1. Air-Sea Interaction 



Many types of exchange between ocean and 

 atmosphere need to be studied in detail. This 

 information is important in terms of our ability to 

 predict the state of the oceans, on the one hand, 

 and the state of the atmosphere on the other. 



Recommendation: 



The Nation should continue to place a high 

 priority on comprehensive field experiments to 

 understand air-sea interaction processes. 



2. E>ynamics of Ocean Currents 



An attack on the problems of predicting fluctu- 

 ations in major ocean currents will require both 

 extensive series of field observations to describe 

 their actual behavior in nature and supporting 

 research in geophysical fluid dynamics to account 

 for the observed properties of the currents in 

 terms of the inputs of thermal, tidal, and wind 

 energy on a rotating earth. It is time to marshal 

 the Nation's scientific and technological capabih- 

 ties to plan comprehensive attacks on outstanding 

 problems of ocean circulation dynamics, both in 

 the field and in the laboratory. 



Recommendation : 



The Nation should undertake a series of systematic 

 investigations into the oceans' current systems to 

 study their dynamics through cooperative field 

 investigations, marshalling at one time multiple 

 ship, buoy, and aircraft arrays, as well as an 

 expanded effort in the theoretical and mathemati- 

 cal modelling of such systems. 



3. Scales of Motion 



A complex pattern of small scale motions 

 appears to be responsible for most mixing in the 

 sea. Further investigation is needed to account in 

 detail for the mechanisms by which they are 

 produced and by which energy is transmitted from 

 one type to another. The time appears to be at 

 hand when technology will permit a major assault 

 on this problem. 



Recommendation : 



There should be initiated as soon as possible a 

 well-defined program to study oceanic scales of 



motion and such a study should be one of the 

 early foci for the test of the elements of the 

 National buoy program. 



V. BASIC MARINE SCIENCE AND NATIONAL 

 SECURITY 



The Nation's security has been fundamentally 

 tied to the abihty of its Navy to operate in and 

 under the sea. There is hardly an area of marine 

 science which does not bear directly on the 

 effectiveness of its operation. It is largely through 

 the Navy's support that the Nation's eminence in 

 basic marine science is maintained. The Office of 

 Naval Research has played a historic and unique 

 role in the Nation's marine science growth. 



The effectiveness of tomorrow's Navy will be 

 determined in large part by the level of scientific 

 and technological understanding of the marine 

 environment and all aspects of basic science in this 

 area are of immediate and long-term concern to it. 



The panel strongly urges that the Navy take the 

 broadest possible view of its obligations to support 

 basic marine science. 



Recommendation: 



The Department of Defense should continue to 

 recognize, as it has in the past, the vital nature of 

 all aspects of basic marine science research to its 

 naval missions, and adopt the broadest possible 

 view of its obligations to insure that the National 

 basic marine science effort meet not only its 

 short-term needs but all possible future require- 

 ments for marine information. It also should 

 continue to function as one of the cornerstones 

 for the support of the Nation's basic marine 

 science effort. 



Acoustical energy is known to propagate over 

 long distance in water; electromagnetic energy 

 does not. Our capabOity to develop techniques and 

 equipment which will enable us to use acoustical 

 energy as a basis for detection depends on our 

 knowledge of how the ocean structure affects such 

 energy propagation. 



The Navy has given prime attention to this area, 

 and its detection capabilities are formidable. The 

 importance of the problem cannot, however, be 

 overstated. The panel, recognizing the extensive 



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