325 



In recommending an integrated national atmospheric and marine 

 sciences effort, the Commission was, in my opinion, entirely correct. 

 Whether the physical unity of the air-ocean system necessarily means 

 that a single administrative entity must be centrally responsible for 

 research and resource development over the whole domain of the 

 physical system is, of course, one of the central questions, Mr. Chair- 

 man, that I believe your subcommittee must wrestle with. 



Something more than an interagency coordinating group, some- 

 thing more, for example, than the Interdepartmental Committee on 

 Atmospheric Sciences in the atmosphere field, is obviously needed, 

 because such coordinating groups tend to be ineffective in guiding 

 programs that need integrated effort. 



There are three observations, however, that I wish to make on this 

 matter. 



First, many aspects of research and development in the marine and 

 •atmospheric sciences are today lagging very seriously, when one looks 

 at the overall national interest. Creation of something like NOAA 

 may be able to obtain, for this area of science, a national priority 

 commensurate with its practical potential for public benefit. 



My second point has to do with something the Fujita-Suomi hurri- 

 cane film graphically shows, and also something that it fails to show. 



The thing that it shows is that land heavily affects the ocean- 

 atmosphere system, even when hurricanes are involved. The effects of 

 mountains, plains, forests, and fields are as important to the system 

 as is the ocean. There is real action, as you all know, from giant 

 weather systems over land, and, of course, it is over these land areas 

 where millions of people live and work, and own property, and farm 

 crops. 



One of the things, for example, that was called to my mind by Con- 

 gressman Wilson's remark is the jetstreams. These giant rivers of air, 

 so important in air operations, are perhaps the principal factor in the 

 development of weather systems over the Great Plains and over the 

 central part of the United States. These jetstreams are driven, in large 

 part, by the energy of the tropical oceans, by the evaporation in the 

 first inch or so of the tropical oceans. The evaporation of moisture into 

 the atmosphere provides energy that is then transported aloft and car- 

 ried to higher altitudes by the general circulation of the atmosphere. 

 This energy contributes to driving the jetstreams. 



Yet, even though these jetstreams are one of the most important 

 factors in weather over the whole of the United States, the regions from 

 which the evaporation occurs in the tropical oceans are practically un- 

 observed by the observation stations in operation today. 



Wliat the film does not show, and what the Coromission report does 

 not really discuss is this : that the marine sciences and the atmospheric 

 sciences are interdependent, but they are not identical in scope or in 

 potential usefulness to mankind. 



There are many atmospheric problems of concern to mankind totally 

 unrelated to the exploitation of the sea, and, of course, vice versa. 



Therefore, the development of atmospheric science cannot be con- 

 sidered simply as a necessary adjunct to the development of marine 

 science. 



Each has an important role to play in the national interest, and also 

 in any agency that incorporates the two. And in such an agencj^ the 



