A Unified Plan for Ocean Science
A Long-Range Plan
for the
Division of Ocean Sciences
of the
National Science Foundation
DESUMENT LIBRARY eee
WOODS HOLE CCEANGESAPHIC INSTITUTION
WOUDDS Pine Wuekirinue.s
Advisory Committee on Ocean Sciences
August 1987
A Unified Plan for Ocean Science
DOCUMENT LIBRARY Ps
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION.
A Long-Range Plan
for the
Division of Ocean Sciences
of the
National Science Foundation
Advisory Committee on Ocean Sciences
August 1987
Initial Editing by Vicky Cullen,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Production by Lisa Lynch,
Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc.
Publication of this report was supported by grant #OCE 86-13801
from the National Science Foundation
Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal
Advisory Committee on Ocean Sciences (1983-1987)
Executive Summary
Section |. Global Ocean Research: A Time for Action
Section Il. A Unified Plan
A. The Ocean Sciences Core Research Program
B. The Global Program
Initiative 1. Global Ocean Studies
Initiative 2. Ocean Lithosphere Studies
Section lil. Program Areas
A. Physical Oceanography Program
B. Chemical Oceanography Program
C. Blological Oceanography Program
D. Marine Geology and Geophysics Program
E. Ocean Drilling Program
F. Oceanographic Technology Programs
G. Ship Operations, Shipboard Scientific Equipment
and Ship Construction/Conversion
Section IV. Budgets
Composite
A. Physical Oceanography
B. Chemical Oceanography
C. Biological Oceanography
D. Marine Geology and Geophysics
E. Ocean Drilling
F. Ocean Technology
G. Ship Operations
ii
iti
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98195
School of Oceanography, WB-10 August 24, 1987
Dear Colleague:
On behalf of the Advisory Committee for Ocean Sciences (ACOS), I am
pleased to transmit the 1987 revision of the Long-Range Plan for the
Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE).
The concept and outline of the plan was initiated by the ACOS in 1983.
The Committee, working closely with the OCE staff, developed a Long-Range
Plan (LRP) to identify needs and priorities for ocean research and research
infrastructure. The LRP, completed in the spring of 1984, was favorably
reviewed by the Board on Ocean Science and Policy of the National Research
Council that summer. The Plan was adopted at the ACOS meeting in May, 1985.
At the same time, ACOS laid the groundwork to revise the LRP every two
or three years and established an ACOS Subcommittee to lead that effort
during 1986. The Ocean Studies Board again reviewed the draft LRP in 1986.
The revised LRP was approved by ACOS at the May, 1987 meeting.
The long-range planning activity has extended over several years, led
by several ACOS chairs with contributions from many members and OCE staff.
Particular thanks go to Vera Alexander and Bob Corell who preceded me as
chair and to the ACOS members whose names appear on the attached list.
The budgetary framework embodied in this version of the LRP reflects
actual funding availability only through FY-87. Beyond that, it projects
funding levels that in the committee's view, represent optimum opportunities
for scientific advancement. It does not, and is not intended to, reflect
NSF endorsement of the LRP and the concomitant funding levels.
On behalf of the ACOS, I am grateful for wide-spread interest and
support throughout the community and for the opportunity to submit this
Long-Range Plan for Ocean Sciences.
Sincerely,
Uses
Brian T.R. Lewis,
Chairman
BIRL/saf
Enclosure
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Advisory Committee on Ocean Sciences, 1983-1987
Vera Alexander
University of Alaska
Donald Boesch
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
Otis Brown
University of Miami
Douglas Caldwell
Oregon State University
Robert Corell
University of New Hampshire
Robert Douglas
University of Southern California
Richard Eppley
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Dale Haidvogel
Johns Hopkins University
William Hay
University of Colorado
Terrence Joyce
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
David Karl
University of Hawaii
Jay Langfelder
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Marcus Langseth
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Liaison Members:
John Booker
University of Washington
Robert Duce
University of Rhode Island
ill
John Lehman
University of Michigan
Margaret Leinen
University of Rhode Island
Brian Lewis
University of Washington
John Martin
San Jose State University
Mary Jane Perry
University of Washington
Charles Peterson
University of North Carolina
Allan R. Robinson
Harvard University
Thomas Royer
University of Alaska
Constance Sancetta
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Jorge Sarmiento
Princeton University
David Schink
Texas A&M University
Friedrich Schott
University of Miami
Derek Spencer
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Fred Spiess
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
John Hobbie
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole
Executive Summary
Knowledge of the oceans and continental margins has expanded dramatically in recent years
bringing insights about the oceans and their role in the complex processes that govern the
nature and health of our planet.
This Unified Plan is the product of a science that has matured extraordinarily during the past
decade and that is poised to address scientific questions of vital national interest. The Plan is
based on the following premises:
¢ Progress in the ocean sciences requires a mix of fundamental research, including both
small projects and multidisciplinary large-scale research that connects the sciences of
the ocean, atmosphere, and solid earth.
* Ocean sciences, together with the other geosciences, can expand our knowledge of the
interrelationships at work around the globe by describing how the component parts and
their interactions have evolved, how they function, and how they may be expected to
continue to evolve in the future.
¢ Essential technologies and techniques to exploit the potential of the ocean sciences are
becoming available and proven, particularly earth/ocean observing satellites, computer
systems, and advanced methods and sampling systems.
¢ The National Science Foundation, together with the academic ocean community, should
continue to craft long-range plans and strategies for ocean research that recognize
national scientific interests and that build upon a community consensus concerning
research trends and priorities.
The Plan sets forth a unified approach for the Division of Ocean Sciences of the NSF. It
highlights, in three parts, a global program in oceanic and ocean lithospheric research.
Section | describes the underlying need for an NSF-supported ocean science research
program that addresses priority global scale research initiatives and core programs of
research in the ocean science disciplines.
Section Il develops the unifying themes of the ocean sciences and presents a detailed
projection for the global interdisciplinary ocean sciences research programs and for the
fundamental core discipline-based research programs. It also details the vital importance of
support for an infrastructure of modern and efficient ships and platforms, advanced technology,
new equipment and facilities, and an aggressive international program in Ocean Drilling. The
essential ingredients are:
¢ The Core Program - Priorities for this Core Program are outlined for the four
disciplinary aspects of the ocean sciences (i.e., biology, chemistry, geology and
geophysics, and physical oceanography), for the Ocean Drilling Program, and for advanced
programs in oceanographic technology. Further, Critical Needs are outlined for the future
in the core programs, including constructing and refitting research vessels for scientific
operations, facilities, new technology, post doctoral training, biotechnology and ODP
sample analyses.
¢ The Global Program - Plans for NSF-supported Global Ocean Studies and Global
Ocean Lithosphere Studies are described, both as components of NSF's Global Geosciences
Program, and as parts of a program to study global change. These are seen as
contributions to international efforts such as WOCE, WCRP, GOFS and IGBP. The Global
Ocean Studies focus research on global ocean circulation, climate, and productivity; open
ocean fluxes; coastal ocean dynamics and fluxes; ecosystem dynamics and recruitment
mechanisms; and the land/sea interface. The Ocean Lithosphere Studies focus on ridge
crest processes and on tectonics and structures of submerged continental margins.
Section Ill presents a program plan and prospectus for each major program component of the
Ocean Sciences Division of NSF. Long-range planning priorities are recommended for the:
Physical Oceanography Program;
Chemical Oceanography Program;
Biological Oceanography Program;
Marine Geology and Geophysics Program;
Ocean Drilling Program;
Oceanographic Technology Program; and
Ship Operations, Shipboard Scientific Equipment,
and Ship Construction/Conversion.
The Plan includes information on recent, present, and planned NSF ocean sciences budgets. It
details FY 1989 through FY 1996 budget perspectives by program areas and program elements.
The budget outlined is designed to present an aggressive Ocean Sciences Program, consistent
with overall NSF strategic planning guidelines and with the vital contribution that these
sciences can play in the nation's science policies and interests.
Section |
Global Ocean Research:
A Time for Action
In the rapidly evolving ocean sciences, new data, ideas, models and methods are bringing
previously unrecognized phenomena to light providing us with new perspectives on
interrelationships on our planet. This new global perspective has also brought a fuller
realization that the processes regulating conditions on Earth are delicately balanced and easily
perturbed.
Growing human populations affect the land, air and water worldwide. The global food supply
depends critically upon climate. Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil
fuels is changing the earth's temperature. While the oceans will eventually absorb much of
this material, it will not happen soon enough. Therefore, we need a much better understanding
of the consequences. How do changing rainfall patterns affect farm fertility? How soon will
polar ice caps melt and how much will sea level be raised?
The monsoon has long been recognized as a control on the success of the harvest in India and
Southeast Asia. Now it appears that the monsoon is controlled by an atmospheric phenomenon
called the Southern Oscillation, which in turn controls El Nino in the ocean off Peru. El Nino is
best known for devastating Peruvian fisheries in 1972 and 1982-83, but its effects are more
far reaching. The 1982-83 El Nino has been blamed for disrupting ecosystems as far away as
the Gulf of Alaska, triggering ravaging storms on the west coast of North America, drenching
the U.S. "sun-belt" with unusually heavy rains, and leaving a thick snow pack in the Rocky
Mountains that later produced heavy flooding in Colorado. Accurate forecasts reduce damage
from such events.
Metal-rich deposits forming at ocean ridges and on seamounts may be an important source of
strategic metals, such as cobalt. Models of their formation provide clues to the location of
similar deposits on land, yet the processes forming such deposits are largely unknown.
The largest untapped resources of hydrocarbons are located on submerged continental margins.
Their detection and recovery require understanding the processes which form the margins. As
United States hydrocarbon reserves decline, it is imperative that the science underpinning
discovery and recovery of new resources be pursued.
The need for a more unified global perspective is compelling. Modern ocean science is a
sophisticated and quantitative endeavor that draws upon and influences the fundamental
sciences. Physically, as a turbulent fluid, the ocean provides input to development of the
dynamics of nonlinear mechanical systems and shares the complexities of these systems.
Chemically, the numerous reactive molecules, compounds, and ions in solution tax the limits of
analytical skills and the understanding of rates and equilibria. Biologically, the diversity of
organisms and complexity of their interrelationships within the marine biosphere present
challenges for development of new models and techniques applicable to organismal, molecular,
and evolutionary biology in general. Geologically, ocean studies provide the key to
understanding past climates, the formation of many mineral resources, the causes of major
earthquakes, and the evolution of the oceans in the context of a dynamic earth.
Although oceanography is by nature an interdisciplinary science, the greater part of marine
research over past decades has been traditionally segmented into programs focused on one or
another of its component disciplines. Recently the disciplinary lines have begun to dissolve and
growing attention to interdisciplinary studies has produced some dramatic progress. The
problems now at hand call for even greater interaction among ocean scientists. Although
focused disciplinary research remains essential, substantial increases in integrated efforts are
now imperative.
Developing the Unified Approach: The Work to Be Done
Some pathways to a global approach are clearly indicated. We must better define ocean
circulation, its associated physical processes, and the biological,geological, and chemical
consequences. General circulation patterns, their variabilities, dynamics, associated boundary
interactions, and resulting fluxes must be studied more intensely with programs designed to
determine global and mesoscale patterns. Data from dedicated field experiments addressing the
dynamics of the general circulation with its major current systems (Gulf Stream, Kuroshio)
will help to define the general circulation, including large-scale mean fields and basin
interconnections.
The ocean and atmosphere form a tightly coupled system that largely controls the earth's
climate and its variability. The ocean plays two important roles: heat storage and transport of
heat and water. Intermediate and deep waters, by their heat content, reflect air-sea exchange
processes extending over periods ranging from years to centuries. A better grasp of air-sea
exchange on a global scale will advance our understanding of the earth's climate-control
systems.
Ocean currents exert a major control over distributions and fluxes of materials in the sea.
Elements and compounds such as carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, water, biogenic gases,
and man-made aerosols all have important roles in complex global cycles. The magnitude of the
exchanges in these cycles is virtually unknown. Inputs from human activity mark many of
these cycles and may serve as useful tracers for the processes involved. Some of man's waste
products can themselves modify the global systems. For example, the build-up in atmospheric
carbon dioxide since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has caused a worldwide rise in
temperature and possibly in sea level as well.
Chemical cycles and physical processes must be understood if we are to interpret the biological
structure and dynamics of the world ocean, including primary and secondary production,
recruitment of populations, predation, and decomposition. The general relationship between
oceanic physical processes and marine ecosystems has long been recognized, but only in the last
few years has enough been learned to address specific problems. We are just beginning to
comprehend the effects of large-scale ocean phenomena (such as El Nino) on marine
ecosystems.
At the same time, studies of processes on smaller spatial and temporal scales are essential to a
better understanding of large scale phenomena. Modern approaches to these studies may include
large experimental ecosystems (mesocosms) to examine the cycling of biologically important
materials and the role which key predators play in structuring pelagic communities. Other
important, but poorly understood, processes which operate at intermediate temporal and
spatial scales include the distribution, recruitment mechanisms, and trophic relationships of
invertebrate and fish larvae.
Coastal regions are only a small fraction of the total volume of the ocean, but they exert a
disproportionate influence upon it. Human activities have the greatest impact in this zone. But
the interaction goes both ways - conditions in the coastal zone can also have great influence on
human activities. Most rivers enter the sea through estuarine zones, complex, highly variable
regions that often show immense biological productivity. Each is distinct, and each modifies the
material passing through it in its particular fashion. Many coastal zone organisms range far
and influence open-ocean communities. Natural and man-made materials washed or blown
from the continent either settle and interact with the biota or move out to sea. The resultant
fluxes of chemicals, particles, and biota represent boundary conditions that must be defined if
we are to understand the ocean system.
In the surface layer, plankton convert dissolved materials into a vertical flux of particulate
matter. As particles sink, consumption, decomposition, and chemical exchanges (dissolution
and adsorption) modify their original composition. Much of the particulate matter returns to
solution at various depths as it falls or is eaten, digested, and excreted. Some fraction of the
particulate mass, still reactive, reaches the bottom. Chemical and biological modifications
occur within the sediments. To a large extent, the sediment particles themselves consist of the
remains of planktonic organisms. Their organic components are progressively degraded as
bottom dwellers consume them, but a small fraction of the organics may persist and eventually
become petroleum. The skeletal remains mostly redissolve, but some endure and survive
burial to become a part of the sediment where they record the ocean's history over millions of
years.
The thick sediment deposits along the continental margins form a significant repository for
products of ocean-continent interaction. Understanding the distribution and history of these
deposits provides temporal constraints on chemical, biological, and particulate fluxes, as well
as a guide to the evolution of biota, climate, and oceanographic conditions during their
formation. The deepest sediments along passive continental margins record the earliest history
of new ocean basins created by continental rifting and seafloor spreading. Ocean drilling
provides access to the deep sedimentary layers in the margins and ocean basins and the crustal
rocks beneath them.
Deep-ocean ridge crest processes are responsible for the chemical and thermal properties of
hydrothermal vent systems. These systems are important as sources and sinks for chemical
elements in the oceans and are responsible for extensive sulfide mineralization. They provide
unique habitats for vent communities. Through seafloor spreading, ocean ridge systems create
and modify 70% of the earth's crust. A comprehensive understanding of the processes that
control the dynamics, structure, composition and variability of these systems is required.
The Geosciences: A New Global Initiative
The scientific issues and global perspectives of the ocean sciences are critical components of the
tightly connected ocean-atmosphere-geosphere-biosphere system. Taken together, they form a
major new initiative within the National Science Foundation known as the Global Geosciences
Program, begun in FY 1987. This effort, in which ocean sciences play an integral part,
consists of separate but related research efforts and treats the earth as an integrated system of
physical processes. It encompasses the full range of earth sciences and includes global
tropospheric chemistry, properties of the solid earth, dynamics of global ecosystems, and
features of global ocean and atmospheric circulation and biogeochemical fluxes as well as their
relationship to climate variability.
5
The Global Geosciences Program is designed to examine four components of the global system -
atmosphere, ocean, biosphere and solid earth - and includes seven programs of study:
Global Tropospheric Chemistry,
World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE),
Studies of Interannual Variability of the
Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA),
Global Ocean Flux Studies (GOFS),
Global Ecosystem Dynamics,
Ocean Lithosphere Processes, and
Remote Sensing of the Solid Earth.
The Global Geosciences Program was born of a gradual evolution of the sciences involved,
major advances in observing systems, and the advent of supercomputers. Since the early
1980's, attention has focused on studying the environment within a planetary context.
Large-scale complex feedback mechanisms operate among the fluid, living, and solid
components of the Earth system. They must be more completely understood in order to address
such fundamental issues as climatic change and predictability, changing carbon dioxide
concentrations, acid rain, and the exchange of heat and biological species within the
atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere.
The NSF Global Geosciences Program is the keystone of a national effort to improve fundamental
understanding of global change which is being coordinated other Federal agencies. This effort,
referred to as a "Scientific Program of Research into Global Change", will benefit from a series
of other activities recently completed or now underway. For example, the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP) has completed for the President an review of the applicability of
space-based remote sensing to study of the earth system. The National Academy of Sciences is
establishing a new standing committee to address problems related to global change.
Internationally, components of the NSF Global Geosciences Program are already contributing to
major global studies being sponsored by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
in cooperation with intergovernmental organizations such as the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of Unesco.
The NSF TOGA program organized by ICSU and WMO as a part of the World Climate Research
Program (WCRP). Similarly, the NSF WOCE program is a driving force in the planning of the
WCRP's international WOCE program.
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) being developed by ICSU is likely to
rely heavily on the efforts underway under GOFS to provide a sound basis for its planning. The
International Lithosphere Program will clearly benefit from the results of the NSF program
for study of Ocean Lithosphere Processes. These international efforts, to which the NSF Global
Geosciences Program will be a major contributor, provide an opportunity for truly integrated
Studies of the earth's environment necessary to establish the basis for effective management of
the world's resources and protection of the global environment.
Utilizing Modern Technology
Availability of new methodologies account for the rapid pace of the ocean sciences in recent
years. Future progress depends upon continuing development of techniques in exploration,
measurement, and comprehension. An important role will be played by greater availability of
laboratory-based instrumentation such as electron microprobes, ion probes, electron
microscopes, ultraviolet laser Raman spectrometers, accelerator mass spectrometers, and
liquid chromatographs, and also by a growing arsenal of sophisticated shipboard water
samplers and measuring instruments.
For example, biologists are deploying new sampling systems ranging from highly instrumented
nets with twenty square meter openings to ship-board flow cytometers and towed underwater
multi-frequency acoustic sonar systems for studying plankton. Geologists have benefited from
new developments in long-range side-scan sonar systems, a constant series of advances in
multichannel seismic surveying and signal processing, cryogenic magnetometers, long-coring
systems, ocean bottom and near ocean bottom instruments and survey vehicles. Submersibles
have provided a first glimpse of unsuspected seafloor biota and processes; surely much remains
undiscovered.
Remote sensing methods (acoustic mapping of water masses and airborne - especially
satellite-based observations) are revolutionizing our understanding of ocean systems.
Measurements can be made simultaneously around the world of sea surface height,
temperature, plant pigments, winds, and ice cover. Combined with in situ (surface and deep
ocean) observations and with subsurface interpretive models, remote sensing provides a
quality and quantity of information impossible to obtain a short time ago. But the resulting
flood of information threatens to overwhelm our ability to assimilate it. High-speed
data-transmission networks are required to distribute the flow of measurements, to make them
accessible to researchers and to permit large data sets to be incorporated into models of ocean
phenomena. Supercomputers and related facilities are critically important to digesting and
interpreting this wealth of data.
