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393 
the universities. Progress would continue at a 
slower pace, as it has for 4 centuries. In at 
least one field, however, a rift would be dis- 
astrous to the universities and, ultimately, to 
the Armed Services — the field of geophysics. 
In many parts of that science, research cannot 
even begin without access to the data, and the 
data are beyond the scope of any single uni- 
versity or congeries of universities to collect. 
Adequate observation depends on costly equip- 
ment, the employment of thousands of ob- 
servers, and the facilities for collection and 
dissemination that only governments possess. 
On the other hand, government agencies tend 
to see this information in a very practical light. 
They may use it for many purposes, but with 
few exceptions these amount to attempts to 
solve ad hoc and day-to-day operating problems. 
Their methods of treatment tend to become 
stereotyped, and bureaucratic principles begin 
to override scientific principles in the handling 
of the data. 
Against this background a very small but 
significant experiment in co-operation between 
the Air Force and a university is being estab- 
lished in the Hawaiian Islands. Three insti- 
tutions are involved, and the research work 
about which the experiment is formed is chiefly 
in the field of tropical meteorology. Financial 
and physical support is given by Air Force 
Cambridge Research Laboratories, the project 
being monitored by the Geophysical Research 
Directorate of those laboratories. Air Weather 
Service, the operating agency of the Air Force 
most vitally interested in tropical meteorology, 
supplies both physical support and personnel. 
The University of California, through its In- 
stitute of Geophysics, supplies, under contract, 
civilian scientists and technicians and the over- 
all direction to the research. The three groups 
have begun to work together at Wheeler Field 
on the island of Oahu, and full operation is 
expected in the very near future. Each agency 
has a different name for the project. That used 
by the civilian scientists working on the project 
and by the University of California is the Oahu 
Research Center. The general objectives of the 
work are, first, to continue the basic research 
work in tropical meteorology that has been 
conducted by the Institute of Geophysics at the 
University of California at Los Angeles during 
the past 5 years; second, to extend those re- 
searches to include the effects of mountainous 
islands on meteorological phenomena in the 
tropics; third, to continue the Institute’s work 
on the macrophysics of tropical clouds, especially 
as they are affected by high relief; and, finally 
and perhaps most important, to translate with 
as little delay as possible the results of these 
investigations into technological procedures 
that can be used by Air Weather Service in any 
part of the tropics. The work has been split up 
and assigned to three divisions of the project 
called, respectively, the basic laboratory, the 
experimental laboratory, and the operational 
laboratory. 
The basic laboratory will continue the in- 
vestigations, begun in Los Angeles, of the gen- 
eral atmospheric circulation in the Pacific; of 
the origin, development, and movement of 
typhoons and hurricanes; and of the origin, 
development, and movement of upper-level 
tropical cyclones. It will extend its work to the 
monsoon countries, more particularly those of 
southeast Asia, and, in conjunction with the 
experimental laboratory, will attempt to develop 
an indirect aerology of the tropics. 
The experimental laboratory will study the 
effects of mountainous islands on the fields of 
pressure, temperature, rainfall, and wind. It 
will undertake an investigation of orographic 
cloud. It will analyze many thousands of' feet 
of movie film and stills of tropical clouds over 
the Central and South Pacific that have been 
accumulated during the past 2 years and will 
extend this photographic collection. Investi- 
gations of wind structure in the neighborhood 
of tropical clouds have been planned, and some 
theoretical work has already been done on this 
topic. 
Both these laboratories will continue to 
publish their results in official reports and in 
scientific papers. However, the results will be 
available to the operational laboratory long 
before they reach the press. This laboratory 
will be built around a weather station, of the 
type that has become standard in the Air Force. 
Current data, collected in the station by tele- 
type, will be analyzed by both the civilian and 
military scientists day by day and under con- 
ditions as near those found in the field as 
possible. New techniques, suggested by the 
general researches of the project, will be 
developed, tested, and evaluated in this station. 
Any procedure found practicable and useful 
will be described in operating manuals suitable 
for Air Force use in the field. Finally, the film 
produced by the experimental laboratory will 
be surveyed and selections made by the oper- 
ational laboratory for incorporation in training 
movies suitable for the Air Force. 
