U.S. Urged to Chart New Course for Ocean Research

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, November 4, 2003 (ENS) - The bottom of the ocean remains the Earth's least explored frontier and will remain so unless the United States provides international leadership, scientists said today. How to provide that leadership is the focus of a new report from the National Research Council, which recommends the U.S. government embark on a new multi disciplinary program of ocean exploration.

The report says that the program would reap a slew of benefits by increasing the pace of discovery of new species, ecosystems, energy sources, seafloor features, pharmaceutical products, and artifacts, as well as improve understanding of the role oceans play in climate change.

"Improved knowledge of our oceans represents more than an academic interest," said Dr. John Orcutt, deputy director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and chair of the committee that prepared the report.

Congress, interested in the possibility of an international ocean exploration program, asked the National Research Council - an arm of the National Academy of Sciences - to examine the feasibility of such an effort.

The committee determined that the barriers to an international effort remain too high and recommended that the Congress would be wise to first launch a U.S. program.

"The United States should lead by example," Orcutt said.

The remote reaches and depths of the ocean need exploring, the committee says. (Photo courtesy the Ocean Drilling Program)

"Informal and bilateral agreements that are project specific would enjoy greatest chance of international collaboration," Orcutt said.

Implementing the committee's proposal would cost some $270 million in the first year, and about $100 million in annual appropriations thereafter.

These funds include a dedicated flagship and a fleet of manned submersibles capable of diving to at least 6,500 meters and unmanned submersibles designed to reach depths of 7,000 meters or more.

The panel also recommended that the program include additional autonomous underwater vehicles that are programmed to travel a specific route, collecting information along the way with sensors and cameras.

"Currently available submersibles - whether manned, remotely operated, or autonomous - cannot reach the deepest parts of the sea," said committee vice chair Shirley Pomponi, vice president and director of research at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

Orcutt told reporters that the committee determined that much of the oceanographic work currently conducted "reinvestigates previously visited locations."

"We tend to go to places where we have been before," he said. "If we are to understand the global oceans, it is necessary to go beyond that and go into this exploration mode."

The oceans cover 70 percent of the planet but vast portions have not been "systematically examined for geological or biological characteristics," he said, noting in particular a lack of exploration of the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere.

A multidisciplinary ocean exploration program could buck that trend, the panel says, and could overcome the discipline based character of the U.S. funding bureaucracy. Federal grants tend to be allocated to chemists, biologists, or physical scientists, rather than to teams of researchers representing a variety of scientific fields.

The report recommends that the program focus on a range of key issues, including biodiversity, the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere, deep sea archaeology and the influence of deep ocean water on climate change.

The committee suggests that a nonfederal contractor should operate the program, citing the benefits of creativity, cost savings and performance incentives that can arise from competitive bidding.

But who should oversee the program is a tricky question.

The panel says the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, an existing collaboration of 14 agencies, would be the most appropriate part of the U.S. government to house the program, yet it notes that Congress would need to revise the partnership program's charter so it can receive direct and substantial appropriations of federal funds.

If this funding issue is not resolved, the committee said, the ocean exploration program could be sponsored by the National Science Foundation or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The oceans hold untold numbers of unknown species, scientists say. (Photo courtesy Oceana)

But Representative Jim Greenwood, a Pennsylvania Republican, believes that pressure is growing for Congress to act.

"We think it is time to do something big and bold," said Greenwood.

The National Research Council report - along with the Pew Oceans Commission report released last June and the pending release of the U.S. Oceans Commission report - is creating a "perfect storm of knowledge," Greenwood said.

"We are trying to put the oceans on the political agenda," added Representative Sam Farr, a California Democrat.

The report noted that humans have spent more time on the surface of the moon than exploring the deepest reaches of the ocean - a point Farr picked up on.

"We may have to find some money in the NASA budget to help the oceans budget," Farr said.

Supporters in Congress for the program hope that recent discoveries of previously unknown species and deep sea biological and chemical processes have heightened interest in ocean exploration.

Explaining how these discoveries could benefit mankind is key, the panel said, and education and public outreach need to be an integral part of the ocean exploration program.

"This [program] could catch the imagination of the American people," said Greenwood, who plans to lobby the White House to embrace the program.

The full report, titled "Voyage Into the Unknown: Ocean Exploration for the 21st Century," can be seen here.