Observational oceanographers face daunting challenges in their efforts to adequately observe the ocean. The large area and volume make representative measurements difficult. Yet ocean processes affect human activities and vice versa. Hurricanes form in places with warm surface water. Ocean currents and waves spread pollution. Steady ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream transport heat from the tropics to higher latitudes; the warm flow is balanced by the deep return flow of cold water. Carbon dioxide sequestered in the ocean affects climate. Sea level is rising by about 3 mm/yr, threatening to inundate many small islands and vast regions of low-lying land. It is vital for the sake of lives and property that those phenomena be routinely observed and their variability understood.
For example, hurricanes take many lives and cause billions of dollars in damage. The ocean spawns and affects hurricanes, but the interactions between the atmospheric cyclone and the...
