International Decade Of Ocean Exploration Research Articles

IUGG Quadrennial Report Overviews: Chemical Oceanography 1979–1982

The last four years have brought exciting advances in oceanography within the United States. The traditional research approach of a modest program built around a single investigator was supplemented during the International Decade of Ocean Exploration in the United States by a series of large‐scale cooperative programs involving many investigators, often from a multitude of institutions. Continuing with this approach has allowed us to attack otherwise intractable problems. The broad range in program scales, from small to rather large, utilizes both individual creativity and the synergism of many observations focused on a single process; it continues to produce rich returns.

Marine chemistry and paleoceanography in the United States — 1978–1982 — An overview

The last four years have brought exciting advances in oceanography within the U.S. The traditional research approach of a modest program built around a single investigator was supplemented during the International Decade of Ocean Exploration in the United States by a series of large‐scale cooperative programs involving many investigators, often from a multitude of institutions. Continuing with this approach has allowed us to attack otherwise intractable problems. The broad range in program scales, from small to rather large, utilizes both individual creativity and the synergism of many observations focused on a single process; it continues to produce rich returns.

The manganese nodule program

The Manganese Nodule Program (MANOP) began in 1977 with funding from the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE). It replaced an earlier IDOE program that was started in 1972 in part by Maurice Ewing. MANOP's view is that the composition and occurrence of nodules can be best understood in the context of the large variations in the rain rate of organic matter to the deep‐sea floor and the variable sedimentary geochemistry of their environment. Therefore, from the beginning much of MANOP's effort has been directed toward understanding the cycling of the biologically active elements—02, C, nutrients, and trace metals—in the deep sea; in fact, this aspect has itself become a primary goal of our work.

The coastal upwelling ecosystems analysis program as an experience in international cooperation

Abstract The Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems Analysis CUEA) Project, the major effort in the Living Resources part of the United States Program for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE), included a variety of approaches to international involvement. Escalating cost, expanded geographical scope, and increasing insistence on coastal state participation in research projects off foreign shores heighten the likelihood that similar large‐scale, long‐term research efforts will require particular attention to international cooperation and collaboration. A look at the international aspects of CUEA is timely and instructive. This discussion reviews the background to the upwelling project, the nature of international involvement, and closes with some observations about the requirements for similar projects in the future.

IDOE is past

For the 1970's, the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) began as a legislative, foreign policy, and geopolitical undertaking. It ended short of its goals. E. Wenk, Jr., is quoted as saying‘… IDOE…failed to head off international conflict over intensified use of the sea by using collaborative exploration as a new and untainted means to achieve world comity’ (Oceanus, 23, 2–11,1980). The vehicle was oceanographic research; the tool was the oceanographic community.The goal of easing international tensions may not have been met, but the scientists involved appear to have met theirs, judging from the level of participation and the extent of scientific advances. Table 1 lists the ′70's decade activity. A survey of 800 marine scientists, affiliated with academic and research institutions throughout the United States, indicated that, for the most part, the quality of marine science supported by the federal government during IDOE was high (Figure 1).

In depth study

'Some float with the mean flow, others appear to travel upstream, some are shallow, some are deep and others penetrate the entire water column.' That is how Curtis Collins, programme manager of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration described the ocean eddies which this US National Science Foundation agency has recently been studying (Science 1979 205 571).

Review of marine geochemistry

The past four years have seen exciting progress in several areas in marine geochemistry and significant advances in many others. The U.S. program continues to benefit from a diversity of research‐sponsoring agencies and has drawn particular strength from the blend of large‐scale programs and small‐scale research efforts. Several of the large‐scale programs under the International Decade of Ocean Exploration are now bearing rich fruit. The data derived from the GEOSECS program have been particularly valuable; Coastal Upwelling (CUEA) and Manganese Nodule (MANOPS) programs are producing significant gains in our studies of the chemistry of the ocean.

Program news: The international decade of ocean exploration... and beyond

Program news: The international decade of ocean exploration... and beyond

Planning the future of the international decade of ocean exploration

The United States programme for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) will end as scheduled in 1980. Plans are now underway to design the ocean research programme that will follow the IDOE. The goal will be to identify promising directions for marine research, their potential contributions to national ocean interests over the next five to ten years, and the management approach most appropriate for carrying out these programmes.

Planning the future of the IDOE

The U.S. program for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) will end as scheduled in 1980. Plans are now under way to design the ocean research program that will follow the IDOE. The goal will be to identify promising directions for marine research, their potential contributions to national ocean interests over the next 5–10 years, and the management approach most appropriate for carrying out these programs.