Expansions in computing capability are producing yet another revolution in ocean science.
Numerical models offer a powerful tool for increased understanding. As supercomputers
become more accessible, models can become more sophisticated, less abstract. For instance, our
new global view provides a better understanding of how the atmosphere affects the ocean. By
comparing these models with actual ocean behavior, scientists can modify the models to better
represent the ocean and to quantify its influence on earth's climate. Thus, continued expansion
in computational power is a key ingredient in the new global ocean science.
Expanding the Effort
Scientific progress tends to be erratic. Occasionally, developments in basic understanding or
technology coalesce to produce dramatic advances. Such a breakthrough is now in prospect. A
balanced national program of interdisciplinary, global perspectives and traditional focused
projects will provide a new vision of the earth-ocean-atmosphere system. A major increase in
global geosciences research with an interdisciplinary approach exploiting new technology will
produce a tremendous increase in our understanding of the earth system.
In the United States, the NSF is the lead agency for research in ocean science. Through its
commitment and allocation of resources NSF provides leadership, guiding the growth and
evolution of ocean science. As such it has the responsibility to foster the planning required for
the continued development of ocean science in the nation's academic institutions. The Foundation
involves the ocean scientific community in its planning and funding activities. NSF workshops
and studies solicit advice from advisory groups and panels, including the Advisory Committee
for Ocean Science and the National Research Council's Ocean Studies Board. NSF interacts and
coordinates work with other agencies (ONR, NASA, NOAA, DOE, EPA, USGS, etc.), relating
fundamental research to national needs and policy.
The Division of Ocean Sciences has recognized the need for and accepted responsibility for
fostering advancement and unification of ocean science. It has, through its Advisory Committee,
formulated in this report a plan for a decade of rapid progress.
Section Il
A Unified Plan
A. The Ocean Sciences
Core Research Program
The Division of Ocean Sciences supports research through two Sections. The Research Section
funds investigations in Biological, Chemical, and Physical Oceanography, and Marine Geology
and Geophysics. The Oceanographic Centers and Facilities Section underwrites Ship Operations,
Oceanographic Technology, and the Ocean Drilling Program.
A unified plan for growth in Ocean Sciences must recognize that new research initiatives arise
from the core programs and their support for relatively small projects in traditional
disciplines. This core has critical needs that should be addressed to allow the individual
investigators access to improved facilities and analysis techniques, to train new Ph.D-level
scientists in these technological innovations, and to undertake new research beyond that called
for in the Global Geosciences initiatives, such as in marine biotechnology and ocean drilling
core analysis.
The Physical Oceanography Program is concerned with understanding the circulation of
the major oceans and adjacent seas, continental shelves, estuaries and large lakes.
Investigators study physical properties, water boundaries, and the driving forces, such as
winds, solar radiation, precipitation and evaporation, the earth's rotation, and tides. The
program is divided into five areas: ocean circulation, coastal and estuarine circulation,
ocean/atmosphere coupling, surface and internal waves and tides, and microstructure and
turbulence.
The Chemical Oceanography Program supports scientists who seek to understand
processes affecting the chemistry of oceans, estuaries, and large lakes, and the way they
respond when perturbed. They study processes and mechanisms affecting chemical compounds
and phases in the ocean to determine routes and rates of supply to and removal from the ocean as
well as alterations during transit. The program is divided into five areas: equilibria and
physiochemical properties; transfers and transformations at the land/sea boundary; material
fluxes, transport, and alterations; the influence of biochemical processes; and development of
tracers to study large-scale processes.
The Biological Oceanography Program has wide responsibilities involving the support of
scientists to study and predict relationships among marine organisms and their interaction
with geochemical and physical processes. A central focus is to understand ecosystems ranging
from ocean margins and continental shelves to central gyres and ocean basins, and ultimately to
understand the role of organisms in global-scale processes. Biological oceanography involves
research into primary production; microbial loop processes and the role of microorganisms as
sources and sinks of materials and nutrients; higher trophic levels and food webs; and
communities adapted to specialized, extreme environments.
The Marine Geology and Geophysics Program includes work on the composition and
evolution of oceanic crust, deep ocean basins, and continental margins; the distribution,
composition and history of terrigenous and biogenic sediments on the seafloor; and the history
of the oceans. Research methods include seismic reflection and refraction; magnetic studies of
the crust and sediments; analysis of gravity data; petrologic and geochemical study of ocean
crustal rocks; paleontologic, mineralogic, and geochemical analyses of marine sediments; and
studies of samples recovered by the Ocean Drilling Program.
The Ocean Drilling Program is an international effort to explore the structure and history
of the earth beneath the ocean basins and margins using the drilling vessel JO/DES Resolution.
Samples are analyzed aboard ship along with results from logging, other downhole experiments,
and regional geophysical field studies to address important problems. These include crustal
evolution, crustal structure, and hydrothermal systems at midocean ridges; tectonic and
sedimentary history of passive and active margins; origin of island arc systems; response of
marine sedimentation to sea level changes; global mass balance of sediments; history of ocean
circulation (paleoceanography); and evolution of marine organisms.
The Oceanographic Technology Program provides funds for Ocean Sciences research
activities in three distinct areas: shipboard technician support, acquisition of shared-use
scientific instrumentation, and new instrument development.
The Ship Operations Program provides funds for the operation and maintenance of
research vessels used by NSF-funded scientists. This includes funding for crew and marine
staff salaries; maintenance, overhaul, and repair; insurance; direct operating costs such as
fuel, food, supplies, and pilot fees; shore facility costs directly related to ship operations; and
indirect costs.
The Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment Program provides funds for ship
equipment deemed essential to the proper and safe conduct of ocean science research. This
includes such items as deck, navigational, and communication equipment.
The Ship Construction or Conversion Program supports new ship construction,
conversion of ships to research vessels, and remodeling and refitting existing research ships.
Areas of Critical Need for the Core Programs
The program described above has developed through proposal pressure and scientific judgement
to make the most of limited basic research funding. Examination of future research
opportunities indicates that this core program should grow in several areas. Some of this
growth involves increases in research support for specific subdisciplines, while most program
areas require improved support to introduce new technology, train future scientists, and
facilitate processing of data. All three of the latter activities are common to all of the
sub-disciplines.
10
Technology Development and Support: New instrument and vehicle capabilities can both
accelerate progress in ocean sciences and render its operations more cost effective. It is
essential to bring new concepts into reality and assure their effective use through technical
support centers serving large segments of the community; an example is projected development
and support of an accelerator mass spectrometer center for isotope studies. It is important to
upgrade geochemical analytical capabilities with new generation instruments (electron
microprobes, ion probes, mass spectrometers, etc.) and to provide physical oceanographers
with modern current meters, instrumented current-tracking floats, and acoustic
current-measuring systems (tomography, multibeam doppler). Biological oceanography
requires continued development of new sampling and analytical tools (acoustic and optical
sensors, flow cytometry, satellite remote sensing, mid- and shallow-water submersibles, and
remotely operated vehicles).
Establishment and Operation of Essential New Facilities: The effectiveness of ocean
sciences research would also be enhanced by establishment of several new support facilities.
The principal need is for an essential data and communications network offering a selection of
hardware/software options for accessing satellite and other data, for building local data
archives, and for interactive processing, analysis, and interpretation of these data. There is a
related need for an ocean modeling facility to provide high-quality supercomputing capability
for large data sets. In order to take advantage of recently developed capabilities to take long
undisturbed cores from the seafloor, a long-core facility should be established to fill the gap
between standard piston coring and the continuous cores obtained by the Ocean Drilling
Program.
General Facilities Improvement: Enhanced support is required to upgrade and renovate
the generally decaying and outmoded shorebased infrastructure, including buildings and
facilities at academic institutions and coastal laboratories. This is needed not only to ensure the
continued productivity of the core programs but also to provide facilities essential to the
success of unified ocean science initiatives.
Postdoctoral Program: The vitality of ocean sciences requires not only that we maintain
our community through graduate education but also that we bring new skills and viewpoints
into areas such as numerical modeling, satellite imagery,and multichannel seismics. An
expanded postdoctoral program would be the best way to meet this need.
11
B. The Global Program
The first NSF Long-Range Plan for Ocean Sciences (released in late 1984) outlined two new
initiatives -- a Global Ocean Study and an Ocean Lithosphere Study. The essential elements of
these two were later combined into a single initiative, the Global Geosciences Program
(included in the NSF FY 1987 budget). It brings together related research efforts of the Ocean,
Atmospheric, Polar, and Earth Sciences Divisions. Areas of inquiry include studies of global
ocean and atmospheric processes and circulation; biogeochemical fluxes and their relationships
to climate variability; global tropospheric chemistry; the properties and dynamic processes of
the solid earth; and the dynamics of global ecosystems. This program also includes studies of
global ecosystem dynamics and of interaction between the geosphere and biosphere undertaken
by the Division of Ocean Sciences in cooperation with NSF's Division of Biotic Systems and
Resources.
This revised and updated Long-Range Plan builds upon that initiative and outlines the essential
ocean sciences components of the Global Geosciences Program and its contribution to major
national and international studies of global change. For consistency with the original Plan, the
two global initiatives detailed here are called "Global Ocean Studies" and "Ocean Lithosphere
Studies."
These programs enable NSF to focus its resources and contribute to critical national and
international research programs such as the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and its
World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE); the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program
(IGBP); and Global Ocean Flux Studies (GOFS). Each of these is referenced in the relevant
sections below and in the detailed programmatic information contained in the appendices.
While multi-investigator, coordinated programs will be required to implement these major
initiatives, the programs listed above are not necessarily synonymous with the initiatives or
their components described below. Several coordinated programs may be appropriate under a
given topic; such programs might be conducted simultaneously, sequentially, or both. Several
components of the initiatives are closely related; thus, a single research program could
be relevant to more than one component. Furthermore, smaller research programs, including
many conducted by individual investigators, will also make significant contributions to these
initiatives.
Initiative 1. GLOBAL OCEAN STUDIES
There are five components or subinitiatives within this initiative: Global Ocean Circulation,
Climate, and Productivity; Open Ocean Fluxes; Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes; Global Ocean
Ecosystem Dynamics and Recruitment; and the Land/Sea Interface. Detailed descriptions of each
follow.
Global Ocean Circulation, Climate, and Productivity
Continuing developments in satellite remote sensing, numerical modeling, biological sampling,
acoustic tomography, and transient tracers present opportunities for major advances in our
understanding of the oceans. The research combines synoptic global-scale information from
satellites (TOPEX, ERS-1, NROSS, and others) on oceanic dynamic topography and wind forcing
stress with data from ships on ground truth, properties and dynamics in the underlying water
column, and distribution of transient tracers.
12
Integrating these activities with additional satellite-derived data (ocean color imager) and
associated field programs provides information on ocean productivity, its spatial and temporal
variability, and the underlying causes of this variability. Global productivity estimates are
critical to ocean flow studies described later. Closely coupled to these observational aspects are
numerical modeling efforts using general circulation models of the ocean and/or atmosphere
systems to help guide the field activities and data analyses.
The extensive field observation programs range in scale from a number of smaller process-
oriented studies to integrated national and international field efforts being developed for the
World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and the Tropical Ocean/Global Atmosphere (TOGA)
Programs.
Some of the scientific questions to be addressed are:
* What is the mean, large-scale circulation of the oceans, its variability, and the
resulting heat transport? How much of it is predictable?
¢ What are the large-scale coupling mechanisms (wind stress and thermodynamics)
between the oceans and atmosphere which relate to El Nino/Southern Oscillation and
other elements of the global climate system?
* What is the effect of the global circulation and its variability on primary productivity of
the open ocean?
* How do distributions of chemical tracers vary in time? What do these variations reveal
about large-scale vertical mixing, surface ventilation, deep circulation rates, and the
ocean's role in controlling the global CO, balance?
The major elements of these programs are:
* spaceborne oceanographic sensors to provide global and regional surface boundary
conditions;
* computational resources including augmentation of staff, communications, and related
NCAR costs for handling the oceanographic share of the advanced vector computer
(AVC), and equipment at oceanographic institutions for high data-rate links with NCAR
and other supercomputer centers;
* preparation for and implementation of in situ field measurements including development
and testing of equipment and techniques, initiating selective long-term baseline time
series, and global field measurements utilizing both shipboard sampling and moored and
drifting arrays; and
* analysis and numerical modeling based on development and use of global circulation
models and analysis procedures that can utilize real-time satellite and in situ data sets.
13
Incremental funding in FY 1989 will augment planning and data management activities as well as
TOGA-related process studies. It will also support CTD and tracer sampling, modeling/analysis
studies, and continuation of instrument development efforts. Augmented support for
TOGA-related studies and initiation of a two-year preparation period for global circulation and
productivity studies will require $40M and $51M in FY 1989 and FY 1990, respectively.
Activities will include instrument development and acquisition; establishment and operation of
institutional data analysis centers and communications networks with NCAR and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory; expanded transient tracer, long-lines, acoustic tomography, and
biological productivity studies; and field and modeling activities associated with monsoon
research involving both U.S. and Indian oceanographers. Full-scale field operations in concert
with satellite sensing (altimeter, scatterometer, and ocean color imager) and numerical
modeling will cost about $50M per year during FY 1991 to FY 1995. Ship and facilities costs
are included.
Open Ocean Fluxes
A major goal for ocean sciences over the next decade will be to understand oceanic biogeochemical
cycles and budgets at large space and long time scales. Depiction of the physical dynamics (steady
state and first order variability) essential to meeting this goal will be obtained through global
ocean circulation research programs such as WOCE. The character and primary productivity of
the sea surface will also be evaluated synoptically from satellite sensors. Finally, the lateral
flux from the coastal boundary zone must be understood and integrated into a comprehensive
global ocean flux study (GOFS).
A most exciting opportunity exists to link these boundary conditions and new knowledge of ocean
dynamics with intensive in situ observations of the fluxes of soluble and particulate phases and
the transformations among them. New tools and techniques, e.g., sediment traps, large-volume
samplers, experimental benthic chambers, chemical buoys, and numerical modeling, will be
developed and used in conjunction with physical and satellite observation over the next ten
years. This program will provide an understanding of the factors which control long-term
biogeochemical dynamics at ocean basin and global scales.
Some of the major scientific questions to be addressed are:
¢ What is the magnitude of oceanic primary productivity ? How does it vary with time?
How is primary productivity controlled by physical processes?
* How much of this production represents recycled material and what are the processes
and pathways involved in this recycling?
¢ What are the flux rates of organic matter from the photic zone into the ocean interior
in relation to primary production?
¢ What are the transfer rates between soluble and particulate phases within the water
column and what processes are involved?
e What are the flux rates between the ocean and the seafloor?
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The major elements of this initiative are:
¢ Ocean color imagery and other satellite-derived data which provide global and synoptic
sea-surface boundary conditions;
¢ Further development of critical sampling technology to measure or infer
material fluxes in the ocean system over a wide range of time and space scales;
¢ Extensive field observation programs focused on critical processes, regions, and/or time
periods and ultimately integrated with satellite-derived surface boundary conditions; and
¢ Development of modeling capabilities for global fluxes in the context of improved
general circulation models of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system.
The incremental costs of this program total about $70M between FY 1988 and FY 1992. Major
emphasis during this period would be in planning, data analysis, technology, numerical model
development, and pilot experiments for testing system integration and defining observational
requirements. This would phase into long-term global observational programs starting in FY
1993 and costing about $25M annually. This full-scale phase would be closely coupled with
satellite observation programs on surface productivity and circulation as well as with coastal
boundary observational efforts. Ship and facility support costs are included.
Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes
The other major component required for a study of global ocean flux is scientific understanding
of coastal oceanography for dealing with pollutant dispersal and fisheries management and for
understanding the influence of climate and weather. The coastal ocean is also a most significant
environmental boundary zone - a temporary sink for materials eroded from the continents, a
mixing pot for river outflows and marine waters, a region of high biological productivity, and a
source for much of the dissolved and particulate material flux to the open ocean. The developing
technical and conceptual ability to study this region as an integrated physical, chemical, and
biological system provides a significant, long-term opportunity to advance our understanding of
the dynamics of coastal regions and the fluxes of material through them. Coordinated
investigations under the Land/Sea Interface Program will provide information on the
interconnections of land, fresh waters, and estuaries that is needed for studying inputs to the
coastal ocean.
Some scientific questions to be addressed are:
¢ How do winds and atmospheric pressure fields, mean currents, bottom topography, river
outflow, and internal shelf waves interact with one another to form the continually
evolving mosaic of surface currents, upwelling centers, eddies, and jets?
¢ To what extent can these rapidly changing currents be forecast and what parameters
require monitoring for such forecasts?
¢ How do the geographical setting and physical dynamics quantitatively influence particulate
and dissolved matter, the seafloor, and biological productivity and evolution in coastal and
estuarine regions?
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* What is the flux of dissolved and particulate material brought into this boundary zone
by rivers and carried out across shelf areas to the deep ocean? How do these fluxes vary
from place to place, with time, and as a result of biological and chemical alteration
processes?
The major elements of this initiative are:
* Multicomponent, multidisciplinary field programs in representative coastal regions;
¢ Extensive use of satellite imagery (physical dynamics from altimetric, scatterometric,
and infrared temperature measurements; primary production from the ocean color
imager) and airborne remote sensing (wind stress, infrared and color imagery ,and
air-dropped XBTs) coupled with /n situ physical, chemical, and biological observations;
¢ Development of rapid biological sampling techniques and tools to analyze distributions and
productivity on time and space scales appropriate to those of the relevant physical and
chemical processes; and
eDevelopment and expanded use of computers and computer modeling in handling large data
sets, guiding the field programs, interpreting data, and assessing the system's
predictability.
Funds required during FY 1988-92 average about $16M per year and will support the design
and implementation of several pilot field experiments to test the integration of a diverse suite of
new sampling technologies and the ability to quantify dynamic processes and flux measurements.
Full-scale field programs based on the results of these pilot experiments will follow in FY 1993
at a cost of about $24M per year. Ship and facilities costs are included. A remote-sensing
research aircraft will be required for this initiative beginning in FY 1989. It will also benefit
the other global ocean studies.
Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics and Recruitment
Over the next decade, one of the most practically important and scientifically challenging areas
of marine research is that of recruitment of marine organisms. Age-classes of nekton and
benthos frequently vary in abundance by orders of magnitude, usually due to variable survival
of larval or juvenile stages. Climate, physical factors, and variability in primary production,
secondary production, and predation have been hypothesized to regulate nekton and benthos
age-class success. We are now at a point in the development of the field where many of these
basic recruitment mechanisms can be studied effectively .
Some of the major questions to be addressed are:
¢ How do climate, physical and chemical processes, and biological constraints interact to
influence recruitment of invertebrates and fishes?
¢ How important is the role of predation on young stages as a determinant of future
population structure and which are the important predators?
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e What are the salient differences in recruitment patterns and their causal mechanisms in
high- and low-latitude systems?
¢ Under what conditions is recruitment and subsequent ecosystem structure more likely to
be physically (transport, temperature, etc.) or biologically (starvation, predation, etc.)
mediated?
