364 OCEANOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATIONS 



as necessary. Many of these sensors should have the capability of making measurements from 

 the bottom to the surface. There are presently available from commercial sources instrument 

 packages which provide many of the features required; also, the Naval Oceanographic Office 

 has similar instrumentation packages which have been successfully used aboard submarines. 



Future Sealabs appear to be particularly attractive as platforms from which to make stud- 

 ies of several difficult and important oceanographic problems which are presently receiving 

 considerable attention and yet are in a poor state of solution, mainly due to lack of suitable 

 platforms from which to collect data. These are: (a) the air-sea interaction problem, (b) the 

 bottom- sea interaction problem, and (c) the open- sea tide problem. 



Solution of the air- sea interaction problem critically depends not only on the ability to 

 place sensors precisely just above and beneath the sea surface, but also to do this without 

 having the wind and water flow fields disturbed by either sensor- support devices or by surface 

 platforms. Also, certain chemical and boundary- condition aspects of the air-sea interaction 

 problem depend critically on not having the surface contaminated in the manner which unavoid- 

 ably occurs near ships or offshore towers. A unique method of solving these sensor- support 

 and sampling problems will be offered by the first Sealab operation which does not have a stag- 

 ing vessel moored above it. In such a situation, the open ocean surface is far enough away that 

 Sealab offers no source of contamination; yet by means of subsurface floats (let up from the 

 bottom), sensors and/or samplers can be placed at the sea surface with accuracy, with mini- 

 mum disturbance, at sea states for which data would be unobtainable otherwise. 



The bottom- sea interaction problem is another boundary problem which requires judicious 

 and accurate placing of sensors and samplers. At the present level of understanding, this prob- 

 lem is best attacked by having the trained scientist make direct observations at the sea floor. 

 Future Sealabs are obviously the best platforms from which to do this, especially for depths 

 greater than 200 ft and for extended times. 



The open- sea tides are in an imperfect state of understanding simple because of lack of 

 accurate tidal data from offshore regions. As Sealabs extend to deeper depths and larger dis- 

 tances from shore, there are no r>3asons why they should not assume major importance as a 

 source of open- sea tide data. 



Finally, it should be emphasized that the consideration which gave rise to formulation and 

 inclusion of an oceanographic research program for Sealab II are equally valid and significant 

 for Sealab in. This is especially so when one realizes that the sea floor at Sealab m will be 

 at depths which no scuba- equipped scientific diver has ever explored. Several tasks underta- 

 ken from Sealab II, of significance to both the Navy and the oceanographic community, should 

 be investigated further from Sealab III. In short, it is strongly recommended that an ocean- 

 ographic program be included in Sealab III which takes advantage of experience gained in Sealab 

 11, utilizes as fully as possible the combination of recording instruments and the in situ trained 

 eye, and provides for acquisition of new data from previously unexplored depths. 



REFERENCES 



1. Dowling, G. B., "Divers' Instiumented Observation Board," U.S. Navy Mine Defense Lab- 

 oratory Report No. 210 (Unclassified), July 1963. 



2. Tolbert, W. H., Payne, R. H. and Salsman, G. G., "An Underwater Crane," Limnology and 



Oceanography 9(1): 150-151 Man. 1964) 



3. Salsman, G. G. and Tolbert, W. H., "Observations on the Sand Dollar, Mellita Quinquies - 

 perforata," Limnology and Organography 9(1): 152-155 (Jan. 1965) 



4. Austin, Roswell W., "Water Clarity Meter Operating and Maintenance Instructions," Visi- 

 bility Laboratory, University of California, Scripps Institute of Oceanography Reference 

 59-9 (Feb. 1959) 



5. Harvey, Edmund U., "Bioluminescence," New York: Academic Press, 649 pp., 1952 



