INTRODUCTION 
The overall objective of the National Oceanographic 
Program is the full understanding of the world ocean, its 
boundaries and its contents, including the physical, biolog- 
ical, chemical, and geological processes associated with it, 
and the presentation of this understanding in useful form. 
Acquisition of knowledge about the ocean as a whole is 
essential to the solution of many of the individual oceano- 
graphic problems related to specific aspects of our national 
welfare. 
All of these oceanographic problems are in fact 
scientific problems; that is, they require new knowledge 
for their solution. In some cases this knowledge is needed 
to solve specific applied problems. The detection of sub- 
marines, production of coastal and deep sea charts for 
navigation, safe disposal of radioactive wastes, increasing 
the commercial fish catch, prediction of sea conditions for 
the economic routing of ships, and the improvement of 
weather predictions are examples of such applied oceano- 
graphic problems. In some cases the knowledge is needed to 
solve specific basic research problems such as the under- 
standing of the deep circulation of the ocean, the origin of 
trenches and seamounts, the dynamic processes that drive the 
ocean currents, the fertility of the sea, the complex air- 
sea interaction, and the relationship of marine organisms 
to their environment. These applied problems and these basic 