¢ How is recruitment related to nutrient availability and primary production? How is
variability at the primary producer level expressed in production and ecosystem
dynamics at higher trophic levels?
Major aspects include:
¢ Developing a broader understanding of the annual and seasonal variability and
productivity of ecosystems and the effect of ocean climate on such variability;
¢ Expanding collaborative research by physicists and biologists at a variety of scales to
learn how larvae, their predators, and their prey are aggregated and dispersed;
¢ Use of new sampling, identification, and data analysis methods to bring the plankton
studies into the same time frame as important physical processes;
¢ Determining the kinds and abundances of predators and their rates of predation on
planktonic or young stages of nekton;
¢ Application of emerging technologies, including in situ sampling from research vessels,
mesocosm studies on larvae-zooplankton interactions (feeding, predation), acoustic
methods to estimate abundance of larvae and zooplankton, and satellite methods for
assessing primary production and its variability;
¢ Developing and applying numerical models to guide experimental research and predict how
physical processes and nutrient availability influence recruitment potential; and
* Developing coherent theory regarding evolution of adaptive strategies by marine
organisms which enhance the long-term survival of their populations.
Incremental support growth averaging about $3M annually for FY 1988-93 should provide the
basic underpinnings for our understanding of plankton dynamics, larval ecology, and predation
as they collectively influence recruitment variability and higher trophic level productivity.
This growth will also allow development and experimental use of new technologies and
methodologies. Major, long term field experiments based on this developmental work will be
conducted in the mid-to-late 1990's and cost $20-25M annually. Ship and facility costs are
included.
Wee
Land/Sea Interface
This is the newest program of Global Geosciences and is a cross-directorate effort involving the
Division of Biotic Systems and Resources of the Biological, Behavioral and Social Sciences
Directorate (BBS) and the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Programs of the Division of
Ocean Sciences. It is part of Global Ecosystem Dynamics within Global Geosciences.
Interfaces between land and ocean are only a small part of the earth's surface, but they are of
great global importance in terms of biological productivity, geochemical processes, origin of
sedimentary rocks, and the evolution of life. Human activities have already wrought significant
changes upon the interconnections of land, freshwater, and the coastal ocean. Furthermore, these
couplings are highly sensitive to changes in global climate.
As a result of land- and water-use practices, flow volumes of many of the world's rivers have
been significantly altered. Their content of dissolved and particulate substances has changed,
resulting in two- to fivefold increases in river nutrient levels in developed regions during the
latter half of this century. Such changes are also likely to be occurring in developing countries
as a result of deforestation, population growth, and wider use of fertilizers.
Present day coastal environments are the product of relatively stable sea level conditions over
the last 7,000 years. The widely-predicted atmospheric warming could cause a rapid rise in
eustatic sea level at a rate of perhaps more than one centimeter per year in about fifty years.
Significant melting of polar ice could raise sea level several meters more in the next century.
Global climatic changes may dramatically alter regional temperature regimes and precipitation
(and, consequently, runoff) patterns. These changes may,in turn, influence terrestrial,
freshwater, and coastal marine ecosystems and their biota.
Some major questions to be addressed are:
¢ How do modifications in the flux of materials from land to rivers and from rivers,
wetlands, and estuaries to the coastal ocean, caused by complex interactions of global and
local human activities, affect aquatic and marine ecosystems and global biogeochemical
processes?
¢ Do these changes have significant implications for the global carbon budget?
¢ What will be the effects of global climate changes, including changes In temperature,
precipitation, and sea level rise, on aquatic and coastal ecosystems and on the large
human populations that live in these environments?
The major elements of this initiative are:
¢ Utilization of the new generation of satellite sensors to provide visualizations and promote
computer modeling of these environments as integrated systems;
¢ Integrated studies of fluxes of materials within watersheds and receiving estuaries and the
biological responses to variation in these fluxes;
18
¢ Greater development of the role of coastal marine laboratories and field stations as
national resources whose centers of environmental research activities are already at the
land/sea interface; and
¢ Expansion of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program of NSF (currently
within the Division of Biotic Systems and Resources), to cover more representative
types of land/sea interface systems; and broadening of their concept to include
recognition and monitoring of the effects of global change on regional ecosystems through
the utilization of products of other Global Geosciences programs.
The Biotic Systems and Resources Division (BSR) and Biological Oceanography Program are
beginning to fund some community planning activities in FY 1987. BSR plans to significantly
expand this function in FY 1988 ($.5M). By FY 1989, the Ocean Sciences Division
(principally Biological and Chemical Oceanography) require $1M, increasing to at least $10M
within five years.
Initiative 2. OCEAN LITHOSPHERE STUDIES
The Ocean Lithosphere Studies Initiative includes two components: (1)Ridge Crest Processes and
(2)Tectonics and Structures of Submerged Continental Margins.
Ridge Crest Processes
Fundamental questions about ridge crest processes remain unresolved because of a lack of
long-term observational data to test hypotheses and predictions. The subjects needing intensive
study include the driving forces of plate tectonics; thermo-mechanical properties of the oceanic
lithosphere; and hydrothermal, volcanic, and mineralization processes at ridge crests and their
geological, chemical, and biological effects. Extensive application of a newly developing suite of
observational systems over the next ten years will yield much new information and a deeper
understanding of these basic elements of earth science.
Some of the major questions to be addressed are:
¢ How does the ocean lithosphere respond mechanically to large surface loads, to
compression, to bending, and to stretching? With an understanding of these factors, what
can we learn about deeper processes in the earth, such as mantle convection, by looking
through the "ocean lithospheric window?"
¢ What are the driving mechanisms for seafloor spreading? How does crustal accretion
vary with time? What are the local scales of accretion and tectonics in space and time?
How are volcanic processes coupled to hydrothermal circulation at midocean ridges?
What are the controlling factors on sulfide mineralization and the extent of deposits?
How does oceanic crust vary and how is it altered as it moves off-axis?
¢ What are the chemical and thermal properties of hydrothermal fluids from vents and what
is their role in the mineralization process? What is the contribution of vent fluxes to
the chemical balance of oceans? What chemical reactions occur? What is the relation
between fluids and biologic communities?
19
e Are vent communities controlled by such factors as nutrients, heat, or symbiosis and, if
so, how? How do vent communities colonize in new areas? How do such communities
adapt to unique chemical surroundings, high-temperature, and high-pressure
environments? What is the physiology and productivity of vent organisms?
The major elements of this initiative are:
e Improved capabilities in multichannel seismics (MCS) and their expanded use in selected
areas with experiments focused on determining the thermo-mechanical properties of the
oceanic lithosphere under varying conditions of age and stress/strain. ODP crustal
drilling and downhole experiments for direct physical measurements will augment this
work.
¢ Increase in number of field programs with modern detailed survey capabilities to
determine history and scale of crustal accretion. Development of integrated geological,
chemical, and biological studies using research submersibles for representative sites -
e.g., high- and low-temperature, seamounts, sedimented and unsedimented sites.
¢ Development of in situ instrumentation for long-term monitoring of hydrothermal vents
and crustal accretion - e.g., flow meters, chemical and thermal sensors, strain gauges,
seismometers. ODP drilling on the rise crest region will provide depth control from
downhole instruments.
¢ Long-term integrated biological program to understand the unique properties of vent
organisms with emphasis on chemolithotrophic bacteria, symbiont hosts, substrates
used for energy, and physiological adaptions. This will define community structure, life
history strategies, and evolution of biological communities.
Incremental funding will provide essential upgrading of existing capabilities, expanded and
integrated use of new, multichannel seismic, side-scan sonar, Seabeam and submersible
systems, and development and implementation of a long term ridge crest/hydrothermal vent
monitoring program. Ship and facility operational costs are included.
Tectonics and Structure of Submerged Continental Margins
Continental margins not only form the boundary between the two major physiographic provinces
on our planet, but also, in many cases, are past or present boundaries of the lithospheric plates
that make up the earth's surface. A much deeper understanding of the structure, tectonics, and
dynamic evolution of these fundamental geological features is within our grasp. Itcan be
realized with extensive application of multichannel seismic tools, with development of
new and more powerful techniques to use these tools, with long coring capabilities, and with
ocean drilling at carefully selected margin sites, ultimately using a riser capability.
Some of the major questions to be addressed are:
¢ What geologic units underly active and passive continental margins? What are the
dominant tectonic, geochemical, and thermal processes involved in creating
ocean-continental boundaries?
20
¢ How do lithospheric structures vary along continental margins, including old and young
margins, island arc and trench regions, fast and slow convergence sites, and thick and
thin sedimentary sequences? How are they related to adjacent geologic provinces,
onshore basins and tectonics, and offshore basins and trenches?
e What causes initial rifting? How are conjugate sites on the opposite sides of ocean basins
related? What are the controlling factors for subsidence rates, sediment accretion rates,
thermal histories, and regional basin formation?
The major elements of this initiative are:
e Expanded seismic experiments to determine the deep structure in contrasting regions and
integration of these data with lithologic, acoustic, stratigraphic, structural, and
subsidence analyses, and also with heat flow, gravity, and magnetic measurements.
Onshore geologic studies of the continental lithosphere should be correlated with offshore
drilling by the Ocean Drilling Program.
¢ Utilization of state-of-the-art seismic and other geophysical field systems with sufficient
resources to maintain effective data acquisition and data analysis centers. Attention must
be given to maintaining a critical mass of scientists, technicians, and students for these
operations.
¢ Support for riser drilling on continental margins to determine the age and composition of
the basement in order to identify seismic reflectors and biostratigraphic data needed for
subsidence models and composition and facies of the geologic section.
Incremental costs will cover modest upgrades of existing academic facilities and support the
essential use of these capabilities through the next decade. They also cover coordinated,
community-wide use of state-of-the-art industry exploration capabilities. Developmental and
operational costs of riser drilling are included under facilities support in the FY 1989-93
period.
Funding Requirements
A summary budget for Ocean Sciences and component budgets for each Program are provided in
the tables of Section IV.
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Section Ill
Program Areas
A. Physical Oceanography Program
Long-Range Planning
1. Core Program
The Physical Oceanography Program is concerned with developing a basic understanding of the
circulation of oceans, estuaries, and large lakes. Investigators document water properties and
study the motions of water masses and transport processes. They seek to understand the physical
properties and boundaries of water masses and the driving forces, such as wind, solar radiation,
precipitation, evaporation, the earth's rotation, and solar and lunar tides. The program has been
traditionally divided into five topical areas: ocean circulation, coastal and estuarine circulation,
ocean/atmosphere coupling, surface and internal waves and tides, and microstructure and
turbulence. The heart of the program is the general circulation of the ocean, complementing the
central thrusts of the NASA and ONR programs in surface and upper ocean processes,
respectively, and the coastal zone programs of MMS, NOAA, Corps of Engineers, and state
agencies.
Recently the major thrust of large physical oceanography projects has been in tropical
oceanography. This reflects the rapid development of theoretical models of equatorial circulation
and the recognition that, first, these ideas could be tested with observations and, second,
atmospheric general circulation seems most sensitive to the condition of surface waters near the
equator.
The near-term direction for physical oceanographic research seems relatively clear based on
recent theoretical and technological developments. At least two recent theories of mid- and
high-latitude ocean dynamics, namely, ventilation of the main thermocline and the
homogenization of potential vorticity, are ripe for further development and testing. Remote
sensing techniques (acoustically tracked floats, satellite altimeters and scatterometers, surface
drifting buoys) make global sampling possible on meso, synoptic, and gyre scales. Expanded
large-scale computing capability and improved ocean circulation models provide new tools for
data assimilation and interpretation. The need for improved understanding of ocean circulation
for climate studies has stimulated development of two large-scale projects in the international
scientific community - the Interannual Variability of the Tropical Ocean and
Global Atmosphere Project (TOGA) and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE).
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
The categories of critical needs specified in Section II.A all apply to the Physical Oceanography
Program. Those which have a significant impact on development and maintenance of basic
research capability in physical oceanography in the immediate future are described below in
greater detail.
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1. A Postdoctoral Program in Numerical Ocean Modeling. The national
supercomputing initiative has three thrusts -- development of a class nine computer, academic
access to present supercomputer centers, and training of research scientists to develop and make
effective use of vector codes. NSF also has an advanced computational initiative which has
established new supercomputer centers and an academic computing network known as NSFnet,
and has provided some local equipment and facilities. Availability of 20% of NCAR's new CRAY
XMP is especially important to oceanographers. This CRAY will be linked by satellite network to
Miami, Oregon State, WHOI, and other institutions.
Now that we have these badly needed facilities, development of a program to train scientists in
numerical ocean modeling seems prudent, especially in light of future modeling and data
assimilation requirements. We propose to establish a five-year program in Numerical Ocean
Modeling for postdoctoral scientists with training in Applied Mathematics, Computer Science,
and Ocean Sciences. These postdoctoral investigators would be resident at academic institutions.
Funding for the program would provide salary support, local computing and communications,
and travel for ten investigators. Funding needed is $1M per year beginning in FY 1989.
2. Current Meters. Key elements in advancing our understanding of ocean flow during the
past 20 years have been the current meter and the intermediate mooring. Aging, obsolete
equipment (some current meters were purchased 15 years ago) must be replaced with new
equipment. The level of funding available to the program has not allowed maintenance of current
meter and acoustic release inventories. At least $.7M annually over the next two years is
required to purchase new equipment and to return these inventories to a level of sufficiency for
the science currently supported.
3. Acoustic (Pop-up, SOFAR, and RAFOS) Floats. Autonomous listening stations (ALS)
and acoustically-tracked, neutrally buoyant (SOFAR) floats have recently been improved both
mechanically and electronically and redesigned to take advantage of microprocessor technology .
Present scientific projects in the North and Tropical Atlantic would benefit greatly from
additional SOFAR floats (40) and listening stations (5) at a total cost of $.7M. We would like to
acquire a suite of five pop-up floats for future Gulf Stream or Arabian Sea studies and to expand
the RAFOS float capability for related studies at a cost of $.7M.
4. CTD Group Support. In the past, two CTD groups have been available to meet large
project needs; both groups have recently become marginal in their capabilities due to a variety
of problems (equipment failures and losses, relocation, management problems, and decreased
funding for field work). We think that it is important to reestablish both groups with an
up-to-date data processing facility ($.IM), new at-sea and in situ sampling equipment
($.2M), and base salary support for a few high quality technicians/engineers ($.3M) starting
in FY 1989. Salary support should continue for an additional four years.
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Ill. Physical Oceanographic Components of the Global Program
There are several program areas where significant advances could be realized.
1. Interannual Variability of the Tropical Oceans
and Global Atmosphere (TOGA).
The TOGA program is one of two major ocean climate projects formulated internationally as part
of the World Climate Research Program. TOGA began in January 1985 and will last for ten
years. Project objectives are:
(1) to determine to what extent the time dependent behavior of the tropical ocean/global
atmosphere system is predictable on time scales of months to years and to understand the
mechanism of this behavior; and
(2) to study the feasiblity of modeling the coupled ocean-atmosphere system for the purpose
of predicting its variations on time scales of months to years.
As presently formulated, there are three major oceanographic thrusts to TOGA. They include an
oceanographic monitoring program to provide a description of month-to-month variability of
the temperature, circulation, and pressure fields of the tropical ocean; an air-sea flux
measurement program to provide a description of month-to-month variations of fluxes of
momentum, heat, and moisture across the air-sea interface; and development of tropical ocean
circulation models and associated techniques for data assimilation.
As part of the core programs, we expect that about $4M will be devoted to tropical
oceanography/TOGA on a continuing basis. We consider that participation by the academic ocean
sciences community in TOGA activities sponsored by NSF should increase to about three times
this level by FY 1992. About half a ship-year would be needed to support this additional
activity. We note that Atmospheric Science will sponsor a similar initiative for meteorological
studies, and that the Foundation is likely to have special responsibilities for Indian Ocean/TOGA
Studies.
As part of TOGA, an El Nino rapid response study has been developed. Its purpose is to obtain
additional information on atmospheric and oceanographic (physical, chemical, and biological)
changes which occur during El Nino. This would be accomplished by redirecting some resources
to the Eastern Pacific, but additional funding will also be required in the amount of $1M per
year for three years for collection, analysis, and interpretation of oceanographic data, and one
ship-year on an Oceanus-class vessel.
2. World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). WOCE is the second major ocean
experiment planned as part of the World Climate Research Program. Many important problems
of climate, ocean chemistry, and biology could be solved given the ability to characterize and
model the general circulation of the ocean. However, the ocean is a chaotic fluid with temporal
and spatial variability on all scales; the lack of observations needed to define important time and
space scales for surface forcing and dynamical response constitutes the main reason for our
present inability to characterize and understand the general circulation of the ocean.
24
Recent technical developments should significantly enhance the observational data base available
to oceanographers studying general circulation. These include: satellite scatterometery,
satellite altimetry, neutrally buoyant and surface floats which can be tracked over great
distances, measurements of air-sea fluxes, chemical tracer measurements, acoustic
tomography, and eddy-resolving numerical models which can be adapted to operate with basin
and global scale data sets in assimilation modes analogous to those used in meteorology.
Because of these new tools, the National Academy of Sciences held a work shop to look into
possibilities of developing a program of global observations toward understanding the general
circulation of the oceans. The consensus of this workshop was that WOCE was feasible,
worthwhile, and timely. Participants agreed that the overall goal of U.S. contributions to WOCE
should be to understand the general circulation of the global ocean well enough to be able to
predict ocean response and feedback to long-term changes in the atmosphere.
Specific objectives to meet this goal are:
(1) To complete a basic description of the present physical state of the ocean;
(2) To improve the description of the atmospheric boundary conditions on the global ocean and
to establish their uncertainities;
(3) To describe the upper boundary layer of the ocean adequately for quantitative estimates of
water mass transformation;
(4) To determine the role of interbasin exchanges in the global ocean circulation;
(5) To determine the role of ocean heat transport and storage in the heat budget of the earth;
(6) To determine seasonal and interannual oceanic variability on a global scale and to estimate
its consequences.
Major hardware costs for WOCE are associated with satellite missions (NROSS, TOPEX, Ocean
Color, and GRM) proposed by NASA. We must have at the same time in situ field measurements
both at the surface to calibrate satellite data and deeper in the ocean to measure properties and
dynamics of the underlying water column. Numerical model development must be closely
coupled to these efforts. About 20% of the core program's base budget ($4M) would be devoted to
WOCE activities without additional funding increments.
Additional activities for which funding is required include instrumentation development and
acquisition, development of improved data/supercomputer communication links, establishment
and operation of data analysis centers, a global hydrographic and tracer survey, an accelerator
mass spectrometer (described in the chemical oceanography plan and budgeted under facilities in
the Global Ocean Studies section), increased tomography and float capability/activity,
process-oriented experiments, and ocean model development. These activities require an
additional $12M in FY 1989 above base funds, increase to $20M above base funds in FY 1990
and $30M in the 1990's. This includes WOCE and related activities which are expected to
require a total of about 12 ship-years of support during the FY 1989-1996 period; an
additional $2M will be required to upgrade CTD winch capabilities on these ships during WOCE.
The National Science Foundation has been identified as the lead agency for WOCE studies.
25
3. Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes. Important studies for this program include
circulation, mixing, and particle dispersion in coastal and estuarine waters and large lakes.
