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With coastal ecosystems frequently being altered by man’s activities 
and with the importance to both countries of a better understanding 
of these ecosystems, coordinated joint field studies also are expected 
to be carried out for the purpose of studying the coastal ecosystems 
of beds of marine grasses, seaweed, and concentrations of epifauna, 
and seaweed benthos. 
INTERCALIBRATION AND STANDARDIZATION OF OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTA- 
TION AND METHODS 
The many field projects being carried out under the agreement 
will result in large quantities of scientific data, and both countries 
recognize the advantage of acquiring such data from instrumentation 
with common standards and comparable calibration procedures. As 
an initial effort toward this goal, three measurement parameters have 
been selected for standarization and intercalibration. They are tem- 
perature, salinity and current velocity. 
During the meeting of the Working Group of Experts for this area 
in May 1975, an actual comparison was made between a USS. 
reference temperature instrument and a Soviet reference temperature 
instrument. As a result they can now be used for bilateral calibration 
requirements. As for salinity measurements, the goal is to establish 
comparability of salinity—conductivity standards. First, the measure- 
ment uncertainties of the standards are to be determined and then 
standards selected with a maximum uncertainity level of 10 parts 
per million between the United States and the Soviet Union. For 
current velocity, the overall goal is to establish measurement compara- 
bility of U.S. and Soviet current meters. A laboratory investigation 
of the dynamic responses of current meters is planned with a follow- 
on field intercomparison of selected current meters. 
It is expected that this area of cooperation will become increasingly 
important as the field projects from the other areas are implemented. 
One of the important benefits that results from the above coopera- 
tive activities is the data and information derived from them. Con- 
sequently, all processed and validated data and information from these 
activities are to be exchanged between designated centers in each 
country. In addition, these results are to be accessible to other nations 
through the ICSU/IOC World Data Center System for use by all. 
SUMMARY 
In summary, the agreement has provided a means of facilitating 
cooperative efforts by the two nations of the world with the most 
extensive interests in the oceans and breadth of related activities. 
By bringing together these capabilities and interests to work coopera- 
tively on problems of mutual interest, the results should benefit all 
mankind as well as the United States and the Soviet Union. 
Results from the planned or ongoing studies under the agreement 
are expected to further our understanding (a) of the ocean’s influence 
upon weather and climate and in turn our ability to improve weather 
prediction; (b) of the processes taking place within the oceans which 
are important for fishery assessments, studies of oceanic pollution 
and environmental forecasts; (c) of the sea floor and the processes 
which generate continental margins and operate along the midoceanic 
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