found little application to oceanography. The reasons are varied and 

 complex, including the limited ooeratina ranqe of aircraft, lack of 

 suitable sensors, and the special difficulties of acquiring oceanic "ground 

 truth." But more fundamental than all these is the inability of 

 oceanographers to make efficient use of surface maps of the ocean, if 

 such data were readily available and free of error. Although the idea 

 that the sea derives its constitution and motive force at the air/sea 

 boundarv Is vi/el 1 established in oceanograph ic theory, in practice the 

 data of oceanic observation have usually been obtained and analyzed In 

 vertical sections. As a result, the instruments, data-hand 1 i nq routines, 

 analytic methods, and, in fact, the oceanographers themselves are all 

 oriented toward vertical rather than horizontal aggregates of information. 

 To establish the basis for satellite oceanography will require a gestation 

 period that may be measured in years or decades, depending on how much 

 effort is invested in this sector of the science. It will not be easy to 

 combine such unrelated technologies as space science and oceanogranhy , 

 and it will not occur spontaneously as it has in agriculture or geography, 

 where air mappinq has long been established. Above all. It will require 

 a much greater effort In establishing the validity of data acoulred from 

 satellites than is commonly recognized. For many aopl icat Ions , such as 

 in agriculture, "ground truth" can be established by a few flights over 

 selected areas that have been well surveyed. But In oceanography one deals 

 with rapidly changing conditions. For example, high sea states cannot be 

 scheduled months in advance, nor do thev persist long enough to oermit the 

 leisurely coordination of air and surface activities to record their 

 physical descriptions. 



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