Base funding for these activities should be adequate for continuation of the present level of
effort, e.g., an occasional CODE-type experiment. However, this base funding seems inadequate
to support anticipated growth in coastal studies, including addition of physical oceanography
faculty at "marine biological" laboratories and at coastal academic institutions which presently
employ no physical oceanographers. Faculty members at these primarily state-supported
institutions have access to state funding and facilities and can thus carry out some effective
studies in local waters with rather modest supplemental funding from the Foundation. Budgeting
for this growth fits with NSF infrastructure and undergraduate institution initiatives. $.5M
per year would support five to ten such projects each year.
A second area of projected growth is in multidisciplinary experiments to study the chemical,
biological and geological fluxes along and across the continental shelf and slope. The Coastal
Ocean Dylnamics Experiment (CODE) and Organization of Persistent Upwelling Systems (OPUS)
programs have recently discovered a number of new mechanisms for these fluxes, e.g., intense
squirts and jets, which can advect shelf water and material hundreds of kilometers offshore into
deep water, and energetic oceanic mesoscale eddies, which can directly influence
shelf circulation. These phenomena occur on a variety of scales, and these and other recent
observations suggest that the flow fields controlling property fluxes over the shelf and slope are
much more turbulent than previously imagined. The further definition and understanding of
these phenomena needed for studies in other ocean disciplines will require a substantial
investment of physical oceanography resources. Support of one such field experiment per year
would cost $2.5M.
Finally, recent theoretical and observational work is beginning to provide the critical
intellectual framework needed for more advanced numerical modeling of coastal phenomena. The
dynamical roles of bottom friction, stratification, wind and tidal mixing, and coastal topography
in wind and buoyancy-forced motions are now better understood and allow construction of more
realistic process and regional numerical models. Growth in this area will depend critically on
the Foundation, in terms of both encouraging work from a wider group of investigators and
providing adequate computational resources, especially access to NCAR. Support for this growth
has been budgeted above.
4. Aircraft Capability. Use of scientific aircraft for remote sensing of sea surface and
air/sea fluxes has become increasingly important in recent years. Aircraft measurements in
conjunction with coastal oceanography experiments are now common for production of maps of
wind stress, sea surface temperature, and subsurface temperature (using expendable
bathythermographs). Development of geodetic receivers and laser altimeters has increased the
utility of these aircraft measurements, as has development of aircraft-mounted passive and
active radiometers and radars. In the future, aircraft surveys of dynamic features will be
possible, resulting in truly synoptic data at meso- to large scales, and WOCE and TOGA will
require extensive measurements of air/sea fluxes, in part to improve our understanding and
parameterization of these processes.
26
To date, NCAR has been able to meet our needs for coastal aircraft measurements, but due to
increased atmospheric and oceanographic demands, a second aircraft should be acquired soon. We
anticipate that this aircraft would be used half-time for coastal oceanography measurements,
and so suggest that $1.5M dollars be budgeted for acquisition of this aircraft (the Atmospheric
Sciences Division (ATM) of NSF would also need to budget $1.5M). Beginning in FY 1990, $.5M
should be budgeted for ocean sciences activities using this aircraft. Operational costs for the
aircraft would be budgeted by ATM, much as the Ocean Sciences Division budgets ship costs.
Ocean sciences will require, in the WOCE time frame, a dedicated aircraft with greater
endurance and more capability such as a P2 or P3. We suggest acquisition of such an aircraft in
FY 1990, which should be possible at minimal cost (such aircraft are available for use as DOD
surplus), and $.5M for updating avonics and electronic equipment. The aircraft should be
budgeted to operate at $3M per year beginning in FY 1992. If this aircraft is not available,
additional ship time would need to be budgeted for WOCE.
It is noted that these aircraft will be especially useful for biological work, as much regional
ocean color work will need to be done for productivity studies.
5. Support for an Ocean Modeling Facility. The emergence of geophysical fluid dynamics
as a separate theoretical discipline and the success of atmospheric scientists in predicting and
modeling the atmosphere are having a profound effect on the interplay of theory and observation
in physical oceanography. There is a greatly expanding need for numerical experiments not only
for interpretation of data, but also for justification of observational efforts. In looking to meet
these needs, we funded 20% of the acquisition costs of an advanced vector computer and
wide-band communications equipment at the NCAR in FY 1985, and we should also establish an
Ocean Modeling Facility to utilize this capability.
The purpose of this initiative is to provide base funding for a core group at a central location to
aid the ocean sciences community in making effective use of the facility, e.g., building
community models, specialized routines, and hardware. This would provide for scientific and
senior staff communications costs for the academic community, space rental and maintenance,
and hardware costs. The total cost of this support is $1.1 M per year (beginning in FY 1989)
and should be budgeted indefinitely.
6. Indo-U.S. Monsoon Research Program. As part of the Indo-U.S. Science and
Technology Initiative, a program to study long-term variability of the monsoon includes a study
of the effect of ocean-atmosphere interactions. A bilateral workshop was held in Bangalore,
India, for discussions of modeling, data analysis, future field experiments and data
requirements. U.S. modeling and data analysis work required $0.6M in FY 1987. Tentative
plans call for continuation of modeling work and initiation of field experiments toward
understanding the regional ocean atmosphere coupling problems.
These programs would require an additional $1.8M per year for scientific studies and $.7M per
year for ship time by FY 1990 from the U.S. The direction of research beyond 1990 should be
coordinated with the TOGA program.
IV. Funding Requirements
A summary budget for the physical oceanography core program, areas of critical need, and
major initiatives can be found in Table A of Section IV.
27
B. Chemical Oceanography Program
Long-Range Planning
I. The Core Program
The Chemical Oceanography Program is directed toward providing an understanding of how
oceans, estuaries, and large lakes function as chemical systems and how they respond when
perturbed by nature or man. These efforts address such global problems as sea-air exchanges
and particulate fluxes. They provide the scientific underpinning for dealing effectively with
socioeconomic problems including pollution, deep-sea mining, agriculture, and open-ocean
waste disposal and with other scientific problems requiring marine chemical input such as
sediment diagenesis, climate, ocean circulation, and biological productivity. Broad goals of these
activities are:
(I) To describe quantitatively the types of reactions (i.e., processes and mechanisms)
that occur between the various phases and chemical species existing in the marine
environment; and
(2) To determine routes and rates of supply to and removal of substances from the ocean, and
the alterations which occur during transit.
For descriptive purposes, the program is divided into five components. These are:
(1) Seawater chemical equilibria and physicochemical properties;
(2) Material transfers and transformations at the land/sea boundary;
(3) Fluxes of material to, transport through, and alteration in ocean basins;
(4) The role and influence of biochemical processes on the chemical nature of seawater; and
(5) Development and use of chemical tracers to study large-scale temporal processes
in the oceans.
Because boundaries between these components are somewhat diffuse, their interrelations are
discussed below. Budgetary history and projections in the core program are shown in the tables.
1. Seawater Chemical Equilibria and Physicochemical Properties. This component
includes studies on equilibria of chemical species and compounds in seawater and their
availability for reacting with other chemical phases in the marine environment.
Through efforts of a diverse group of physical chemists and physical oceanographers, a
universal equation of state for seawater has been recently adopted, and new insights on
dissociation constants of major seawater equilibria (e.g., the carbonate system) have been
developed. Future research will be directed towards further developing speciation and ionic
interaction models in seawater, including microbially mediated reactions and thermodynamic
and kinetic investigations on marine photochemical reactions. The relative level of effort,
however, is projected to decrease slightly to allow other areas of the program to increase.
28
2. Material Transfers and Transformations at the Land/Sea Boundary. Research
at this interface is focused on displacement of heterogeneous equilibria and on chemical fluxes in
the upper sediment and porous crust. Major scientific breakthroughs have occurred in this area
in recent years as a result of joint efforts with Biological Oceanography and Marine Geology and
Geophysics. An example is the discovery of and follow-on work concerning hydrothermal vents.
Activity has increased in the recent past, and with new vents being found (e.g., hydrothermal
methane plumes in the North Fiji Basin in February 1986), this trend is likely to continue.
Moveover, bottom landers and other similar instrument packages will provide a technology
whereby heretofore impossible studies on chemical processes and mechanisms at the ocean
bottom boundary will begin. Core resources required for studies in this component will
increase somewhat in the immediate future, including associated ship and submersible time and
construction of samplers and analytical instrumentation for deployment from ships or from
Alvin.
3. Fluxes of Material to, Transport Through, and Alteration in Ocean Basins. This
component is aimed at understanding and measuring fluxes in ocean basins, including sources and
input from the troposphere to the ocean surface, lateral injection of material from the coastal
boundary, and transport through the water column to underlying sediment. The state of the art
for following particles through the atmosphere to the ocean surface and for quantifying fluxes of
particulate material by collection and analysis of material in sediment traps has increased
notably over the past several years.
Major programs have contributed to this understanding during the last decade (e.g., Sea-Air
Exchange Program, Vertical Exchange Program, and ADIOS). Several other National Science
Foundation Programs also have contributed to support of this research, either through joint
support of individual awards or of major thrusts in atmospheric, biological, geological, and
physical sciences.
Progress has been significant, but for the most part it has remained within specific disciplinary
areas. The coupling of rates and characteristics of material passing between the troposphere and
the ocean must now be considered. Some material falling through the ocean depends upon how
particles are packaged by marine organisms and the stability of these biogenic containers as they
pass through domains of varying temperature, oxygen content, and acidity. Metals capable of
being adsorbed on particles, for example, can be scavenged from and then released to the water
several times during their descent.
These same particles could have originated from desert regions and been carried aerially
through tortuous paths in the lower atmosphere before beginning their equilibration with
seawater. Investigators are now relating rates of input to the surface with fluxes carrying
material to the bottom. Clearly, significant complementary biological and physical
oceanographic information is required to understand the entire process fully.
29
4. The Role and Influence of Biochemical Processes on the Chemical Nature of
Seawater. The objective of this component is to understand the chemical and biological
mechanisms that together control the nature of the marine environment. Development of this
major component of the Chemical Oceanography Program arose from advances in marine organic
chemistry and in microbiology, advances based on constantly developing instrumental
capabilities, most notably temperature-programmed capillary column gas chromatography-
mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, image analysis, and high-performance liquid
chromatography. New techniques and instrumentation continue to open up opportunitites for
study of organic matter distribution and reaction mechanisms in seawater and sediments.
Isotopic tracers and organic source markers are new techniques for advancing marine organic
chemistry. It is now possible to determine carbon isotopic composition of functional groups on
individual organic compounds. This allows more specific information to be gained regarding
biosynthesis and sources of individual compounds as well as mechanisms of their transformation
reactions over time. Close collaboration with the Biological Oceanography Program will
continue and probably increase in these areas.
5. Development and Use of Chemical Tracers to Study Large-Scale Temporal
Processes in the Ocean. This area of research has progressed rapidly during the last five
years due principally to increased precision in analyzing radio isotopes in seawater and
development of sampling and analytical techniques for measurement of new tracers that have
unique source functions (e.g., freons). Because geochemical and physical sampling strategies are
often incompatible, plans are now being devised for multiship coverage to accommodate
infrequent large-volume samples and a denser sampling grid for smaller samples. The latter
accommodates most physical oceanographic sampling and measurement schemes. New tracers
include pairs of constituents requiring both small- and large-volume samples. For example,
freon and krypton complement each other as conservative tracers, with one of them, krypton,
decaying predictably so that the age of water parcels can be obtained.
Activities in this area will proceed into the southern hemisphere incorporating higher precision
in analytical methods and more efficient sampling strategies that will combine large- and
small-volume samplers. Results from the South Atlantic will complement data already collected
for the North and Tropical Atlantic. This study will also complement efforts of other
projects such as SEAREX, VERTEX, Warm Core Rings, and future efforts concerned with
biogeochemical cycles/balances and ocean fluxes. International cooperation is expected to
continue along the pattern set during Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) activities.
However, the ability of foreign laboratories to conduct extensive large-volume sample
processing, as for GEOSECS in the 1970's, is now paralleled by facilities supported in the United
States (e.g., for 85kr, 39Ar, 228Ra, 99Sr, 187Cs and 14¢).
Foreign ship-of-opportunity programs are essential for the tracer coverage required, but they
cannot substitute for well-designed and well-managed sampling programs using large dedicated
research vessels of the UNOLS fleet. Close collaboration with the Physical Oceanography
Program will be maintained to coordinate transient tracer studies with modeling efforts
conducted in WOCE. Tracer information is extremely useful to physical oceanographers to
provide additional constraints on circulation models.
30
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
Besides the critical needs common to all the programs described in Section II.A, certain elements
of the core Chemical Oceanography Program, as well as the Open Ocean Fluxes program, need
special support in order to exploit current developments in the field. This is particularly true
of accelerator mass spectrometry, which will also be vital to the WOCE program and the Marine
Geology and Geophysics Program.
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facilities. Recent achievements in accelerator mass
spectrometry (AMS) have convinced a wide spectrum of environmental scientists to assign an
extremely high priority to developing a dedicated Ocean Sciences AMS facility in the U.S. The
AMS technique combines conventional methods of mass spectrometry (ionization and mass
discrimination by magnetic and electrostatic fields) with acceleration through high potentials of
1-15 MV to achieve spectacular increases in analytical sensitivity. Because AMS lowers
previously attainable detection limits by several orders of magnitude, it opens up a wide range
of very significant scientific opportunities and brings a previously difficult span of earth
history within reach of quantitative interpretation.
The achievements referred to above include use of '4C to reconstruct ocean ventilation rates,
direct confirmation of the plate tectonic cycle of subduction-melting-volcanic eruption with
10Be tracer, and the first-ever determination of the rate of groundwater flow through a major
aquifer using 36¢| dating. Use of AMS has also made maior contributions to studies of such
diverse problems as ocean circulation, soil and rock erosion rates, dating ice cores and cave
deposits, climate variations, origins of meteorites, atmospheric chemistry, waste containment
in geologic repositories, hydrothermal and ore-forming fluid circulation patterns, and direct
dating of petroleum fluids.
The wide potential of AMS makes it imperative that we begin planning immediately to develop an
AMS capability in the U.S. One possibility is for an AMS facility to be developed around a new
Tandetron accelerator or its equivalent. This facility would respond to the rapidly growing needs
of ocean scientists for precise '4¢ analysis. Establishment costs for this facility are estimated
at $5M, including capital construction, with $1M operating funds for FY 1989 and beyond.
These funds are incorporated in the facilities budget of the Global Ocean Studies because of the
wide utility of this facility.
Ill. Chemical Components of the Global Program
Global initiatives will involve the Chemical Program in a variety of areas, particularly in the
context of global ocean flux studies, which are sub-divided here into open ocean and coastal
components.
1. Open Ocean Fluxes. A major goal for ocean sciences over the next decade will be to
determine the biogeochemical cycles and budgets in ocean basins over long time scales. The
physical dynamics (steady state and first order variability) essential to meeting this goal will
be obtained through research programs such as WOCE and the continuation of tracer studies. A
determination of the character and primary productivity of the sea surface will also be
available globally and synoptically from satellite and airborne sensors. Finally, the very
important lateral flux from the coastal boundary zone will be available from studies conducted
in that region.
31
With these dynamic and boundary conditions, a most exciting opportunity exists to link them
with extensive in situ observations of fluxes of soluble and particulate phases and
transformations between them. New tools and techniques (e.g., sediment traps, large-volume
samplers, experimental benthic chambers, and numerical modeling) will be developed and used
extensively in conjunction with physical and satellite observation programs over the next
decade. This program will provide an understanding of the factors which control long-term
chemical/biological dynamics at the ocean basin or global scale.
Of peblStey) Sve aed is the application of emerging methodology employing AMS for
measuring '4C, '°Be, 1291, and 2SAl concentrations in seawater. Additionally, significant effort
will be required to assure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to guarantee that the
volumes of data produced from satellites and aircraft can be handled.
The specific objectives of this initiative are: (1) to define the rate of production of organic
matter (i.e., organic tissue, opal, calcite, and many of the specific chemical and biological
components of these phases) as a function of geographic location and time; (2) to define the flux
of organic matter from the photic zone into the ocean interior as a function of location and time;
(3) to define the transfer rates (by respiration, dissolution, and sorption) between phases as a
function of time and location within the water column; and (4) to define the flux between the
ocean interior and the seafloor. Several major aspects of the ocean sciences will benefit from
having results of this research applied to specific regions.
A knowledge of rates of photosynthesis and respiration as a function of space and time in the sea
is fundamental to any understanding of the ecology of marine organisms. A knowledge of
production and dissolution patterns of opal and calcite hard parts is fundamental to reading the
record of paleoenvironments preserved in marine sediments. Finally, knowledge of the pattern
of nutrient transport to the ocean's surface and of the pattern of nutrient regeneration in the
sea's interior will provide powerful constraints on models of water flow through the sea.
To accomplish a synoptic study of this scale and match fluxes to and through the water column, a
seven-year program costing between $5M and $8M per year is required, with an additional
$6M required in FY 1988 and FY 1989 for establishing a dedicated AMS facility for the Ocean
Sciences.
2. Coastal Ocean Fluxes. The objective of this subinitiative is to determine the extent and
nature of material being injected into the open ocean across the coastal boundary. The results of
this research will be augmented by studies of the Land/Sea Interface and Continental Margins and
will serve as the input function for models developed to describe global open ocean flux studies
(GOFS).
Mass balances of both meso and global space scales are necessary in determining whether the
influx of material to the ocean is greater than its removal. The approach has been applied with
regard to some metals in seawater, and results indicate that a substantial increase in the oceanic
inventory of certain metals has occurred as a result of human activity. However, these efforts
have been severely limited by a lack of comprehensive models. It is likely that global models
will be generated using regional models; therefore, the geographic setting must be
predetermined.
32
Two natural modes of input of terrestrial and man-mobilized material into the ocean are
atmospheric fallout and river discharge. The SEAREX Program has increased our understanding
of the former. Riverine transport studies are more complex since influxes donot go directly into
offshore waters of regional seas or global oceans, but first pass through estuaries and other
nearshore environments. River-carried material therefore does not represent actual riverine
fluxes to the ocean proper. Other important modes for introduction of material, especially for
wholly artificial substances, are through direct discharge from land via pipelines and through
dumping by ships at sea.
In the case of naturally occurring contaminants, such as metals, it is also important to quantify
natural influxes. These include emissions from tectonic spreading centers and hyrothermal
vents and influxes from runoff other than rivers, such as glaciers. These sources need to be
placed in perspective with regard to the role that rivers play. The net input to the open ocean is
that material which survives chemical and biological removal and reinjection as it traverses the
estuarine environment and the coastal-open ocean boundary. Physical characteristics of these
areas also play an important role in transport.
The chemical components of this estuarine transport study would require from $2 to $4M of
new support per year over a five-year period.
3. Ocean Lithosphere and Ridge Crest Processes (Chemical Component). An
initiative in Geological Oceanography describes the geological, chemical, and biological aspects of
understanding how lithosphere and ridge crest processes work. The support needed for studies of
sulfide mineralization, vent water chemistry and seawater leaching of porous crust will be $2M
per year.
4. Recruitment Mechanisms (Chemical Component). This initiative in Biological
Oceanography requires studies of chemical input to access food chain shifts resulting from
dissolved material in the water column. Between $1M and $2M per year will be required to
perform these chemical studies of recruitment.
