109 



I think there is a good reasoning here. I share this idea that these 

 things must be interrelated, but would you say that space has any re- 

 lationship to our earth too. I mean does it have any effect on weather ? 



Captain Bauer. It probably does. Dr. Abbot for many years has 

 maintained that he could forecast the weather by forecasting sun spots 

 and the energy derived from the sun. There is no question about that. 



Mr. ScHADEBERG. Then would you have suggested that we should 

 have put the space program under the Department of the Interior ? 



Captain Bauer. Oh, no, of course not. You will have to draw the 

 line somewhere. If you want to carry the totality of the environment 

 to the point of taking in the universe, I think that is just a question 

 of spinning your wheels. 



If you confine your activities to the troposphere and below where 

 most of the weather and, the interrelations with weather, the land 

 and the sea occur, you will have plenty to do. That should be the 

 closed system that you define. 



If you want to be philosophical about it we should include the 

 universe but I am trying to be practical. 



For example, why is the Pacific Ocean saltier than the Atlantic 

 Ocean. The reason is simple. It is because of the fact that the trade 

 winds carry the moisture from the Atlantic toward the Pacific, hit 

 the mountains of South America, cause precipitation which comes 

 down through large rivers, the Amazon and so on of South America, 

 and, therefore, dilutes the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean. 



In the Pacific you do not have that situation. Therefore, the Pacific 

 is saltier than the Atlantic. 



So the land masses do have an influence on the oceans' structure. 

 If we go through with the proposed widening of the sea level canal 

 in Panama, we are liable as has been pointed out by, I believe. Dr. 

 Van Arks of Woods Plole to change the entire atmospheric structure 

 of the world. If we were to connect Siberia and Alaska through the 

 Bering Straits we would change the world's atmospheric, oceanic, 

 ocean and land environment. 



Mr. Schadeberg. Thank you. 



Mr. Downing. Would it have been better in your opinion to have 

 transferred these functions to the space agency ? 



Captain Bauer. No, I think the space agency has enough to do to 

 concern itself from the troposphere on. I might say there is a close 

 coordination between NASA and the utilization of the oceans, the 

 land and so on. They are very much interested in doing this from 

 satellites and the current program going on, which you will see in 

 the basic agreement in appendix 5, between the 'Na.vj and the De- 

 partment of the Interior proposes and it is now going on to the de- 

 termination of oceanographic parameters, variables, and so on from 

 satellites. 



This is now going on and has been for some 3 years. ESS A is not 

 a party to this agreement. 



Mr.' Downing. Thank you very much, Captain. I think that your 

 report here today is an interesting one and I agree with my colleague 

 from Massachusetts in that I think it is timely. I am glad you got 

 on at the beginning of this so that we can use parts of your testimony 

 in questioning other witnesses. 



Mr. Lennon. The gentleman from Wisconsin. 



