SOVIET SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN COASTAL OCEANOGRAPHY 

 by 



Otakar W. Kabelac 

 International Division, Beach Erosion Board 



SOVIET EFFORT FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN COASTAL INVESTIGATIONS 



At the Twelfth Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and 

 Geophysics (IUGG), held in Helsinki, Finland, in August 1960, the Soviets 

 proposed the establishment of a special committee within the framework of 

 the International Association of Physical Oceanography (IAPO), a subdivi- 

 sion of IUGG, for the study of dynamics of shores and coastal zones. The 

 leading Soviet oceanographers V. P. Zenkovich and V. N. Longinov, authors 

 of the proposal, consider the present methods and means of oceanographic 

 studies of coastal processes, now carried on separately by individual 

 countries, inadequate for the advancement of knowledge of phenomena occur- 

 ring in the shore zone. They consider the general processes occurring in 

 any shore zone to be subordinated to the same laws of geophysics, which 

 cannot be scientifically investigated without international coordination 

 and mutual use of achievement of different countries. 



The Soviet proposal for the establishment of a special committee of 

 IAPO, outlined the following objectives: 



1) collection and distribution of information on investigations and 

 methods used in various countries; 



2) preparation of a program for a symposium to be held at the next 

 IUGG meeting; 



3) preparation of a program of studies in nature and model labora- 

 tories within the symposium mentioned under 2); 



4) standardization of international terminology for coastal zone 

 studies; 



5) coordination of studies carried out in different countries, 

 exchange of information, also arrangement for consultation of competent 

 specialists; 



6) publication of material of the Committee in a special bulletin; 

 and 



7) organization of a symposion for IUGG Assembly in 1967-68, in 

 which the results should be discussed and future programs elaborated. 



The Soviet proposal is supplemented by a list of specific coastal 

 problems considered as the most important part of the program of shore 



