The Sea [antikvár]

Introduction Despite their importance to mankind, the earth sciences have traditionally lagged behind the laboratory sciences. Perhaps the most backward subdivision of the earth sciences has been the obscure subject of oceanography, in which an attempt is made to advance our understanding of one particular part of our environment, namely the large fraction of our globe that is covered with salt water. The ocean is basic to all life. Therefore it is entirely fitting that this first volume in the Life Nature Library should be about the sea. This handsome book supplies a lively introduction to a fascinating subject. Now that the public is becoming aware of the many things that are not yet well understood about the ocean and its contents, both the government and the universities have begun to respond. Our marine laboratories have been expanding very rapidly since about 1950. Able graduate students are being trained in all aspects of oceanography. New research ships are being built. Thus, we can expect rather rapid developments during the next several decades. This new interest in oceanography is by no means confined to the United States. All the major maritime nations are taking part. Throughout the world scores of research ships are constantly at sea. This means that many hundreds of technically trained people are at present actively working at sea, and that many thousands are studying the results of the field work in laboratories ashore. What can we expect to emerge from this large increase in scientific effort? Clearly it will help to plug a big gap in our total knowledge concerning this earth on which we live and whose basic chemical and biological resources we must come to utilize more and more efficiently. However, we can expect considerably more than this. As oceanography has developed, it has become evident that there are many practical applications to basic oceanographic science. Through a thorough understanding of the ocean, followed by imaginative engineering, we can make our defences much more secure than they now are, we can greatly improve marine transportation, we can exert some measure of control on climate and we can make available a vast food resource that automatically renews itself. In its natural state, acre per acre, the sea is producing about as much as the land, yet man is only taking about one to two per cent of his present food requirements from the salt-water environment. When we come to farm the oceans we can expect them to produce much greater quantities of desirable food substances, just as farming on land has greatly increased the production of grains and vegetables and meat. Through proper management of the ocean, which will have to be by international agreement, we can greatly increase our well-being on the land. Columbus O'Donnell Iselin Senior Physical Oceanographer Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Massachusetts