Metallogenesis in the southeastern Pacific: A progress report on the IDOE Nazca Plate project

Under the auspices of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration, scientists from Oregon State University and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, along with representatives from the several South American countries which border the Nazca Plate, are intensively studying the origin and economic importance of metalliferous sediments which form extensive deposits on and near the East Pacific Rise. The sediments, enriched in iron, manganese, copper, nickel, zinc, silver, molybdenum, and lead are mineralogically and chemically similar to deposits cored by the “Glomar Challenger”, implying a common origin. The metalliferous sediments are especially abundant in an extensive basin, the Bauer Deep, which occurs about 800 km east of the East Pacific Rise. Elemental and isotopic data, supported by geologic information provided by cores and by geophysical instrumentation, suggest that the enriched elements in the sediments originate by the interplay of volcanism and sea water, by precipitation from sea water alone, and perhaps by the influence of deep-ocean physical processes acting on detritus transported from the continents or from the basaltic East Pacific Rise. An additional objective of the project is to define the possible relationship between marine metalliferous sediments of the plate to ore deposits of the Andean Cordillera. As pointed out by several writers, much of the earth's economic mineralization occurs along zones of convergence between subducted oceanic crust, including metalliferous sediments if present, and continental margins. Field and geochemical techniques are being applied to determine if sediments are in fact subducted beneath the Andean margin, and if they are remobilized into the continental ore deposits of the Andes. Isotopic tracers may prove most useful in testing this relation. Before the model can be tested rigorously, one must know not only the important chemical parameters of the ocean sediment that may be subducted, but also those of the pertinent rock and ore bodies of the South American Cordillera.

International approach to the marine pollution problem

Attempts at international control of marine pollution commenced as early as 1926 in a proposal to limit oil pollution in the sea by a convention which failed to be ratified. The first successful Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil was adopted in 1954 and amended in 1962. An attempt will be made to expand the terms of this Convention at a Conference on Marine Pollution to be convened by the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization in October 1973. It is planned to include other noxious substances than oil carried by ships, as well as ship-generated garbage and sewage. The Convention on the Dumping of Wastes at Sea, adopted in London on November 13, 1972, will be responsible for the control of marine pollution arising from dumping wastes at sea, where certain substances are prohibited from being dumped and others can only be dumped under close supervision. The International Law of the Sea Conference to be convened in Santiago, Chile, during April 1974, will attempt to introduce international control over other forms of marine pollution by legislative action. There are various inter-governmental bodies dealing with the scientific aspects of marine pollution, including the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Meteorological Organization. These bodies, along with others, formed the IMCO/FAO/UNESCO/WMO/WHO/IAEA/UN Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution, which met for the first time in March 1969, and annually since then, to deal with scientific matters pertaining to marine pollution. The International Coordination Group on the Global Investigation of Pollution in the Marine Environment of the IOC met for the first time in April 1973 to coordinate a global approach to studying the marine pollution problem. Under the Integrated Global Ocean Station System, a pilot project, to monitor oil pollution in the North Atlantic and contiguous seas, has been initiated. There are a number of regional programs which might be incorporated into a global monitoring program, such as the North Sea and Baltic projects, coordinated under the International Council for Exploration of the Sea. National programs under the International Decade of Ocean Exploration will also be candidates for inclusion in global pollution studies. In addition, a number of non-governmental bodies such as the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and Scientific Committee on Problems of Environment of the International Council of Scientific Unions are addressing themselves to scientific issues of marine pollution. The solution of global problems of marine pollution can only be achieved through international legislative action combined with strong backing by scientific research and monitoring. Many national programs will have to be coordinated by an international mechanism probably under the aegis of IOC. In the final analysis, the problem of global pollution can only be solved by cooperation of states with control of pollution nationally first and then internationally second.

Eastern Atlantic Continental Margin: Some Results of the 1972 Cruise of the R.V. Atlantis II

A geophysical survey of the southeastern Atlantic Ocean has been made as one of the programs of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration. A large ancient delta of the Orange River and a diapiric field off Angola were mapped. Both features were initiated during early stages of the separation of Africa and South America, and both may be potential sources of oil.

Scientists finds DDT and other pollutants in Atlantic plants and animals

Scientists have found concentrations of DDT in most specimens, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in practically all specimens of plants and animals they collected on extensive cruises throughout the Atlantic Ocean.The cruises, by vessels of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, were part of the continuing United States program for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration. Scientists aboard the vessels were conducting projects designed to obtain baseline data for the study of marine pollution as part of the Environmental Quality Program of the IDOE.

New oceanic research projects

Fifteen oceanic research projects aimed at improving marine environmental prediction and at expanding knowledge of the seabed and its resources are being financed by a $3.35 million grant from the National Science Foundation.The projects, to be conducted by a number of units of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are part of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE).

NSF launches major ocean study

The first awards in support of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration were recently announced by William D. McElroy, Director of the National Science Foundation. The awards, totaling $3 million, will fund a project to provide information about levels of pollutants and of fission and waste products in the sea, oceanic mixing, and the production of organic matter in the oceans.Called GEOSECS, (Geochemical Ocean Sections Study) the project is the first major research effort in the IDOE, a multi‐nation investigation of oceanic problems that affect man.

An Oceanic Quest: The International Decade of Ocean Exploration

An Oceanic Quest: The International Decade of Ocean Exploration

New NSF programs

The National Science Foundation has outlined two new programs, the International Decade of Ocean Exploration and The Arctic Research Program, for which it will have lead agency responsibilities. Plans were revealed by T. O. Jones, Acting Deputy Assistant Director for national and international programs, in testimony presented to the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development, Committee on Science and Astronautics, House of Representatives. NSF is requesting $15 million for IDOE and $2 million for the Arctic Research Program in fiscal year 1971.Jones pointed out that the goals of IDOE are directed toward practical problems that affect man, and that the first year's efforts will be concentrated factors that will help man predict modifications in the oceans, whether caused by nature or by man himself; (2) Investigation of specific oceanic areas with special attention to food chains and pollutants; (3) Studies of selected areas of the ocean bottom to facilitate location of natural resources and to improve our knowledge of the sea floor.