After these models have been obtained, they will be dis- 
cussed in connection with the problem of wave forecasting, wave 
recording, and wave refraction. It will be shown that they 
aera a basis for a correct forecasting theory of ocean waves. 
It will also be shown that the current debate in the literature 
about whether friction against the atmosphere or eddy viscosity 
in the moving water causes the decrease of wave height with travel 
into the decay area is an argument about nothing, because this 
decrease of height of waves with travel can mostly be explained 
by classical concepts without the use of any type of friction 
in the theory. 
Many of the points which will be discussed in this paper 
are purely theoretical. Some of the instrumentation and methods 
of analysis which will have to be devised in order to place the 
techniques which will be described into practical use have yet 
to be developed. The data which are obtained at present are in- 
adequate. Procedures for obtaining data which will adequately 
characterize waves produced by a storm at sea will be described. 
The final result of this paper will be to obtain a unified 
mathematical theory for the representation of ocean surface waves 
as they are. The behavior of irregular waves will be described 
completely from the time they leave their source until they enter 
the breaker zone. Applications to vroblems in beach erosion and 
ship design and other far-reaching implications will be described. 