5. Tracer Studies in WOCE. A critical step in any effort to predict the role of the ocean as
a sink (e.g., for fossil fuel CO2) and its ability to transport chemicals both vertically and
horizontally is creation of models of ocean circulation and mixing. Present models are limited
and a major obstacle to their future development is a lack of data with which to constrain them.
Chemical tracers offer the best means of providing these constraints. As a result, one of the
major objectives of TTO, initiated in 1978 jointly with the Department of Energy, is to obtain a
fully three-dimensional picture of tracer distributions throughout the world ocean.
Large field-intensive oceanographic research, such as study of tracers, depends upon
well-maintained and efficiently operated ship support facilities comprised of sampling
equipment, in-situ measurement devices, analytical instruments, computers, and staff to
operate these facilities to provide requisite data handling and management capabilities. With the
advent of large-scale oceanographic field studies lasting several months, permanent technical
staff are needed to handle support activities efficiently.
33
In the past there have been two groups available to meet project needs. Both groups have
recently become marginal in their capabilities due to equipment failures and losses, relocations,
management problems, and decreased funding for field work. For the Global Program we must
reestablish both groups, with up-to-date processing facilities, with new or refurbished
sampling equipment, and with continuing support for a few excellent engineers and technicians.
6. The Land/Sea Interface: This is an expansion of the core program on Material
Transfers and Transformations at the Land/Sea Boundary. It is being planned jointly by the
Ocean Sciences and the Biotic Systems and Resources Divisions. The objectives are defined under
the Global Program and in the Biological Oceanography program description.
V. Recommended Funding
The recommended future funding for the Chemical Oceanography Program overall, including the
core program, enhancements and major new initiatives, is provided in Table B of Section IV.
34
C. Biological Oceanography Program
Long-Range Planning
|. The Core Program
Biological oceanography Is the subdiscipline of oceanography concerned with the study and
prediction of the Interrelationships of marine blota with one another and with the physical,
chemical, and geological features of the ocean and atmosphere. A central focus Is to understand
ecosystems on both regional (e.g., estuarine, coastal embayment, central gyre, ocean basin) and,
ultimately, global scales.
Biological Oceanography has come of age over the past 15 years with increased participation in
major interdisciplinary programs such as Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems, Gulf Stream Rings,
and Hydrothermal Vents. Biological oceanographers have taken advantage of steadily developing
sampling technology towards real-time, in situ measurements (e.g., fluorometry,
respirometry, ocean color sensors) compatible with those of chemistry and physics. They have
also recognized the significance of new and complex communities (e.g., those comprising the
microbial loop, the gelatinous midwater communities, and hydrothermal vent organisms).
Biological Oceanography is now poised, with its sister disciplines, to expand its vision to
interdisciplinary global processes. These include interconnections, not only between the coastal
and open ocean, the ocean and atmosphere, and the ocean surface and sediments, but also between
terrestrial and freshwater environments and the coastal ocean.
The core program in Biological Oceanography may be subdivided into:
(1) primary production processes (benthic and water column),
(2) microbial loop processes,
(3) higher trophic levels,
(4) specialized environments (deep ocean floor including vents, coral reefs,
oxygen minima, etc.), and
(5) large marine ecosystems and their control by physical and chemical processes.
These divisions are not mutually exclusive. Programs focused on communities (4) and
ecosystems (5) often involve the first three areas.
1. Primary Production Processes. The nature and rate of primary formation of biological
material, a central theme of biological oceanography from its earliest days, still holds center
stage. Primary production is the basis of all marine food chains and biological production of
economic importance, and it plays a central role in the flux of material to the deep ocean and in
the control of climate through COz cycling.
35
The struggle to compute total ocean primary production accurately and to determine the relative
significance of component ecosystems continues as more sophisticated tools become available.
The subtle complexities of such integrations are being pursued through research on the
physiology and biochemistry of photosynthesis and metabolic activities of single cells, the
rigorous intercomparison and evaluation of the methodologies of primary production
measurement, and the expanding range of primary production processes including photo- and
chemosynthetic bacteria, nitrogen fixation and the role of submicron "picoplankton." The
concept of new versus recycled production is sharpening definitions of regional potential for
secondary productivity (e.g., fish production).
The promise of a renewed capability for large-scale synoptic satellite color sensing is
stimulating reexamination of the relative roles of shelf and open ocean waters in marine
productivity. It is also, of necessity, stimulating efforts toward quantitative calibration of
ocean color in terms of primary production in preparation for the next decade. These core
studies are particularly important for global (both coastal and open) ocean flux and
recruitment subinitiatives, as well as global productivity.
2. Microbial Loop Processes. As little as two decades ago, marine bacteria and other
heterotrophic microorganisms were thought to be rather rare and largely inactive. They are
now known to be responsible for up to 50% of the total water column biomass. They can
consume up to 50% of the total primary production in some situations and over 80% of water
column respiratory activity remains after filtration through a 1-micrometer filter.
Growing knowledge of the vital and active role of microorganisms in marine food chains has
vastly complicated the old "simple" diatom-copepod-fish short food chain concept. We now
realize that intricate microscale food chains may be responsible for rapid recycling of material
in the upper water column and transformation of detrital remains sinking to the ocean floor.
Further definition of the role of ocean microbes will provide a major component of ocean flux
studies.
3. Higher Trophic Levels. Ecological studies of populations and communities above the
microbial level and their behavior and ecological interactions have also added immeasurably to
our current understanding of the sophistication of ocean ecosystems. One significant example is
the exotic gelatinous zooplankton. Their importance was first determined by scientists using
near-surface scuba techniques; submersibles are now being used for studying them at greater
depths. In standard texts on marine invertebrates, whole chapters can now be written where
formerly groups such as Foraminifera, Radiolaria, salps, ctenophores, and chaetognaths were
dismissed in a sentence or two.
Complex predator/prey interactions are being explored in imaginatively designed field studies
and in controlled laboratory studies. Sophisticated instrumentation is being developed to analyze
swimming behavior in three dimensions, to slow down millisecond-rate activities of the
microscopic mouth parts of copepods, and to measure flow velocities over feeding appendages of
benthic organisms. The biochemical basis of larval settlement and the competitive overgrowth
of clonal encrusting organisms are but two examples of ecological studies needing support for a
better understanding of major groups of organisms comprising coastal and oceanic ecosystems.
Basic life history and biology studies of individual populations are requisite for understanding
the seasonal, interannual, and longer scale regulation of populations and communities, and they
are relevant to the recruitment processes and ecosystem dynamics subinitiative.
36
4. Special Environments. The outstanding examples in this category are the specialized and
unique communities living aroung hydrothermal vents. Scientists continue to be fascinated by
the diversity of unusual life styles and unique adaptations of these organisms. As new
hyperthermal and isothermal vent environments are discovered, we can expect further insights
into basic phenomena involving symbiosis, sulfide metabolism, the nature and pace of evolution,
and adaptation to extreme environments. The complex organization and extremely high
productivity of the rich, diverse coral reef fauna also demand further study Other specialized
environments that will continue to command interest include localized upwelling regions,
sub-surface oxygen minimum zones, and seagrass and kelp forests.
The potential applications to biotechnology of organisms adapted to specialized environments
cannot be underestimated.
5. Large Marine Ecosystems. Compreheshive investigations of marine ecosystems through
interdisciplinary approaches are an important part of the Biological Oceanography program. The
percentage of total awarded dollars for such research has fluctuated between 25 and 40% over
the past 5 years. Large interdisciplinary programs were funded through the International
Decade for Ocean Exploration (IDOE) in the 1970's and have been administered as OSRS
programs since 1981. The IDOE phase-out was followed initially by a decline in dollars spent on
multiinvestigator, multiinstitutional awards in biological oceanography. However, increasing
numbers of large interdisciplinary programs have been funded since 1981.
Recently concluded large programs in which biological oceanographers had major involvement
include Warm Core Rings, Organization of Persistent Upwelling Systems OPUS), and Planktonic
Rate Processes in Oligotrophic Oceans (PRPOOS). Current large programs include the Vertical
Exchange Program (VERTEXO, SUPER, and Microbial Exchanges and Coupling in Coastal Atlantic
Systems (MECCAS) for the water column, and Hydrothermal Vents for the benthos. Future
basinwide interdisciplinary studies are projected for the Indian Ocean, where predictable
regular monsoonal upwellings cause intense production and extreme oxygen minimum layers,
and for higher latitudes, where new production is likely to be a much higher proportion of the
total. The phasing in of ocean and coastal flux and recruitment processes studies, described
below, will bring greater emphasis on large ecosystems and interdisciplinary research. It is
also vital, however, to maintain the core of individual investigator research.
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
Special funds (see the tables) are necessary to supplement core program funding in all the areas
addressed in Section II.B of the Long-Range Plan. Two of these are highlighted below as
particularly urgent.
1. Biochemistry, Chemical Ecology, and Marine Biotechnology. There is an
immediate need for substantially enlarged research support to accommodate the accelerating
numbers of exciting proposals in this burgeoning field. Increasingly, biological oceanographers
are employing the techniques of analytical biochemistry to studies of microbial ecology,
sediment biogeochemistry, metabolic biochemistry, and chemically-mediated organism
interactions, and to their applications in biotechnology.
37
The application of new analytical and molecular research tools to studies of the evolutionary
diversity of marine organisms and their colonization of unique and extreme environments will
produce important new discoveries. Enhancement of this work is projected to require $1.5M in
FY 1988 and to increase rapidly beyond this as marine biotechnology grows in importance.
Besides the obvious need for research dollars, we also see the need for enhancement of existing
centers through aquisition of the expensive new generation of instrumentation to integrate
modern molecular biology and genetic technologies into the ocean sciences. We also need to
encourage establishment of new centers in the context of existing marine laboratory and
oceanography facilities, where seawater systems, culture expertise, and ecological knowledge of
the habitats of marine organisms already exist. This program will require a $10M annual
budget within five years.
2. Technology Development. Development, acquisition, and use of new tools for field data
aquisition and analysis is a most critical need in biological oceanography. Support for the
technical personnel to operate and maintain such complex electronic and mechanical equipment
is also vital. A small proportion of the resources of the Oceanographic Centers and Facilities
Section is assigned to ongoing technology development for the Ocean Sciences Division as a whole,
but it is inadequate to equip Biological Oceanography with a new generation of field observational
and data management tools.
Specific prototype research methods that would contribute significantly to advances in Biological
Oceanography with enhanced support include (1) multifrequency acoustic sampling for
zooplankton and small nekton; (2) in situ optical sampling and image analysis for plankton,
microbes and marine snow; (3) flow cytometry and image analysis for identification and sorting
of phytoplankton and microbes; (4) satellite data capture and analysis; and (5) optimally
designed submersibles for investigation of midwater plankton and benthos. Greatly expanded
funding for these and other endeavors will allow biological oceanographers to develop
state-of-the art observational capabilities and will insure real-time interaction with physical
and chemical oceanographers in future interdisciplinary and large-scale programs.
This enhancement will require at least $5M per year over the next decade.
38
lll. Biological Oceanography Component of the Global Program
Biological Oceanography contributes major components to the Global Ocean Studies Program, and
a minor component to the Ocean Lithosphere Studies Program, the latter in connection with the
biological communities associated with Ridge Crest Processes. Planning funds have been assigned
starting in 1987.
Within the context of Global Ocean Studies, the biological and chemical components of Global
Ocean Flux Studies (GOFS) are furthest advanced,and are scheduled to begin pilot field studies in
1989. The Land/Sea Interface study, a program being jointly planned with the Chemical
Oceanography Program and the Division of Biotic Systems and Resources, is scheduled to receive
funds for planning beginning in 1988. Recruitment Processes and Ecosystem Dynamics as a
subinitiative has been endorsed by the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences,
and following further planning workshops it will start in 1989. Coastal Fluxes and Dynamics, a
multidisciplinary series of programs, is beginning to be organized and may also be expected to
become structurally defined by 1989 in preparation for major field activities in the next
decade. The biological component of Global Circulation, Climate, and Productivity is seen
in a supporting role for all of the above. The order of presentation below maintains consistency
with the other parts of this document and does not reflect an order of priority.
1. Global (Circulation, Climate, and) Productivity. Within the ocean sciences, this
program encompasses such well-established efforts as TOGA and WOCE. Within the Biological
Oceanography Program, global productivity studies will not be developed as a major focus, but
continuing core studies will serve the needs of the coastal and ocean flux studies subinitiatives,
as well as those for recruitment processes and the land/sea interface. If these efforts are to
succeed, significant supplementary funds must be set aside for the acquisition, groundtruthing,
assimilation, and management of the expected data stream from satellite and aircraft sensors
and from ships at sea.
Although the coastal zone color scanner is now a memory, there will be a new generation of color
sensors, the earliest of which could be spaceborne by late 1990, followed by multispectral
instruments capable of resolving up to 100 separate spectral bands. These sensors are likely to
be commercialized and hence the cost of their data gathering may have to be borne by NSF in
partnership with other agencies for the academic community. In addition, there already
exists a wealth of productivity data collected from past programs and stored in a variety of often
inaccessible data bases scattered through the literature, both in published and technical report
form. Additionally, major cruises of the global ocean programs, including TOGA, WOCE, and
GOFS, will generate new productivity data over the next decade.
Funds must be projected now for (1) aquisition of hardware, facilities, and data links for
academic institutions; (2) training of graduate and postdoctoral students in remote sensing
technology and integration of biology into coupled ocean/atmosphere models requiring super
computers; (3) detailed analysis of currently archived data; (4) ground truthing and the
development of new algorithms for higher latitudes and the conversion of ocean color to reliable
production estimates; (5) the actual cost of new commercial products; and (6) development of
data assimilation and management schemes, identification of specific sites for these activities,
39
and the means of dissemination of global and regional productivity data to feed the requirements
of Open Ocean and Coastal Dynamics and Fluxes programs, the Land/sea Interface, and
Recruitment Processes. Some of these activities are currently being funded at a minimal level in
the core program. By FY 1989 the effort will require at least an additional $2M, increasing to
$6M by FY 1993.
Global Ocean Flux Studies will require an interdisciplinary effort by chemical, biological,
physical, and geological oceanographers. The sediment trap will be one of the major sampling
tools, but the diversity of biological projects needed will require major use of traditional and
new sampling technologies. From a biologist's perspective, the most effective flux program
design would incorporate onshore-offshore sampling to estimate influences of terrestrial
sources, basin boundaries, and advective processes on both the vertical and horizontal movement
of materials. For convenience, the program can be sub-divided into open ocean and coastal
components.
2. Open Ocean Fluxes A major research effort is required to examine the flux of biogenic
particles from the sea surface to the benthos and the mechanisms by which materials are
transported, transformed, and cycled. Rates of primary production and seasonal succession of
phytoplankton species,loss and regeneration rates of nutrients, dynamics of plankton
communities, and energetics at the organism, population, and community level all must be
Studied to understand particulate flux.
The fate of particulates reaching the seabed, the effect of turbulence on benthic organisms, the
pathways by which benthic communities utilize, transform, and regenerate materials, and the
role of nekton in both lateral and vertical transport of materials must be considered. Because
flux of materials varies between ocean basins and with the seasons and climatic conditions, a
successful program will require broad coverage of major marine ecosystems and multiyear
commitments to measure intra- and interannual variability.
Planning and long-lead time activites for a community effort designated Global Ocean Flux
Studies began in 1986 with the joint assistance of NASA and NSF. Pilot ocean basin observational
programs will be mounted before the end of this decade. The biological oceanography component
of this program will require $2M by FY 1989 increasing to $10M by FY 1992 when full scale
global field programs should be in place. This will help biological oceanographers to phase
into a major interdisciplinary flux program and allow development of instrumentation as well
as training of technical personnel critical to the initiative's success. These figures include the
funds required to help support ship and facility operation and the establishment of an Ocean
Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Center essential to both the GOFS and WOCE
programs.
3. Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes. The new in situ and satellite imagery tools
provided oceanographers with the first vivid realization of the complex dynamics of the
micro-and mesoscale physical structure and its inevitable consequences for sediment transport,
geochemistry, and population recruitment processes. This dynamic mosaic of currents,
upwelling, eddies, and jets has been clearly seen to influence equally complex patterns of ocean
surface color, itself an index of biomass and productivity as revealed by the coastal zone color
scanner.
40
From a biological perspective, the coastal ocean has two important characteristics
distinguishing it from the open ocean: (1) very high rates of biological productivity based on
upwelling and the influx of nutrients from land, and (2) dynamic interactions at the seabed
interface. High variability in space and time characterize processes related to these phenomena.
This has traditionally confounded interpretation and understanding, but it is increasingly
apparent that these processes, governed by ocean physics, are very much less stochastic than
formerly thought. This apparent noise in coastal biological patterns and processes is made up of
important signals which several programs are being designed to unravel.
One of these is MECCAS, already in its first field phase. It is designed to follow the Chesapeake
Bay estuary plume onto the continental shelf and to determine the biological transformations
taking place along its path and its effects on the productivity of the adjacent region. In a second
physical/meteorological program, biologists are involved in assessing the effects of the passage
of coastal winter storms on fish spawning and larval survival. There are programs in advanced
planning stages designed to investigate the biological significance of sediment resuspension
caused by storms, waves, and currents off the coast of California. Many organisms important to
productivity cycles, from dinoflagellates to copepods, are now known to produce resting spores
or eggs which accumulate in sediments.
Transient physical phenomena may be responsible for the bulk of biological production in some
regions of the coastal ocean. Another planned program takes as its premise the gobal biological
significance of western boundary currents, which alre an order of magnitude less intense than
eastern boundary upwellings but often occur over much longer coastlines and are often sustained
over large parts of the year. The potential for nutrient enrichment of coastal regions and the
fate of subsequent particulates produced are currently a matter for speculation, but it is certain
that large amounts of biogenic carbon are fluxed across the ocean margin into the deep ocean
basins.
Funds to support biological aspects of a coastal flux program will need to begin by FY 1989 and
sharply increase to $6M by FY 1994.
4. Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics and Recruitment. Animal populations
frequently vary in abundance year to year by orders of magnitude, usually due to variable
survival of larval or juvenile stages. Climate, physical processes, variability in primary
production or zooplankton production, and variability in predation have been hypothesized to
regulate such large changes, which often have huge economic impacts. This NSF initiative,
together with efforts planned by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES),
UNESCO, and FAO (and their member states, including France and the U.K.) could provide new
solutions to understanding recruitment variability and ecosystems dynamics in temperate and
tropical seas.
A central question concerns the mechanisms by which relatively small (three- to-fourfold)
variability in annual primary production within an ecosystem is magnified to express ten- to
hundredfold variability in fish or benthos recruitment. Differences in recruitment mechanisms
in high and low latitude systems need to be considered as do probable differences associated with
the dominant type of primary producer at the food chain base. Predicting recruitment and shifts
41
in abundances of commercially important fishes (e.g., sardine/anchovy), based on ocean and
climate parameters, would have great economic and social benefits for fisheries harvests and
management. It is important to know the sequence and temporal-spatial scales of events that
lead to failures or successes in recruitment in order to make predictions about the long-term
changes of population structure.
A Recruitment Processes and Ecosystems Dynamics program will require funding for studies in
both coastal and oceanic ecosystems and the use of mesocosms for controlled experiments to
examine factors that influence recruitment. Initial research will focus on larval stages of fishes
and benthic invertebrates. As in other biological oceanography initiatives, strong input from
physical oceanographers will be required to allow collaborative investigation of factors that
aggregate or disperse larvae, their predators,and their prey. The role of predation and its
effects on the recuitment process will be a particularly important topic for investigation.
