29 



lying seaward of the Continental Shelf as redefined to the 2,500 meter 

 isobath or points 100 miles from the baseline; the creation of an 

 international registry authority to register claims by nations to explore 

 and exploit the mineral resources of the seabed and subsoil of the 

 deep seas including the intermediate zones; and the creation of an 

 international fund to receive payments from registering nations to be 

 expended for such purposes as marine scientific activity, resource 

 development, and aiding developing countries. 



Dr. Stratton. Thank you. 



We turn now, with your consent, to the global environment, Dr. 

 Robert White. 



I should say Dr. White will have to leave at 12:15 for a meeting 

 with the new Secretary of Commerce. 



STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT M. WHITE, ADMINISTRATOR, 

 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 



Dr. White. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, you 

 wUl find the global environment summarized on page 17 and I will 

 depart a little bit from the practice of my fellow Commissioners. 

 I would like to just comment informally on this material since the 

 summary is in the paper before you. 



The Commission came to the conclusion, after examining the 

 problems the Nation has with respect to the oceans, that the Nation 

 must attain a capability to observe, describe, and predict the processes 

 of the oceans and the atmosphere on a global basis. 



What kind of processes are we talking about? What kind of informa- 

 tion does the Nation really need? 



Our view was that they ranged from descriptions of the topography, 

 geophysics and geological structure of the ocean floor, to an under- 

 standing of the normal conditions of the oceans, its chemistry, biology, 

 thermal structure, and its motions, and the capability to predict the 

 rapidly changing conditions of both the oceans and the atmosphere. 



We came to the view that man must ultimately understand the sea 

 and air and land as a single incredibly complex interacting system. 



This is very clear because when one looks at the oceans one finds, 

 for example, that surface ocean currents, and ocean temperature 

 structure, are largely controlled by wind conditions of the atmos- 

 phere. It is impossible to describe or predict them without having a 

 simultaneous knowledge of the atmospheric conditions over the oceans. 



The reverse is also true; that is, that the conditions in the at- 

 mosphere are directly controlled by the conditions in the oceans. The 

 extent to which the oceans affect the atmosphere is well known as in 

 the case of hurricanes which are creatures of the oceans. 



We also came to the view that the scope of the task of monitoring 

 and predicting the global envu'onment exceeded the capabilities of 

 any one nation. One must do it on a global basis because the weather 

 knows no national boundaries nor do the oceans, and this would 

 necessitate the participation of all of the nations of the world in such 

 a task. 



We also came to the view that the existing systems which we have 

 for achieving this goal are really not adequate at the present time, 

 although, there are on the horizon now, under development or in 



