municated world wide through weather communi- 

 cations facihties organized by the World Meteoro- 

 logical Organization. (See Chapter 8.) 



V. ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION 



During the past decade we have become in- 

 creasingly aware of the ways in which man is 

 inadvertently modifying his environment— through 

 the emission of carbon dioxide, the discharge of 

 industrial and agricultural pollutants— and of the 

 possible ways in which he may be able to modify 

 his environment dehberately— by coating surfaces 

 to hasten or retard the absorption of heat and by 

 releasing chemicals into the atmosphere to alter 

 the ways in which it stores or releases water vapor. 

 Inadvertent modification may pose a serious threat. 

 The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing 

 as a result of the burning of fossil fuels; the effecl 

 of the carbon dioxide on the earth's heat radiation 

 has caused concern, because of possible long-term 

 climatic changes.' But the oceans affect this 

 process by absorbing carbon dioxide; the rate at 

 which this occurs is not well documented. 



Deliberate environmental modification holds 

 out the ultimate hope that we can learn how to 

 dissipate hurricanes and other severe storms and 

 that we can provide certain areas of the world with 

 slight increases in rainfall or small changes in 

 average temperature and so make possible a viable 

 agricultural economy where none was possible 

 before. But modification is a matter of the total 

 environment. When, for example, we modify the 

 atmosphere, particularly on a large scale, there can 

 be serious oceanic effects; the converse is equally 

 true. 



An improved global environmental monitoring 

 system will make possible the collection of data 

 vital in evaluating modification experiments. In- 

 creased understanding of the environment will 

 make it possible to estimate the effects of pro- 

 posed modification activities. 



Reconunendation: 



The Nation's oceanographic monitoring and predic- 

 tion activities should be integrated with the 



existing National weather system (as well as 

 certain aspects of the solid earth) to provide a 

 single comprehensive system, which the panel has 

 identified as the National Environmental Monitor- 

 ing and Prediction System (NEMPS). 



Enviionmental Pollution Panel, President's Science 

 Advisory Committee, Restoring the Quality of Our En- 

 vironment, The White House, November 1965. 



Provisions should be made for: 



—Immediate improvements in the present system 

 through the increased use of equipment which is 

 already available and which can be deployed at 

 modest cost. 



—Development of new technology to improve data 

 acquisition, communications, and processing on a 

 global basis, with systems studies proceeding in 

 parallel. 



—Research to remove present scientific limitations 

 on our ability to predict the state of the ocean, its 

 biota, and the atmosphere. 



—A single civil system to meet common needs for 

 environmental observations and forecasts of all 

 agencies and users. 



—Specialized systems to meet needs of the Depart- 

 ment of Defense and other agencies, planned and 

 coordinated with the common system. 



The panel proposes that the Nation establish as 

 a target the full implementation of a modernized 

 and expanded global environmental monitoring 

 and prediction system by 1980. 



—The first half of the next decade should be 

 devoted to immediate improvements in the system 

 ^ich could be introduced at low cost with 

 existing technology, and to the developrnent of 

 new technology which will be necessary to realize 

 the full range of possibilities. 



—By 1975 the Nation should be in position to 

 relate the potential improvement due to deploy- 

 ment of new technology to associated costs. 



—By 1980 the next-generation system should be 

 in place to provide adequate data coverage and 

 services to meet the National needs. 



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