utilizing Modern Teciinoiogy 



Availability of new methodologies account for the rapid pace of the ocean sciences in recent 

 years. Future progress depends upon continuing development of techniques in exploration, 

 measurement, and comprehension. An important role will be played by greater availability of 

 laboratory-based instrumentation such as electron microprobes, ion probes, electron 

 microscopes, ultraviolet laser Raman spectrometers, accelerator mass spectrometers, and 

 liquid chromatographs, and also by a growing arsenal of sophisticated shipboard water 

 samplers and measuring instruments. 



For example, biologists are deploying new sampling systems ranging from highly instrumented 

 nets with twenty square meter openings to ship-board flow cytometers and towed underwater 

 multi-frequency acoustic sonar systems for studying plankton. Geologists have benefited from 

 new developments in long-range side-scan sonar systems, a constant series of advances in 

 multichannel seismic surveying and signal processing, cryogenic magnetometers, long-coring 

 systems, ocean bottom and near ocean bottom instruments and survey vehicles. Submersibles 

 have provided a first glimpse of unsuspected seafloor biota and processes; surely much remains 

 undiscovered. 



Remote sensing methods (acoustic mapping of water masses and airborne - especially 

 satellite-based observations) are revolutionizing our understanding of ocean systems. 

 Measurements can be made simultaneously around the world of sea surface height, 

 temperature, plant pigments, winds, and ice cover. Combined with in situ (surface and deep 

 ocean) observations and with subsurface interpretive models, remote sensing provides a 

 quality and quantity of information impossible to obtain a short time ago. But the resulting 

 flood of information threatens to overwhelm our ability to assimilate it. High-speed 

 data-transmission networks are required to distribute the flow of measurements, to make them 

 accessible to researchers and to permit large data sets to be incorporated into models of ocean 

 phenomena. Supercomputers and related facilities are critically important to digesting and 

 interpreting this wealth of data. 



Expansions in computing capability are producing yet another revolution in ocean science. 

 Numerical models offer a powerful tool for increased understanding. As supercomputers 

 become more accessible, models can become more sophisticated, less abstract. For instance, our 

 new global view provides a better understanding of how the atmosphere affects the ocean. By 

 comparing these models with actual ocean behavior, scientists can modify the models to better 

 represent the ocean and to quantify its influence on earth's climate. Thus, continued expansion 

 in computational power is a key ingredient in the new global ocean science. 



Expanding the Effort 



Scientific progress tends to be erratic. Occasionally, developments in basic understanding or 

 technology coalesce to produce dramatic advances. Such a breakthrough is now in prospect, 

 balanced national program of interdisciplinary, global perspectives and traditional focused 

 projects will provide a new vision of the earth-ocean-atmosphere system. A major increase in 

 global geosciences research with an interdisciplinary approach exploiting new technology will 

 produce a tremendous increase in our understanding of the earth system. 



