Section I 



Global Ocean Research: 



A Time for Action 



In the rapidly evolving ocean sciences, new data, ideas, models and methods are bringing 

 previously unrecognized phenomena to light providing us with new perspectives on 

 interrelationships on our planet. This new global perspective has also brought a fuller 

 realization that the processes regulating conditions on Earth are delicately balanced and easily 

 perturbed. 



Growing human populations affect the land, air and water worldwide. The global food supply 

 depends critically upon climate. Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil 

 fuels is changing the earth's temperature. While the oceans will eventually absorb much of 

 this material, it will not happen soon enough. Therefore, we need a much better understanding 

 of the consequences. How do changing rainfall patterns affect farm fertility? How soon will 

 polar ice caps melt and how much will sea level be raised? 



The monsoon has long been recognized as a control on the success of the harvest in India and 

 Southeast Asia. Now it appears that the monsoon is controlled by an atmospheric phenomenon 

 called the Southern Oscillation, which in turn controls El Nino in the ocean off Peru. El Nino Is 

 best known for devastating Peruvian fisheries in 1 972 and 1 982-83, but its effects are more 

 far reaching. The 1982-83 El Nino has been blamed for disrupting ecosystems as far away as 

 the Gulf of Alaska, triggering ravaging storms on the west coast of North America, drenching 

 the U.S. "sun-belt" with unusually heavy rains, and leaving a thick snow pack in the Rocky 

 Mountains that later produced heavy flooding in Colorado. Accurate forecasts reduce damage 

 from such events. 



Metal-rich deposits forming at ocean ridges and on seamounts may be an important source of 

 strategic metals, such as cobalt. Models of their formation provide clues to the location of 

 similar deposits on land, yet the processes forming such deposits are largely unknown. 



The largest untapped resources of hydrocarbons are located on submerged continental margins. 

 Their detection and recovery require understanding the processes which form the margins. As 

 United States hydrocarbon reserves decline, it is imperative that the science underpinning 

 discovery and recovery of new resources be pursued. 



The need for a more unified global perspective is compelling. Modern ocean science is a 

 sophisticated and quantitative endeavor that draws upon and influences the fundamental 

 sciences. Physically, as a turbulent fluid, the ocean provides input to development of the 

 dynamics of nonlinear mechanical systems and shares the complexities of these systems. 

 Chemically, the numerous reactive molecules, compounds, and ions in solution tax the limits of 

 analytical skills and the understanding of rates and equilibria. Biologically, the diversity of 

 organisms and complexity of their interrelationships within the marine biosphere present 

 challenges for development of new models and techniques applicable to organismal, molecular, 

 and evolutionary biology in general. Geologically, ocean studies provide the key to 

 understanding past climates, the formation of many mineral resources, the causes of major 

 earthquakes, and the evolution of the oceans in the context of a dynamic earth. 



