived from the 
winds; another part of the energy is transmitted 
to the ocean by radiational processes which are 
modified by atmospheric conditions. But the winds 
and atmospheric conditions themselves depend 
on the distribution of physical properties in the 
ocean. Therefore, oceanic circulation and atmos- 
pheric circulation are closely linked and are being 
studied by the Weather Bureau to provide ulti- 
mately a better service to the public. 
Research programs of the Army’s Beach Ero- 
sion Board and the Weather Bureau for prediction 
and protection in relation to coastal areas are ex- 
pected to total about $16 million and $1 million 
respectively over the decade. 
Another deadly threat to life and property along 
the same seacoast, because it strikes without no- 
ticeable warning, is the seismic sea wave or 
tsunami, long an object of study and concern to the 
Japanese who have given it its name. Earth shocks, 
resulting in sea bottom movement, particularly 
frequent in the volcano-ringed Pacific, start water 
waves traveling out from a point at the surface 
above the center of the disturbance with speeds 
of 400 or 500 miles per hour. Ocean wave speeds 
are partly determined by wave length. Tsunami 
wave lengths, due to the method by which they 
14 
447 
receive their initial energy, are many hundreds 
of times greater than those produced by even the 
most violent wind. These very long waves “feel 
the bottom” even over the deep ocean abyss in 
much the same way the shorter wind-created waves 
start to feel the bottom as they reach shoal water 
along a beach, and the effect produced is the same, 
though magnified immensely by the proportion- 
ately greater change in depth. The upper portions 
of the wave begin to override the lower parts, and 
what would be an almost unnoticeable rise of a 
foot or two in the open ocean becomes a rise of 
perhaps 50 feet against a coastline across its 
path. And since these waves carry thousands of 
miles from the point of origin, they arrive unac- 
companied by any other phenomenon which 
might announce the impending disaster. 
The series of waves which struck the Hawaiian 
Islands on April 1, 1946, destroyed 173 lives and 
$25 million worth of property. It led to the estab- 
lishment of the Seismic Sea Warning System by 
the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which already had 
a network of tide gauges in strategic locations 
around much of the source region. By extending 
the network, tying it into the network of seis- 
mological stations, and adding accurate time de- 
vices and instant communications, the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey is now able to predict with high 
accuracy the time of arrival of such waves at 
Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific and to issue 
warnings well in advance. 
That the system is not perfect, however, is wit- 
nessed by the most recent tsunami which hit the 
city of Hilo in May 1960, destroying 61 lives and 
about $23.5 million in property. A major defect 
in the system is its inability to predict the amplitude 
of the wave, and many apparent false alarms re- 
sult when the tsunami is so small that it arrives 
unnoticed by the residents. By the same token, it 
is impossible for a resident to distinguish a warn- 
ing which may be followed by an unusually dan- 
gerous wave. The same tsunami, produced by an 
earthquake off the coast of Chile, showed another 
major defect of the system. It presently provides 
warning for only a few other areas of the Pacific 
which may be as badly threatened as Hawaii. The 
shores of California, Alaska, Japan, and ,many 
other areas were all greatly affected and wide- 
spread loss of life and property occurred. Much 
more research on the phenomenon is needed, and 
the warning system improved and extended. 
