construct simplified models and, from these models, to derive 

 laws that describe what is happening in the ocean; and climatology 

 of the oceans is thought of as collecting data on oceanographic 

 parameters and presenting statistical summaries of these data 

 with, in the extreme case, no thought to physical theory. 



Recently a third definition has been suggested based on the 

 assumption that most sciences develop in three stages: descrip- 

 tion, prediction, and control. At the present time the science of 

 oceanography is phasing from description to prediction. The first 

 stage, usually referred to as "descriptive oceanography," is 

 primarily concerned with the reporting of data collected during 

 exploratory data-collection cruises. The second stage, prediction, 

 is primarily concerned with the quantitative analysis of oceanic 

 data. This stage involves the symbolic exiDression of the physics 

 of ocean behavior, or mathematical modeling. It is generally 

 referred to as "dynamic oceanography" if it is limited to determin- 

 istic variables— that is, variables which are unencumbered by 

 random variability. It is proposed that the second stage be 

 referred to as "oceanometrics" if it is concerned with stochastic 

 variables— that is, variables which include random variability. 



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