As in the other subinitiatives, there is a critical requirement to develop new samplers,
instrumentation, and analytical techniques, and to train technical personnel. The control of
ecosystem structure through recruitment processes in the coastal and continental shelf and slope
environments is particularly important, because this is where the bulk of the harvestable
biomass resides. Among the obviously important controls on recruitment processes are the
physical, chemical, and sediment transport considerations embodied in the Coastal Ocean
Dynamics and Fluxes subinitiative.
Core program funds up to $4M are already being spent in this area. We should expect to expend
at least $2-4.5M per year in the FY 1989-90 time frame increasing to $10.5M per year by FY
1993, in order to make really significant contributions to planned international programs on
recruitment problems and ocean ecosystems dynamics.
5. The Land/Sea Interface. Traditionally, terrestrial, freshwater, and ocean research have
been separated both at academic institutions and at federal agencies. Nevertheless, their
geographic interconnection, especially in large terrestrial drainage systems and their estuaries,
offers a unique opportunity for NSF to provide leadership and catalyze integration at a critical
juncture. These transitional ecosystems contribute enormously to the livelihood and well-being
of the global human population, which itself endangers their health.
Environments at the land/sea interface continually change because of natural variability of
climate and runoff and because of their sensitivity to small changes in sea level and to storms.
Recently, the change has been accelerated as these environments have been subjected to
human-caused increases in the amounts of freshwater, sediments, and nonnatural (and often
toxic) materials moving from the land to the oceans. Populations of organisms have also been
greatly changed in recent years because of habitat alterations and intense harvesting. In the next
century, the predicted greenhouse effect may cause global climate changes resulting in changes
in river runoff and temperature.
We need to begin to plan a long term research program to monitor and document changes and to
specify the studies that will enable us to predict the effects of these changes on aquatic
ecosystems at the land/sea interface. We expect that $1M increasing to $6M will need to be
allocated to OCE efforts between FY 1989-93 (with an equal amount being provided by BSR) and
maintained at that level through 1996.
42
6. Ridge Crest Processes. This program includes a significant biological component. To
understand fully the origin and evolution of biological communities, a long-term integrated
biological program should be coupled to geochemical flux studies and directed toward the unique
properties of vent organisms with emphasis on chemolithotrophic microbes, symbiont-host
relations, bioenergetics, and physiological adaptations.
To define community structure, life history stategies, and evolution of biological communities, a
number of important questions must be asked. These include: What are the most important
factors sustaining vent biological communities - nutrients, heat, symbiosis? How do vent
communities colonize new areas? How do communities evolve? What are the mechanisms for
adaptation to the unique chemistry, high temperature, and high pressure? What are the
productivity and the physiology of vent organisms?
7. Funding Requirements
Funding requirements for the Program are detailed in Table C of Section IV.
43
D. Marine Geology and Geophysics Program
Long-Range Planning
|. Core Program
Major changes in marine geoscience research have occurred in the fifteen years since acceptance
of plate tectonics theory. Reconnaissance studies of sediment distribution and composition,
crustal age and chemistry, and ocean basin structure and history have set the stage for detailed
examination of (1) the "how" and "why" of plate tectonic processes; (2) the mechanisms of
global climate and ocean circulation changes as recorded in deep sea sediments; (3) the temporal
and spatial scales of seafloor formation and their control on crustal heterogeneity; (4) seawater
chemistry and formation of mineral deposits; (5) the stretching and subsidence of rifted
continental margins; and (6) the mechanisms for crustal accretion and erosion in deep sea
trenches.
New instruments allow the geologist to image the seafloor in real time on spatial scales of meters
to kilometers (swath mapping, side-scan sonars, and cameras) and permit the geophysicist to
probe the deepest sedimentary and igneous layers beneath the margins and ocean basins
(large-aperture seismic arrays, broadband digital reflection profiling systems, satellite
geodesy, and ocean bottom seismometers). The geological and geochemical significance of
remotely sensed features can be determined by precision sampling from submersibles and deep
ocean drilling, with subsequent analyses using modern analytical instrumentation.
Marine geosciences are at a point where these new techniques can be integrated and utilized in
major new programs to provide a comprehensive understanding of the processes which create
and modify 70% of the earth's crust and which have controlled global environmental changes for
the last 150 million years. The basic scientific manpower, theory, and technology exist for such
programs. The present status and future trends for the five major program areas at existing
support levels are summarized below.
1. Structure and Evolution of Continental Margins. The use and development of
multichannel seismic techniques, swath-mapping, sonar systems, and seismic stratigraphic
analysis have lead to new conceptual models of margin formation and evolution. On a few passive
margins, such techniques have been coupled with heat flow, gravity, and sediment analyses to
quantify faulting, crustal stretching, and subsidence which accompany continental rifting.
Limited study of active margins has begun to clarify the process of continental accretion and
provided unexpected evidence of crustal erosion.
The geological structure of the transition from ocean to continent is a direct result of, and varies
with the processes causing rifting and subsidence (passive margins) or convergence and uplift
(active margins). A major limitation is the lack of field data from these contrasting tectonic
areas to construct and constrain geologic models.
44
A principal aim of future work is to provide crustal structure profiles at margins that differ in
their physiography, sediment history, and tectonic style. Multichannel seismic experiments and
ocean drilling will be part of studies of margin evolution that include lithologic and acoustic
stratigraphy, structural analysis, subsidence analysis, and heat flow, gravity,and magnetic
measurements. Correlation and integration with onshore geological studies will be required.
This program is of fundamental geologic interest, but it is facilities-limited. Therefore, a
major increase in support for this program area is requested as part of the Tectonics and
Structures of Submerged Continental Margins component of the Global Program.
2. Tectonics and Structure of Midocean Ridges and Basins. Studies using multibeam
bathymetric systems, side-scan sonars, navigated cameras, and research submersibles have
provided new perspectives on the complex and poorly understood spatial and temporal scales of
tectonic and volcanic processes along ridge crests and transform faults. Ridge crest
reorganization and migration, changes in spreading rate, and fracture zone orientation can
imprint the ocean crust with a complex structural and geochemical signature. Episodic
volcanism may control both distribution of ridge crest morphologies and hydrothermal vents.
Major limitations are a lack of knowledge of the internal structure of ridge systems, including
the shape and distribution of magma chambers, and the spatial and temporal scales of volcanic
activity and faulting which are needed to constrain dynamic models.
A major goal of future work is to provide a three-dimensional view of the structure and
evolution of spreading ridges and fracture zones including closely-spaced surveys at critical
locations using detailed bathymetric, magnetic, seismic, and heat-flow measurements.
Complementary studies in off-axis, old ocean basins will examine effects of plate motions and
geologic age on lithosphere chemistry and rheology. This area is also of basic scientific
importance and is also facilities-limited. Therefore, the Oceanic Lithosphere component of the
Global Program on Ridge Crest Processes provides for significant new efforts in this program
element.
3. Geochemical Evolution of the Oceanic Crust. One square kilometer of new seafloor
is created each year along midocean ridges. Research on this process and the resulting volcanic
products has documented the large-scale geochemical heterogeneity of the crust and upper
mantle; the rate of chemical and heat exchange between the ocean, oceanic crust, and mantle; and
secondary mineralization of the crust as it ages. Application of modern analytic techniques for
isotope and trace element variations provides insight into magma evolution, mixing processes,
and thermodynamics of the volcanic system at ridge crests, back-arc basins, and seamounts.
Detailed studies of the geochemistry of hydrothermal vents are relating the composition and
structure of oceanic crust to the nature and origin of associated mineral deposits, though studies
are limited by the lack of adequate control on chemical and thermal fluxes.
A major emphasis of future work is to couple detailed geochemical sampling and analysis with
studies of the spatial and temporal scales of seafloor creation and evolution. Such studies will
require coordinated and comprehensive geochemical analysis of samples recovered by dredging,
submersibles, and crustal drilling. These studies will examine chemical heterogeneity produced
by overlapping and propagating spreading centers, the location of transform faults and mantle
plumes, and magma chamber evolution. This significant new effort is proposed as part of the
Ridge Crest Processes component of the Global Program.
45
4. Fluxes, Transport, and Deposition of Marine Sediments. Approximately 40% of
all sediments occupying the major global sedimentary reservoirs are found on the continental
slope and rise and in the deep ocean. These sediments reflect a wide variety of complex and often
interacting sources from continental erosion and pelagic productivity to volcanic eruptions and
deep sea hydrothermal activity. Transport, deposition, and, often, subsequent erosion of these
sediments are directly coupled to surface and deep ocean current systems and modified by the
long-term history of global seal evel.
Recent research has concentrated on (1) developing geochemical tracers which allow
sedimentary components to be partitioned between source functions; (2) first-order studies of
sediment supply and alteration through use of sediment traps and surface sediment analyses; (3)
use of high resolution side-scan sonars and reflection profiling to study dynamic processes
which transport and erode sediments; and (4) use of the preserved record to model global
geochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur, and other elements.
Although first-order models of many of these processes are available, a major limitation to
advancement is a lack of integrated field data sets incorporating comprehensive studies of
source, transport and flux, and depositional controls. Increased support for such studies on
continental margins are included as part of the Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes subinitiative.
Predictability of regional sedimentary sequences and their acoustic stratigraphy, the resistance
of sediment deposits to erosion or dissolution, slope stability along continental margins, and the
origin of microtopography are still poorly understood.
Future emphasis will be on geochemical processes in the benthic boundary layer which modify
terrigenous and biogenic material before its incorporation into the geologic record. Such studies
will be coupled to ocean flux studies assessing production, transport, and dissolution of biogenic
and inorganic material in the water column. Funds are included in the Open Ocean Fluxes sub-
initiative for increased geochemical studies in this area. Efforts under the Land/Sea Interface
program in Biological Oceanography will similarly complement this activity.
Additional emphasis at the current program level will be directed to effects of in situ reactions
within sediments and their influence on physical properties, pore fluids, and sediment layering
and chemistry. Enhanced support for a new Long Coring Facility is requested to improve
sampling quality and recovery for sedimentary analysis.
5. Geologic and Climatic History of the Oceans. Paleoceanography has emerged as a
separate and important discipline. Study of microfossil assemblages, coupled with their
geochemical signatures, has provided a new tool for examining changes in global climate and
ocean circulation. Projects such as CLIMAP and SPECMAP have attacked the most recent portion
of the geologic record and uncovered the relation between orbital forcing and the Pleistocene ice
age. Samples from the Deep Sea Drilling Project have been used to document gradual decay of
global climate and resulting formation of ice sheets during the last 60 million years (e.g., the
CENOP project).
46
Other significant advances have been made in understanding ecology of marine organisms, the
history of surface and deep water production and circulation, the global carbon cycle, and
changes in the chemistry and biologic productivity of the global ocean. Most recently, theories
of extraterrestrial impacts and their relation to biotic evolution are being examined in the
context of global environmental conditions preserved in marine sediments.
Major goals of future work include detailed studies of specific geologic intervals to establish
temporal relations between oceanographic, climatic, and tectonic events; improved
understanding of the resolution of the oceanographic record preserved in fossil assemblages
through studies of modern organisms and their environment; an increased emphasis on
determining the history of the carbon cycle and its relation to climatic change; and use of
integrated data sets to model ocean circulation and climate. Enhanced support for analyses of
samples collected by the Ocean Drilling Program is requested (see below).
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
The areas of critical need in Ocean Sciences Core support are all relevant to the Marine Geology
and Geophysics Program. In particular, support for three aspects of this research program are
urgently needed to continue recent scientific advances and respond to technological
improvements. Each crosses several programmatic areas described in the preceding section.
These are:
1. Ocean Drilling Program Sample Analyses. Support for postdrilling analyses of
samples from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) is provided by established disciplinary
programs at NSF - mainly Marine Geology and Geophysics. The drilling program includes major
sampling programs for carbonate reef formation and carbon cycles in the oceans, controls and
timing of glacial cycles, early rifting history of the Atlantic Ocean, geochemical and thermal
evolution of oceanic crust, evolution of the Mediterranean Sea, mineralization processes,
sedimentation regimes, and tectonics of ocean ridge systems and continental margins. Sample
sites range from the Norwegian Sea through the Atlantic Ocean to the Weddell Sea off Antarctica
followed by future work in the Indian Ocean and Pacific margins.
The success of the drilling program requires a strong sample analysis effort and without
enhanced support it will be difficult for the U.S. research effort to maintain its leadership
position in this international program. Funding at $IM per year is required to establish and
maintain effective levels of research.
2. Long Coring Facility and Sedimentary Processes. Approximately 40% of all
sediments are found on continental margins and in the deep ocean. The marine sedimentary
sequences, in general, are more continuous than land deposits; are the ultimate sink for
terrestrial, pelagic, and deep-sea hydrothermal particulate materials; and are the recording
medium for past global environmental and climatic changes.
47
Large continuous samples from differing regional settings are required to meet research goals.
Funding is needed for acquisition and operation of an instrumented piston corer system and
handling equipment capable of taking 50-meter-long, 10-centimeter-diameter cores from a
number of research vessels. A Long Coring Facility (LCF) will provide sufficient penetration
Capability to resolve major sedimentary, diagenetic, and geochemical processes. It will
complement the deep penetration capabilities of the Ocean Drilling Program and extend standard
piston coring techniques by a factor of three.
Preliminary engineering design of a prototype system is complete. The LCF corer will find
immediate use for paleoclimatic studies along continental margins, in sediment transport and
microtopography studies, and in determination of geochemical gradients in ocean sedimentary
basins. In FY 1989 and FY 1990 $.9M will be required for construction and testing. Operation
costs are estimated at $.6M annually during the period FY 1991-96.
3. Geochemical Instrumentation. During the past decade marine geosciences research has
evolved from reconnaissance studies to quantitative studies examining various aspects of
paleoceanographic and plate tectonic models. This transition has highlighted the need for modern
analytic instrumentation. An example of research opportunities that require improved
analytical systems is polymetallic sulfide mineralization on oceanic ridge systems. The complex
series of geologic, geochemical, and physical reactions involving high temperature
seawater-rock, mineral fluids-rock, mineral fluids-cold seawater, and secondary
mineralization and magmatic processes are a formidable challenge.
In the past, interpretations have all too often been frustrated by lack of a comprehensive
approach, and critical data have been missing because adequate instrumentation was not
available. New state-of-the-art, automated instruments with on-line computers and real-time
data correction, reduction, and archiving capabilities, as well as a new generation of
instruments with multielement or isotope detection capabilities, are needed. These include
electron microprobes, ion probes, x-ray diffraction and fluorescence units, gas and solid source
mass spectrometers, acceleration mass spectrometers, emission and absorption spectrometers,
microprobes, and transmission and scanning electron microscopes.
No oceanographic institution has the instrumentation, facilities, or necessary expertise to
undertake all the techniques identified. It will be necessary to expand present analytical
facilities and develop regional and national capabilities to provide for the comprehensive studies
needed. Funding is required for a six-year program totalling $4.2M to upgrade (and utilize)
instrumentation capabilities at oceanographic institutions. Additional funding for acceleration
mass spectrometry is also needed, but it is budgeted as part of the facilities needed for the new
initiatives. It is described in the Chemical Oceanography section of this document.
48
lll. Marine Geology and Geophysics Component of the Global Program
The Ocean Lithosphere Studies component of the Global Program provides for a broad research
effort based on modern technology to be directed toward understanding the dynamics, structure,
evolution, and origin of ocean basins. It has two major aspects: (1) Tectonics and Structure of
Submerged Continental Margins and (2) Ocean Lithosphere and Ridge Crest Processes. They
focus respectively on ocean-continent transition zones and tectonics and on hydrothermal
processes at ocean ridge systems. Together they provide a balance between (1) examining
crustal formation processes responsible for the basic structure of 70% of the earth's crust and
the associated biological and chemical questions, and (2) determining the processes of formation
of oceanic sedimentary basins, destruction of oceanic crust, and aggregation of continents. Both
components share the need for expanded facilities and their application. The approach to these
problems balances upgraded and expanded field programs with improvements in laboratory
equipment and development of new in situ measurement technologies.
1. Ocean Lithosphere Studies
a. Tectonics and Structure of Submerged Continental Margins
The transition zones between continents and oceans represent the boundary between the two
major physiographic provinces on our planet. In some cases they are also past or present
boundaries of the lithospheric plates forming the earth's surface. A much deeper understanding
of the structure, tectonics, and dynamic evolution of these fundamental geologic features is
within our grasp. The basic scientific manpower, theory, and technology exist for developing a
comprehensive understanding of continental margins.
Some of the major questions to be addressed are:
¢ What are the geologic units underlying passive and active continental margins? How is
their geology coupled to formation of ocean-continent boundaries? What are the
dominant tectonic, geochemical, and thermal processes?
¢ How does the geology vary along continental margins? What are the differences between
old and young margins, island arc and trench regions, fast and slow convergence sites, and
thick and thin sedimentary sequences? What is the coupling to adjacent geologic
provinces, to onshore basins and trenches?
¢ What causes initial rifting? How are conjugate sites on the opposite side of ocean basins
related? What are the controlling factors for subsidence rates, sediment accretion
rates, thermal histories, and regional basin formation?
To answer these questions modern geophysical, geological, and geochemical methods and
equipment for measuring and interpreting the physical properties of crustal structure are
needed. A primary technique is multichannel seismic profiling with large numbers of detectors
and large receiving apertures. The Large Aperture Seismic Experiment (LASE) showed that
multiship techniques can map the deep structure of the margins. A major limitation is the lack
of field data from contrasting tectonic areas to construct and constrain geologic models and the
lack of state-of-the-art multichannel seismic systems.
49
An early thrust of the program is to acquire seismic data on the continental margins with
tuned-source arrays and high-speed digital recording systems. Sufficient resources will be used
to maintain effective data acquisition and data analysis centers along with the critical mass of
scientists, technicians, and students required for operations. An expanded number of seismic
experiments ($2.7M in FY 1989, $6.2M in FY 1990, and increasing to $12M by FY 1992) for
studying deep structure in constrasting regions will be integrated with lithologic and acoustic
stratigraphic analysis, structural analysis, subsidence analysis, and heatflow, gravity, and
magnetic measurements. The initial studies will use upgraded capabilities of existing ships
followed by a transition to a proposed new research ship in FY 1991.
An additional requirement is correlation of marine geological and geophysical studies with
onshore geologic studies of the Continental Lithosphere program and offshore drilling by the
Ocean Drilling Program. Geologic samples from continental margins will provide controls on
the age and nature of basement, on age correlations for seismic reflectors, on biostratigraphic
data for subsidence models, and on the composition and facies of geologic sections. Other
significant measurement techniques include using arrays of ocean-bottom seismometers, the
Long Coring Facility, and upgraded laboratory facilities for geophysical, geological, and
geochemical analyses of data and samples.
b. Ridge Crest Processes
Oceanic ridges are a major component of the dynamic geologic system that forms, modifies, and
changes the surface of the earth. They are the source of major transfers of heat and chemical
elements from the earth's interior to surficial geologic layers and into the oceans by volcanic
and hydrothermal processes. Active "vent systems" also support specialized biological
communities that draw a significant part of their energy needs from geochemical fluxes.
