weather-forecasting services. At this time, infor- 
mation on ocean currents is provided about 
twice a week, while visibility data can be obtained 
as often as four times daily. SeaWiFS data will 
provide a finer definition of ocean currents, re- 
sulting in the ability to take full advantage of fa- 
vorable circulation patterns for oceanic transit. 
SeaWiFS data will also provide information on 
horizontal atmospheric visibility. 
The oil and gas industry constructs offshore 
platforms for mining hydrocarbons, and the cur- 
rent state of technology Supports production in 
water depths greater than 1000 feet. These ex- 
ploration and production operations, particularly 
in the Gulf of Mexico, are costly and often very 
sensitive to environmental conditions. In these 
deeper drilling areas and off the edges of the 
continental shelf, an accurate and detailed un- 
derstanding of the oceanographic environment is 
required for platform design. For example, un- 
derestimating the potential force of the wind, 
waves, and currents in a drilling location may re- 
sult in underdesigning a structure with attendant 
risks. Conducting offshore operations, such as 
shipping supplies, pipelaying, and platform instal- 
lation, also requires a thorough knowledge of the 
ocean environment to determine "weather win- 
dows" when these operations can be conducted 
most safely and efficiently. 
The total drag force (a dominating constraint 
for steel-jacket structures used in the Gulf of 
Mexico) on a platform member is a function of the 
square of the total water particle velocity. For 
many ranges of water depths, particularly sea- 
ward of the continental shelf break, and for cer- 
tain types of structures, water particle motion 
from both orbital wave motion and ambient cur- 
rents must be considered. For offshore struc- 
tures in regions where eddy events are possible, 
an eddy force contribution must also be consid- 
ered as well as storm-generated effects. 
Timely information on transient mesoscale cir- 
culation features with maximum surface velocities 
in the 100 to 150 cm/sec range (e.g., the Gulf of 
Mexico Loop Current and eddies) is required, 
since they can cause a loss of drilling time due to 
increased loads on the drilling riser. Eddy moni- 
toring is also required to schedule other opera- 
tions, such as rig movement, remotely operated 
vehicle activities, and supply-vessel operations. 
Many potential users of satellite-acquired 
data are not equipped to receive these data and 
many do not possess the resources or technical 
ability to analyze and prepare the data products 
required to utilize the information. This has led to 
formation of a loosely organized, but growing, 
value-added industry that provides the data 
products to some members of the industries de- 
scribed above. For the most part, these emerg- 
ing entrepreneurs have small, poorly capitalized 
firms, and the cost of acquiring SeaWiFS data by 
them is a concern. 
In the public sector, the National Marine Fish- 
eries Service (NMFS) has been using ocean- 
color and sea-surface temperature data in oper- 
ational and research applications. Operational 
applications include identifying fronts, river 
plumes, upwelling, and other areas of high pro- 
ductivity for guiding research-vessel sampling, for 
providing timely reports to local fishermen of po- 
tentially favorable zones, and in predicting poten- 
tially lethal conditions for certain species, such as 
zones of oxygen depletion and pollution. Re- 
search applications include monitoring long-term 
changes in the environment and their effects on 
fisheries recruitment, pollution effects on both 
standing stock and recruitment, niche or habitat 
studies for specific fish stocks, and flow visualiza- 
tion for monitoring larval transport conditions in 
coastal waters for estuarine-dependent offshore 
spawning species. Other research interests in- 
clude determining the migration patterns of highly 
mobile species such as tuna, billfish, and marine 
mammals, improving fishery conservation and 
management techniques, and improving resource 
assessments. 
The U.S. Navy has not yet documented oper- 
ational requirements for the ocean-color data 
that will be acquired by the SeaWiFS sensor. As 
a result, its Current interest is in using SeaWiFS 
data in research programs to develop techniques 
and algorithms for deriving usable geophysical 