Much more is known about kinematics of seafloor spreading than about plate mechanics, their
physical and chemical properties, or the forces acting to drive the plates. These questions plus
their geological, chemical, and biological effects remain unresolved because of a lack of
state-of-the-art observational data to test hypotheses and speculations. A major limitation is
the lack of knowledge of the internal structure of ridge systems and the spatial and temporal
scales of volcanic activity needed to constrain dynamic calculations.
The objective is to provide integrated geochemical and structural models defining spatial and
temporal scales of seafloor creation and evolution. Particular emphasis will be directed to
developing techniques for long-term monitoring of hydrothermal vent systems to quantify their
full geochemical cycle.
Some of the major questions to be addressed are:
¢ How does the ocean lithosphere respond mechanically to large surface loads, to
compression, to bending, to stretching? With an understanding of these factors, what can
we learn about deeper processes in the earth, such as mantle convection, by looking
through the "ocean lithospheric window?"
50
e What are the driving mechanisms for seafloor spreading? How does crustal accretion vary
with time? What are the local scales of accretion and tectonics in space and time? How are
volcanic processes coupled to hydrothermal circulation at midocean ridges? What are
the controlling factors on sulfide mineralization and the extent of deposits? What is the
variability and alteration of oceanic crust as it moves off-axis?
¢ What are the chemical and thermal properites of hydrothermal fluids from vents and what
is their role in the mineralization process? What is the contribution of vent fluxes to
chemical balance of the oceans? What chemical reactions occur? What is the relation
between fluids and biologic communities?
Answering these questions requires modern detailed survey capabilities (e.g., Seabeam,
Seamarc, Alvin) for expanded field programs to determine the history and scale of crustal
accretion ($IM in FY 1989, $2M in FY 1990, increasing to $6 in FY 1992). Research
submersibles must be used to mount integrated geological, chemical, and biological studies to
examine a spectrum of representative sites including high and low temperature fluids, seamount
localities, and sedimented and unsedimented regions. In situ instrumentation for long-term
monitoring of hydrothermal vents and crustal accretion must be developed and deployed ($2M
per year beginning in FY 1989).
These systems must include flow meters, chemical and thermal sensors, strain gauges, and ocean
floor seismometers. Improved techniques for multichannel seismics must be used in selected
areas to conduct experiments focused on determining thermo-mechanical properties of the
oceanic lithosphere under varying conditions of age, stress/strain, and thermal regimes ($IM in
FY 1989 and $2M/year from FY 1990 through FY 1996). For complete integration of spatial,
temporal, and in situ processes, crustal drilling by ODP on bare rock hydrothermal sites is
required. An appropriate set of instrumented holes would form a long-term natural laboratory.
The additional funding requested is essential if existing capabilities are to be upgraded. Use of
new multichannel seismic, side-scan sonar, Seabeam and submersible systems in integrated
studies of geochemical and mineralization processes requires new resources. Development and
implementation of in situ monitoring systems for geophysical, tectonic, chemical, volcanic, and
biological changes require support beyond that available within current support levels.
Application of these new suites of observational systems over the next ten years will lead to
greater understanding of these basic elements of the earth-ocean system.
2. Related Programs
Research being conducted under two other subinitiatives is important to the study of sediment
transport and fluxes, production and processes involved - the flux of organic materials to the
seafloor and the fate of biogenic materials. These programs are Open Ocean Fluxes and Coastal
Ocean Dynamics and Fluxes and funding requirements for these programs accompany their
program descriptions.
IV. Funding Requirements
Funding requirements for the marine geology and geophysics program, including the core
program, critical needs, and major new programs are presented in Table D in Section IV.
51
E. Ocean Drilling Program
1. Core Program
The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) is an international research program organized to explore
the structure and history of the earth beneath the ocean basins. The focus of ODP is to provide
core samples from the ocean basins, facilities for the study of these samples, and to provide
downhole measurements (logging) and experiments to determine in situ conditions within the
earth's crust.
The major scientific themes addressed by ocean drilling, identified in the first Conference on
Scientific Ocean Drilling (COSOD) report, include:
e Processes of magma generation and crustal construction at ridges. What is the character
and composition of the deep portion of the oceanic crust?
¢ Configuration, chemistry, and dynamics of hydrothermal systems. What are the
dimensions and characteristics of hydrothermal systems at ridge crests versus those on
ridge flanks? How does overlying sediment cover, or the lack of it, affect these
hydrothermal systems?
* Early rifting history of passive continental margins. What is the shallow and deep
structure of stretched and normal faulted margins versus those characterized by excessive
volcanism?
¢ Dynamics of forearc evolution. What are relative motion, deformation, and pore water
characteristics of sediments at accreting and erosional margins?
¢ Structure and volcanic history of island arcs. What are space and time relationships of
forearc subduction, accretion, and erosion; and of backarc spreading, compression, and
volcanism?
¢ Response of marine sedimentation to fluctuations in sea level. Which stratigraphic
sequences and intervenin unconformities represent fluctuations of sea level, and which
represent vertical tectonic motion? What is the response of deep-sea sedimentation to
fluctuations of sea level?
¢ Sedimentation in oxygen-deficient oceans. What are the ocean circulation, paleoclimate,
and potential hydrocarbon characteristics associated with black shale deposits?
¢ Global mass balancing of sediments. What are best estimates of the world sediment mass
and composition balances in space and time?
¢ History of ocean circulation. How do patterns of ocean circulation respond to changing
ocean boundaries, e.g., changing ocean size, the extent of shallow continental seas, and the
opening and closing of oceanic passages?
52
¢ Patterns of evolution of microorganisms. How has the process of evolutionary change
proceeded in marine organisms?
¢ History of the earth's magnetic field. What is the nature of the magnetic field during a
magnetic reversal? What is the detailed history of magnetic reversals and changes in the
intensity of the magnetic field?
A second COSOD meeting (COSOD II) to evaluate the progress of ODP to date and to make
recommendations for scientific and technological objectives in the 1990's is planned for
Strasbourg, France, in July 1987.
The ODP is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and by partners which
currently include Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom,
and the European Science Foundation representing thirteen Western European countries.
Support for general operation of the drillship JO/DES Resolution and related science services is
from comingled funds (U.S. plus international partner contributions) while direct support for
U.S. scientists to participate in precruise planning, sea-going operations, and postcruise
research is a national responsibility. The ODP is managed by Joint Oceanographic Institutions,
Inc. (JOl) as prime contractor to NSF.
The overall direction of the program is established by the Joint Oceanic Institutions for Deep
Earth Sampling (JOIDES) which provides planning and program advice with regard to scientific
goals and objectives, facilities, scientific personnel, and operating procedures. The JOIDES
Office provides support for the JOIDES Executive and Planning Committees and for the science
advisory structure in general.
Texas A&M University (TAMU) is the Science Operator for ODP and manages the operation of the
drillship, including the planning and implementation of cruises. The Lamont-Doherty Geological
Observatory (L.DGO) manages the wire line logging operations for obtaining measurements in the
drill holes. Sample and data banks are maintained by TAMU and LDGO for cores and downhole
measurement collected by ODP.
Research and planning activities that are directly related to specific drilling objectives or that
are required to meet broad-based U.S. research community needs (national needs) are
coordinated by the U.S. Science Advisory Committee (USSAC). These efforts include: (1)
planning activities, including U.S. participation on JOIDES panels and regional or topical
workshops; (2) recommendations for shipboard scientific participants, (3) syntheses of
existing topical and regional data to meet defined drilling objectives, (4) development
of downhole tools and instrumentation for general use in the drilling program, and (5) site
specific surveys for safety or unique siting requirements on defined drilling legs.
Regional geological and geophysical field studies required to develop drilling proposals and
specialized downhole geophysical or geochemical experiments are supported by the ODP Program
Office of NSF from unsolicited proposals. Based on the results of these studies, planning panels
solicit future drill sites. Individual studies address the major problems outlined by the Marine
Geology and Geophysics Program (i.e., Structure and Evolution of Continental Margins; Tectonics
53
and Stucture of Mid-Ocean Ridges and Basins; Geochemical Evolution of the Oceanic Crust;
Fluxes, Transport and Deposition of Marine Sediments; and the Geologic and Climatic History of
the Oceans). The ODP field programs build on and complement the marine geology and geophysics
field efforts and provide the data required for U.S. scientists to translate their research goals to
specific drilling objectives.
A number of different types of downhole studies are supported. These include the analysis and
interpretation of the data from the ODP shipboard logging program; development and operation of
instrumentation required for downhole experiments together with the analysis of the data; and
feasibility studies of new general use downhole instruments or techniques. The results of the
studies together with analyses of recovered geologic samples are crucial to converting the
drillhole work to solutions to the scientific questions and problems.
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
Borehole geochemical and geophysical measurements permit extrapolation of drillhole results
well beyond the sides of the wellbore. Experiments such as oblique seismic reflection sounding,
using a geophone clamped in the wellbore, give a picture of the regional lithology and structure
for several tens of kilometers. Downhole sampling of formation water, especially in holes which
penetrate the plumbing systems of hydrothermal regions, allows the measurement of the
material balances within the oceanic crust. Downhole measurements of physical properties
show the natural state of stress in the ocean floor and indicate the modes of response to that
stress by fracture and flow. These measurements require the development of expensive
instruments and their deployment in the drillhole. Because of the peculiar requirements for
deployment in the drillhole (narrow diameter, high pressure, high temperature, etc.) these
instruments must be substantially modified from more conventional instruments used in other
studies. The costs of this enhancement are expected to be $1.5M in FY 1989 increasing to
$2.1M by FY 1996.
Regional geological and geophysical field studies provide the fundamental information base for
the formulation of drilling proposals. The U.S. effort in regional studies supplies the bare
minimum of well-surveyed regions. The appropriate level is considerably higher. There should
be two well-studied regional drilling targets for each drilling leg to insure that the drillship is
used on the most important and interesting targets. The costs of these efforts are expected to be
$2M in FY 1989 with a 10% annual growth for the remaining life of the Ocean Drilling
Program. Approximately half of these funds will be expended on ship time and half on scientific
operations.
Critical needs and initiatives in other ocean science programs are important to ODP. In order to
ensure that samples are effectively used, ODP has a collaborating interest in the Marine Geology
and Geophysics Program (MGG) enhancement for ODP sample analyses. Similarly MGG efforts
in the Ocean Lithosphere Studies are important to ocean drilling objectives and represent
opportunities to collaborate with nondrilling investigators. The Open Ocean Fluxes program is
also important to ODP as it will demonstrate the relationship between the sedimentary record of
the environment and environmental parameters which paleoceanographers are attempting to
understand using ODP cores. These programs provide new insights into geological processes and
problems which will develop into new drilling targets for ODP. Exchange of ideas between
nondrilling and drilling science operates in both directions and benefits both.
54
The present capabilities of the drillship, while impressive, are limited. The ship is not able to
drill in any situation where uncontrollable flow might occur in the well bore. This limitation is
due to the lack of a riser and well control system. The drillship was chosen because of its ability
to support these systems, but they are not presently installed. The JOIDES planning structure
has begun to investigate scientific opportunities presented by the addition of a marine riser and
well control system. Initiation of engineering studies and equipment acquisition Is expected to
require $1.1M in FY 1989 and $2M in FY 1990. In FY 1991, shipyard and material
acquisition costs are estimated to be $10M. A riser drilling program starting In FY 1992 Is
expected to have an incremental cost over standard operations costs of $5M Initially increasing
to $6.2M by FY 1996. Because ODP costs are shared by the U.S. and the international partners,
the U.S.-appropriated funds required for this initiative are approximately 55% of the total or
$0.6M in FY 1989; $1.1M in FY 1990; $5.5M in FY 1991; and $2.8M in FY 1992, increasing
to $3.4M in FY 1996
lll. Funding Requirements
Summary budgets for international operations, core programs for science support, and areas of
critical need for future advances are included in Table E of Section IV.
55
F. Oceanographic Technology Programs
Long-range Planning
|. The Core Program
The field of ocean science research is undergoing rapid evolution and advances in all of its
component disciplines. In the past decade or so, our understanding of the seafloor and ocean
basin geology has been transformed by discovery of and advances in tectonic theory. The
discovery of unique vent communities at great depths has altered views and insights about
deep-sea biology and has revolutionized studies concerning aspects of cell physiology and other
biological phenomena. Our understanding of macro- and mesoscale ocean circulation processes
has advanced to such a level that global perspectives can finally be developed, and our
understanding of oceanic chemical fluxes and reaction mechanisms is providing new tracers for
biological and biochemical processes.
Advanced technology plays an important role in contributing to the productivity and maturation
of the ocean sciences. Introduction of critical new technologies to the field is a common theme in
the study of global change and is central to the Global Ocean and Lithosphere initiatives. The core
research programs and their enhancements need continued and expanded progress in
instrumentation, facilities, data management, and new observing systems. The ocean sciences
are at a point where new technologies must provide critically needed tools and techniques for the
ocean science research programs to develop comprehensive understanding of global change.
The multidisciplinary core program in oceanographic technology provides technical services,
instrumentation, and facilities support to the ocean sciences. It is organized around two
elements - oceanographic instrumentation and shipboard technical support.
A. Oceanographic Instrumentation Program
This core program provides support to institutions for the acquisition of shared-use scientific
instrumentation to be placed in an equipment pool available to all users of the facility, be it a
research vessel or shore based laboratory. Overall research support capability of the
institution and its ability to make effective use of the requested instrumentation for conduct
ing a number of NSF-sponsored research projects are main criteria for program support.
Instrumentation acquired under this program may vary greatly; new capabilities for meeting
research requirements have recently included acoustic doppler current profilers, seismic
reflection systems, image analysis systems, and advanced shipboard computers.
B. Shipboard Technician Support
This core program provides technical assistance to users of the academic research vessel fleet.
It includes at-sea maintenance and repair of shared-use scientific equipment, liaison between
scientific staff and ship's crew, and shore-based maintenance, calibration, and scheduling of
equipment. Because there is increasing collaborative and cooperative use of research vessels, an
important role for the program is to provide guidance and assistance to visiting investigators
from outside the ship-operating institution.
56
Management of this support program entails close interaction with the Ship Operations Program
in following the numerous iterations of the research vessel operating schedules. Interactions
with the technical support managers at the various institutions is also required to insure some
uniformity among the services provided on different vessels. Interaction with the science
support programs and the individual ship users is also required to evaluate and monitor the
effectiveness of services provided.
As the technical sophistication and complexity of sea-going systems increase, the requirements
for technical support centers are also increasing. More and larger institutional centers are
projected as part of the new Global Ocean and Lithosphere Studies initiatives.
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
The most important of the critical needs under this program are in the areas of in situ and
intelligent ocean sampling systems.
A. In Situ Measurement Systems. Despite the fact that ship and manpower costs will
continue to increase, ocean science can broaden the scope of data acquisition without major
increases in costs if more effective measurement systems can be developed. Autonomous
vehicles may be one solution; others include fast response profilers; large, highly instrumented
towed arrays to increase the data acquired per ship-hour; and expendable instruments that may
be deployed from ship or aircraft and telemeter data to central locations. As the trend in ocean
measurements continues from small-scale, short-term to large-scale and long-term, better
sensors will be necessary. Although diverse sensors exist, many require substantial power and
are very delicate. If the requirement for long-term, unattended measurement is to be met,
research must be directed towards improving existing sensors and the development of entirely
new sensors and sensor systems with an emphasis on low power, high stability, robustness and
reliability. Funding of $1.5M in FY 1989 growing to $3.1M in FY 1996 is required for this
effort.
B. Intelligent systems. Research in the field of "knowledge-based computing" has now
evolved to the state that it is feasible to apply some fundamental artificial intelligence (Al)
concepts to problems of ocean science. One can now consider programming "judgement" into
instrument and vehicle systems. There is a need to establish a development effort for applying
knowledge-based computing to ocean research.
Current trends in ocean science require placing data acquisition systems in the ocean,
unattended, for long periods of time. An Al control system designed to handle a wide range of
unanticipated transient or steady state events could improve the quality of the data gathered. It
could control sampling rates, dynamic range, parameters measured, sensitivity of
measurement, etc. as well as handle any reliability problems associated with sensor or
equipment failure. The data system could be designed to behave as if the best of human experts
were onsite controlling the experiment. The addition of symbolic line-of-reasoning
methodologies to well developed mathematical techniques could provide new concepts for
instrumentation and measurement.
57
Remotely operated and robotic vehicles are candidates for ocean surveys, such as bathymetry and
photo surveys, and the measurement of specific parameters in time and space. The robotic
vehicle, almost by definition, will need the high degree of decision making capability that
research submersibles now have in pilots and scientists. They could be capable of extended
submerged operations following launch from shore or ship to home on any desired target. The
same logic can apply equally to surface platforms. An unmanned surface platform would require
the ability to make decisions about its environment as well as its current performance. It must
be able to contend with a wide variety of circumstances during a long unattended term, and it
must have the ability to manage and plan the function of its instruments in
response to a changing environment.
Funds required to meet these needs are $2M in FY 1989 with an approximate doubling of this
effort by FY 1996 ($3.8M).
Ill. Oceanographic Technology Component of the Global Program
A pilot program in oceanographic technology development was initiated several years ago. It
demonstrated that this component is essential to overall productivity of the ocean sciences, and it
is a key component of the global program. During the next decade, continued advances in ocean
sciences will be significantly influenced by introductions and further developments in at least
four major technologies: satellite-based remote observing systems, ocean sample collecting
systems, new ocean structures, and supercomputers. With the enhancements requested, these
technologies will help meet the requirements of the major new global-scale ocean sciences
initiatives.
A. Remote Measurements: The prospect of synoptic measurements on global scales from
satellite altimeters, scatterometers, and microwave radars has excited the ocean science
community for some time. The Long-Range Plan for the Ocean Sciences depends upon an effective
and "easy to access" program with satellites, such as NROSS and TOPEX. While much of the
costly technology for satellites is appropriately being developed under the aegis of NASA, it is
unlikely that NASA will develop technology to support the needs of effective networking,
processing, and analysis of oceanographic data. Funds to meet these needs are included in the
Global Ocean Studies initiatives.
In addition to satellite measurements, but equally important, are remote measurements using
techniques such as optic and acoustic sensors, autonomous vehicles, and deep ocean observing
networks. Engineering and technical requirements of these systems for basic research purposes
will fall entirely upon the ocean community.
B. Sample Collecting Systems: In situ measurements of many ocean properties are
possible and highly desirable, but there are many others that require laboratory analysis of
samples collected at sea. Samples are required, not only to verify and calibrate remotely
obtained in situ measurements, but also to describe features being studied. Many water,
particulate, and biological sampling systems now in use must be operated blind, towed over
poorly defined areas at the ends of long cables. Sampling systems that can better sense their
environment and be selectively controlled for appropriate time and space scales need to be
developed. Such systems could be tethered to ships by cable or integrated into autonomous
vehicles or moored arrays.
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C. Ocean Structures: Ability for long-term emplacement of instruments on the seafloor or
tethering to the bottom by an anchor is increasingly needed by many ocean programs. Bottom
landers are growing larger and more complex. There are still many areas of the deep ocean
where mounting of such devices is impossible or risky because of high energy conditions in the
near bottom and strong shears within the water column. New materials and ideas need to be
developed and tested so that future ocean science programs may have reliable and long-lasting
structures for mounting experiments, such as those required for the hydrothermal vents
program in the Ocean Lithosphere initiative.
D. Supercomputers: Ocean science investigators are increasingly accessing modern
supercomputers. The FY 1985 NSF initiative to establish an ocean modeling facility at NCAR and
to provide broad-band communications links is a vital first step. The field of Geophysical Fluid
Dynamics (GFD) has made signal contributions to modeling and prediction of atmospheric
behavior. Major inroads into critical issues concerning ocean circulation will similarly be
made with the advent of new supercomputer capabilities. They will profoundly influence
interactions between theory and observation in ocean physics. In this plan it is assumed that the
supercomputing capability for ocean sciences will continue to expand as modeling needs of all of
the sub-disciplines grow. Management in OCE will remain with the disciplinary programs, but
Ocean Technology will continue to support basic hardware and communications equipment
acquisition.
It is increasingly apparent that ocean science investigations are highly dependent upon the
availability of sophisticated and appropriate technology. To the future needs, outlined above, can
be added the increasing need to access, on a broader scale, the remotest parts of the vast reaches
of the ocean. Data gaps in such locations as the polar oceans, the Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans, and deep ocean basins and trenches increasingly impede formulation of
large-scale theories of ocean and earth phenomena. Cost-effective technology to access and
sample these regions is lacking. Research and development focusing on expendable systems,
air-launched systems, remote sensing systems, and intelligent mobile systems could help to
meet research initiatives and enhancements discussed in the Long-Range Plan.
IV. Funding Requirements
Major growth in this program area is recommended as an essential part of the new global
program. Support for advanced technology and systems is directly coupled to specific initiatives
under this program. A summary budget for the core programs, areas of critical need, and the
global studies is included in Table F of Section IV.
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G. Ship Operations, Shipboard Scientific Equipment
and Ship Construction/Conversion
Long-Range Planning
I. The Core Program
The U.S. academic research fleet is supported through a joint effort of several Federal agencies.
The National Science Foundation is the key agency among these and conducts a comprehensive
program for support of ship operations, development and acquisition of shipboard scientific
equipment, and ship construction/conversion.
The Ship Operations Program provides funds for operation and maintenance of research vessels
used in support of NSF-funded scientists. Ship Operations support includes: crew and marine
staff salaries; maintenance, overhaul, and repair; insurance; direct operating costs such as fuel,
food, supplies, and pilot fees; shore facilities costs directly related to ship operation; and
indirect costs. Ship Operations is an integral part of the core program. It supplies support for
operation and maintenance of platforms essential to ocean-going research. NSF supports each
year about 170 science projects requiring about 3,700 days at sea and about 40,000 scientist
days on 25 ships. As a result, NSF supports about 70% of the total operating costs of the U.S.
academic fleet.
A modern and efficiently operated academic fleet is essential to field programs in the ocean
sciences, both for the core ocean science programs and for the global program. This plan
outlines the requirements for NSF to take the lead in equipping and assuring effective operation
of the academic fleet. The plan identifies the NSF role in upgrading and modernizing a research
fleet largely built during the 1960's and now requiring extended operational and scientific
capabilities. This plan is based on a careful evaluation of this fleet, done with assistance from
UNOLS and the National Academy of Sciences.
ll. Critical Needs of the Core Program
The U.S. academic fleet has been the cornerstone of productivity in the ocean sciences. There are
critical needs that require appropriate budget augmentations to maintain an effective and
scientifically viable field science program in the ocean sciences. Two priority areas of the core
program require special attention: (1)shipboard scientific equipment and (2)upgrading and
modernization of the academic fleet.
A. Shipboard Scientific Equipment
The Shipboard Scientific Equipment Program provides funds for ship equipment deemed
essential to proper and safe conduct of ocean science research. This Program provides support
for such items as deck equipment, including winch systems for deployment and retrieval of
scientific instruments; navigational equipment, such as radars, gyroscopes, and earth satellite
receivers to pinpoint the locations of research sites; communications equipment, including
radio and satellite transceivers for voice and scientific data communications; and other
equipment, such as motorized workboats for transporting scientists to and from their
operations.
60
In recent years, the Shipboard Scientific Equipment Program has been responsible for
significant improvements in the ability of academic fleet vessels to support research. Improved
communications and navigation technology (such as INMARSAT and GPS, respectively) is being
added to the fleet. Special emphasis has been placed on upgrading deck equipment (such as CTD
winches and cranes) to handle the larger and increasingly massive instruments (such as rosette
samplers and MOCNESS nets) which have come into wide use. This Program will continue these
efforts in the near future and will coordinate them with modernization of onboard science
laboratories and automation of data collection and analysis systems. Funding of $0.5M in
FY1989 increasing to $1.7M in FY1996 is required for this effort.
B. Upgrading and Modernization of the Academic Fleet
In 1970, almost 70% of the academic research fleet was composed of ships which had been
converted to research vessels. By 1985, this percentage had been reduced to less than 20% by
replacing older converted ships with ships designed from the keel up as research vessels. The
Ship Construction/Conversion Program provides funds for new ship construction; for
conversion of ships to research vessels, when appropriate; and for refitting existing research
vessels.
Since 1970, the National Science Foundation has funded construction of seven new research
vessels -- Calanus, Iselin, Oceanus, Wecoma, Endeavor, Point Sur, and Cape Hatteras.
Occasionally, it remains economically advantageous to replace an obsolete vessel with a
conversion. A recent example was the NSF-supported conversion of an offshore supply vessel to
become the R/V Sproul, replacing the aging R/V Scripps. Recent refittings have included the
Alpha Helix (a new pilot house and modernized laboratories); the /selin (interior spaces); and
the Cape Henlopen and the Warfield (engine improvements). Funds required to meet these needs
are $2.2 M in FY1989 with an increase to $3.1M by FY1996.
lll. Research Vessels as Components of the Global Program
The capabilities of the existing research fleet must be substantially improved during the next
decade if forefront ocean science research is to be successfully pursued. The ships of the
research fleet have been and will continue to be essential to this pursuit. However, present
demands of science require new, more capable research ships to replace aging existing ships,
especially the largest ones. All reviews of the academic research fleet demonstrate that by the
1990's most present ships will be obsolete in terms of their capability to support the growing
requirements of modern sea-going ocean science research. Better sea-keeping ability, higher
performance, improved over-the-side handling arrangements, and modern, state-of-the-art
shipboard laboratories are needed to meet these requirements.
The trends and patterns of the basic ocean science disciplines demonstrate the critical nature of
the needs for substantially improved ocean-going, more science-capable vessels and platforms.
61
Ship and Science Requirements
The following summary of trends of future research is abstracted from a UNOLS report. The
primary source documents for the research trends were the 1982 Report of the NAS Ocean
Sciences Board, Academic Research Vessels 1985-1990, and the 1985 NSF/OCE Long-Range
Plan for Ocean Sciences, Emergence of a Unified Ocean Science.
A. Physical Oceanography. Physical oceanography involves the study of mean and eddy
fluxes of energy, heat, freshwater, chemicals, and gases horizontally and vertically throughout
the oceans and exchanges at the ocean boundaries. In the coming decade, ships will remain the
primary method of observing the oceans at high resolution by deploying, and, in some cases,
recovering nontethered instruments. As research progresses, the instrumentation must become
more sophisticated; this calls for state-of-the-art technology in cranes and winches,
ship-to-shore communications, and shipboard computers.
A few decades ago, it was standard practice to infer ocean motions and mixing from limited
measurements of water temperature, salinity, and perhaps oxygen and nutrient content. Today,
physical oceanographers are using a variety of new and developing instrumental techniques
(floats, moored arrays, acoustics) for direct measurements over an increasing spectrum of time
and space scales. Coupled to this are water column measurements which are expanding greatly in
density and type, including the use of stable and unstable isotopes and natural and man-made
tracers. These expanding and diversifying measurement requirements point clearly to the need
for larger ships with more laboratory, deck, and berthing space; increased shipboard data
acquisition, processing, and analysis capabilities; better equipped and cleaner laboratories; and
larger complements of scientists and technicians.
Physical oceanographic research complements chemical and biological studies. As the need
increases for more interdisciplinary field work, so will the heavy demand for more laboratory
space.
B. Chemical Oceanography. Future chemical oceanographic programs may be considered
under the broad categories of tracers of ocean processes, exchange and fluxes, and reaction
mechanisms.
Recent advances in laboratory analytical techniques enable a look at increasingly more stable
trace elements and organic species that offer exciting possibilities as tracers of biological and
biochemical processes. Oceanic distributions of many of these species are still largely unknown.
An important aspect of these studies is the need for high density sampling and analyses in
selected horizontal and vertical profiles. Many measurements are aliased because sampling
frequency has been too sparse to represent the natural variability. The development of profiling
tools and automated analytical techniques will be required for these studies.
Distribution of chemicals in the ocean is central to understanding fluxes that are taking place at
important ocean boundary regions and within the ocean's interior. The ability to assess the
climatic record or implications of pollutant dispersion is dependent on a knowledge of materials
exchanged at the air-sea interface. This calls for sampling locations uncontaminated by the
vessel or nearby environment.
62
Another aspect involves chemical fluxes at the seafloor boundary. Understanding of
seawater-crustal interactions has been greatly enchanced by the recent study of fluids issuing
from hydrothermal vents in midocean ridge areas. Analyses of these fluids provide important
information on the chemical compositions of exchanges between the fluid oceans and the solid
earth underlying them.
These studies require various experimental and sampling strategies, including in situ pumping
and filtering, sediment trap deployment, in situ experiments on the ocean floor, and time-series
sampling systems.
Marine chemists in the 1990's will need to perform chemical measurements and sampling with
greater resolution in space and time than is now possible. They will give more attention to
short-lived, unstable, chemical species responsible for chemical dynamics in the ocean. They
must be able to perform real-time chemical analyses at sea and conduct more experimental
studies at sea. A great deal of chemical oceanography has used ships as sampling platforms and
returned the samples to shore laboratories for analysis. However, important investigations of
chemical speciation and transient chemicals frequently can not be accomplished on stored
samples. Future marine chemical studies will require analytical and experimental facilities at
sea that equal those on land.
C. Marine Geology and Geophysics. Marine geoscience in the next decade will focus on:
¢ Close-up investigations of seafloor features with 3-D imaging, detailed measurements and
sampling with manned submersibles, deeply-towed vehicles, and remote deep-swimming
devices; and
¢ More powerful geophysical techniques for imaging the deep structure of the oceanic crust,
margins, and lithosphere.
This research will require use of research vessels designed specifically for studying seafloor
geology. The specialized instrument systems and activities that most profoundly influence the
designs are:
e Large array multichannel seismic system: requires rigging for handling large air gun
arrays and large, reinforced deck space aft to accommodate a 20-ton, 8-foot
high, 15-foot wide streamer reel. The ability to tow multiple air gun arrays and/or
streamers over a 50 to 100 meter thwartship span is important. The air guns require a
minimum of four large capacity compressors that can develop pressures of >2,500 psi.
¢ Deeply-towed acoustic imaging system: requires a winch capable of handling 25,000 feet
of electro-mechanical cable.
¢ Multibeam bathymetry: requires a "quiet" hull, sufficient beam to carry the
hull-mounted hydrophone arrays, and, for some applications, a relatively high cruise
speed (15 knots).
¢ Submersible: One or more of the geological ships should be able to carry and launch a
manned deep submersible (e.g., Alvin).
63
¢ General station work: Launching dredges, cores, and instruments requires over-the-side
frames and plenty of working deck space and clearance. Certain applications, such as
bore-hole reentry, will require dynamic positioning.
D. Biological Oceanography. Biological oceanographic research in the next decade will
focus on defining the structure and processes of ecosystems on scales ranging from the
microenvironment of an individual to basinwide biogeographic distributions of populations and
communities. Emphasis will be on filling major voids in the knowledge of particular ocean
regions and of important dynamical processes which, until now, have been difficult to approach
because of inadequate ships, equipment, or techniques.
Among these future study areas are: impact of mesoscale physical processes on biotic structure
and dynamics and its seasonal varibility; high resolution, long time-series studies of upper
ocean biological dynamics in a given hydrographic province and its interannual variability;
deep-sea studies of resident fauna; and nutrient and particulate fluxes into and out of surface
waters.
The current trend of using microprocessor-automated equipment, expendable probes, and
remote sensors (satellites, moorings, drifters) will accelerate. There will be an even greater
need for clean, dry, stable spaces on ships for sophisticated analytical laboratory equipment.
Work on board ships will be increasingly multidisciplinary and labor intensive, giving rise to a
need for more laboratory and living accommodations for scientists and technicians.
E. Ocean Engineering. Academic activities in ocean engineering in the coming decade are
expected to fall into three categories:
¢ Engineering to enhance ocean science;
¢ Environmental studies to guide use of the oceans and to establish factors which control
design of systems; and
¢ Exploratory development of systems, devices, structures, and vehicles needed to use the
ocean effectively.
Development of engineering understanding requires ability to carry or to tow large devices to
sea, deploy moorings and arrays of sensors, and make detailed observations both in the water
column and on the seafloor. Some work may require special vehicles (e.g., manned spar buoy
laboratories) but much should be done from well-designed large general purpose research
ships, presuming they have the necessary handling gear, load carrying, and station keeping
capabilities.
64
IV. Funding and Operations Requirements
The preceding discussion leads directly to insight into requirements for ships of the future. We
must have a mix which will include the ability to work far from normal operating bases, will
accommodate large scientific parties for multidisciplinary work on site with collected
materials, will support deep diving submersibles and unmanned seafloor work systems, and can
support acoustic systems ranging from multichannel seismic to doppler profiling current
meters.
In recognition of these needs, UNOLS, with NSF and Navy support, examined the developing
science mission requirements for new oceanographic ships and provided a plan for research
vessel replacement and construction (UNOLS Fleet Replacement Committee Report, 1986).
Conceptual designs of large ships to meet the research requirements of the next 20 to 30 years
are included in that report. Table G.1 is a summary of the required construction schedule.
TABLE G.1
SHIP CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
Time Frame Large Intermediate mall
1985-1989 1 GP
1 GP+MCS
Modernize 2*
1990-1994 1 GP+MCS 1 GP+lce
1 GP+lIce
1995-1999 2 GP 1 GP
2000-2004 1 GP+Sub 1 GP 2 GP
2005-2009 1 GP 3 GP
2010-2014 2 GP* 2GP
Total 8 6 6
* R/V MELVILLE and R/V KNORR
GP = General purpose oceanographic research vessel
MCS = Compressors for multichannel seismics capability
Ice = Hull strengthened for ice capability
Sub = Submersible handling capability
65
New large ships will be much more capable than their predecessors. They will be longer and
wider. They will carry more scientists and have more laboratory space and scientific storage.
They will be faster, with more efficient power plants and hulls, and their range and endurance
will be longer. They will cost less to operate and significantly less per scientist day. Most
importantly, they will allow scientific work in sea conditions that are beyond the capabilities of
the present fleet. Table G.2 compares the present large-ship fleet with the new ships
recommended in the UNOLS Report.
TABLE G.2
THE AVERAGE LARGE SHIP
Present Future % Change
Number in Fleet Uf 8 +14
Length Overall (ft.) 220 255 +14
Beam (ft.) 41 56 +37
Displacement (tons) 1,730 3,000 +73
Speed (knots) 10 15 +50
Range (nautical miles) 10,000 13,000 +30
Endurance (days) 40 53 +39
Crew 23 18 -22
Scientists 23 28 (43w/vans) +22(+87)
Lab Space (sq.ft.) 1,300 4,000 +310
Deck Space (sq.ft.) 2,000 5,000 +250
Sci. Storage (cu.ft.) 4,200 16,250 +387
Days At Sea 270 270 0
Operational Cost ($M) $2.8 $2.6 * -7
Daily Rate $10,370 $9,630 -7
Scientist Days ** 43,470 75,600 +174
Cost/Scientist Day $450 $275 -39
* Assumptions: Constant Dollars;
Crew decreases by 22 %;
Fuel decreases by 15 % (efficient engines and hull);
Supplies increase by 20 % (in proportion to people); and
Other costs remain unchanged.
. 23 Scientists per day now; 35 in the future.
Six of the seven large ships in the present academic fleet were built and are owned by the U.S.
Navy - Conrad , Thompson, Washington, Knorr, Melville, and Moana Wave. Present Navy plans
for the late 1980's call for construction of two new large ships for academic research plus
modernization of the Knorr and Melville. \f realized, these plans should meet the UNOLS
construction schedule for 1985-1989 and provide the research platforms needed for the late
1980's as the Global Ocean Studies and Ocean Lithosphere Studies initiatives are ramping up. The
Navy has no plans for additional construction of academic research vessels beyond 1990.
66
The complementary NSF plan calls for engineering designs leading to construction of two large
ships plus a smaller, ice-strengthened ship in the period 1990-94. The combination of Navy and
NSF plans will result in construction of one small, ice-capable and four large ships between 1988
and 1995, and modernization of two others.
The UNOLS report provides estimates for new ship construction costs. This is summarized in
Figure G.1 which shows that $98M in inflated dollars will be needed for the three NSF-planned
ships in the 1990-94 time period. An additional $50M will be required in 1995-96 to address
the late 1990's requirements to continue with a fully capable modern fleet. These funds will
support two additional smaller ships for delivery in 1996 and 1997. Specific planning for these
needs has not yet been completed. The UNOLS Fleet Improvement Committee will begin to examine
these needs in 1987.
To meet the 1990's requirements for fully implemented Global Ocean and Lithosphere programs,
the core academic fleet must be augmented with additional ships beyond the identified Navy and NSF
replacement and modernization plans. The existing academic research fleet evolved to its present
size based upon core program requirements. The existing research ships, coupled with the more
capable and effective new construction/replacement ships, can absorb some of the increased field
program requirements but clearly cannot meet all of them.
Analysis of the "at sea" science requirements in the 1990's (Table G.3) shows a shortfall of
available research ship time, including the new construction, of 2.5 ship-years in 1989
increasing to 8.5 ship-years by 1991 and remaining at about 10.0 ship-years of time to 1996.
Several complementary activities and programs are planned to provide the facilities needed by
these science programs. These include consideration of:
¢ Use of long-term commercial charters for multichannel seismic capabilities needed by the
Ocean Lithosphere Studies;
e Increased use of research ships provided by international partners/collaborators in
Global Ocean Studies;
* Incorporation of new institution-owned research ships in the core academic fleet;
e Development of cooperative-use arrangements with other Federal agencies which operate
research ships; and
¢ Additional commercial charters for specific science project needs on a short-term basis.
67
Summary Table G.3 For Science Requirements
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991
Ship and Equipment Funds 27.2 29.4 28.1
Ship Years Needed 15.2 16.5 15.7
Ship Years Available 19 20 20
Surplus/Shortfall in Ship Years 3.8 3.5 4.3
1992
31.2 37.6 50.6 62.6 74.7 86.1
19 23.5 27.8 31.5 34.2
20 «(21 22 23 24
1 -2.5
-5.8 -8.5 -10.2
1993
94.7
35.2
24
“11.2
1994
103.2
35.6
25
-10.6
1995
110.8
35.2
25
-10.2
1996
119
34.6
26
-8.6
In summary, to meet long-term oceanographic science needs, it is essential to implement during
the 1990's a balanced program of new research ship construction and expanded international,
interagency, institutional, and commercial charter arrangements. Funding requirements are
presented in Table G of Section IV.
68
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