Oceanography The Past

This volume, "Oceanography: The Past," is the Proceedings of the Third Inter national Congress on the History of Oceanography, organized under the auspices of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, September 22-26, 1980. The Congress is a part of the year-long celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It will be followed by an Assembly, September 29 -October 2, in which invited speakers will address the question, ''Will we use the oceans wisely-the next SO years in oceanogra phy?" The papers from the Assembly will also be published by Springer-Verlag as "Oceanography: The Present and Future," a companion volume to this book. The First International Congress on the History of Oceanography was held at the Musee Ocean~graphique in Monaco, December 12-17, 1966. It coincided with the centennial of the beginning of the distinguished career of Prince Albert I as a student and patron of oceanography, for it was in 1866 that he first went to sea-on the armored frigate Tetuan of the Royal Spanish Navy. The results of this Congress were published as 57 papers in the Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanogra phique (special no. 2, vols. 1-3, pp. XLII + 807, 1968).

�[A] fascinating volume, which establishes marine environmental history as a major new discipline for academics as well as an exciting way to bring history and the natural world alive for the public.�ANDREW A. ROSENBERG, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE�The HMAP project is to be congratulated on this book, which presents vivid, evidence-based reconstructions of historical fisheries and the prolific ecosystems in which they were embedded.�TONY J. PITCHER, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA�The ingenuity and scholarship of the authors allow us to see ... how human societies have depended on and influenced marine living resources from periwinkles to whales.�MIKE SINCLAIR, BEDFORD INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY�This book exalts the surprisingly fruitful marriage of historians and marine scientists - a union that has proven to be one of the most exciting developments in ocean research in recent years.�KATHERINE RICHARDSON, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGENFor centuries the seas appeared to offer limitless supplies of food and other resources, their waters a cornucopia never to be exhausted. In more recent times, episodes such as the extreme exploitation and subsequent collapse of cod populations of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland have highlighted the fallaciousness of this view. Yet all too often the lessons from our historical interactions with marine animals are little known, let alone learned.Based on research for the History of Marine Animal Populations project, Oceans Past examines the complex relationship our forebears had with the sea and the animals that inhabit it. It presents eleven studies ranging from fisheries and invasive species to offshore technology and the study of marine environmental history, bringing together the perspectives of historians and marine scientists to enhance understanding of ocean management of the past, present and future. In doing so, it also highlights the influence that changes in marine ecosystems have upon the politics, welfare and culture of human societies.

Because of its centrallocation in the Old World, the Adriatic Sea has long been explored and studied. Modern methods of investigation, however, have accelerated the pace of study during the last decade. These are the ADCP currentmeter, satellite imagery, drifter technology, and, last but not least, the computer with its arsenal of tools for data analysis and model simulations. As a result of this renaissance, the Adriatic Sea and its sub-basins are currently the object of intensified scrutiny by a number of scientific teams, in Europe and be yond. Questions concerning the mesoscale variability that dominates regional motions, the seasonal circulation of the sea, and its long-term climatic role in the broader Mediterranean, have become topics of lively discussions. The time was ripe then when an international workshop dedicated to the physical oceanography of the Adriatic Sea was convened in Trieste on 21-25 September 1998. Its objectives were to assess the current knowledge of the oceanography of the Adriatic Sea, to review the newly acquired observations, to create syn ergy between model simulations and observations, and to identify directions for future Adriatic oceanography. This book, however,is not the mere proceedings of the workshop. It was written as a monograph synthetizing the current knowledge of the physical oceanography of the Adriatic Sea, with the hope that it will serve as a reference to anyone interested in the Adriatic. The book also identifies topics in need of additional inquiry and proposes research directions for the next decade.

Oceanography: The Present and Future is the proceedings of a sym posium held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on September 29-0ctober 2, 1980 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Institution. The symposium was immediately preceded by the Third International Congress on the History of Oceanography, also held at Woods Hole, and the proceedings of that Congress, Oceanography: The Past, also published by Springer-Verlag, forms a companion volume to this book. The editorial responsibilities were handled by Ms. Kate Eldred, who worked extraordinarily hard on this volume, while the scientific editing was performed by Dr. Peter G. Brewer. The organizing committee of scientists charged with responsibility for the symposium was: Dr. Peter G. Brewer, chemistry; Dr. Arthur E. Maxwell, geology and geophysics; Dr. Robert W. Morse, marine policy; Dr. David A. Ross, marine policy and marine geology; Dr. Peter B. Rhines, physical oceanography; Dr. John A. Teal, marine biology; and Dr. Robert Spindel, ocean engineering. They were faced at the outset with the problem that science proceeds with intense effort and competition within a disciplinary peer group but that, particularly in ocean science, the results of this work often have com pletely unforseen and important consequences in a totally unrelated area.

From a study of knowledge of the sea among indigenous cultures in the South Seas to inquiries into the subject of sea monsters, from studies of Pacific currents to descriptions of ocean-going research vessels, the sixty-three essays presented here reflect the scientific complexity and richness of social relationships that characterize ocean-ographic history. Based on papers presented at the Fifth International Congress on the History of Oceanography held at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (the first ICHO meeting following the cessation of the Cold War), the volume features an unusual breadth of contributions. Oceanography itself involves the full spectrum of physical, biological, and earth sciences in their formal, empirical, and applied manifestations. The contributors to Oceanographic History: The Pacific and Beyond undertake the interdisciplinary task of telling the story of oceanography’s past, drawing on diverse methodologies. Their essays explore the concepts, techniques, and technologies of oceanography, as well as the social, economic, and institutional determinants of oceanographic history. Although focused on the Pacific, the geographic range of subjects is global and includes Micronesia, East Africa, and Antarctica; the bathymetric range comprises inshore fisheries, coral reefs, and the "azoic zone." The seventy-one contributors represent every continent of the globe except Antarctica, bringing together material on the history of oceanography never before published.

This book describes the development of ocean sciences over the past 50 years, highlighting the contributions of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the field's progress. Many of the individuals who participated in the exciting discoveries in biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, physical oceanography, and marine geology and geophysics describe in the book how the discoveries were made possible by combinations of insightful individuals, new technology, and in some cases, serendipity. In addition to describing the advance of ocean science, the book examines the institutional structures and technology that made the advances possible and presents visions of the field's future. This book is the first-ever documentation of the history of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, how the structure of the division evolved to its present form, and the individuals who have been responsible for ocean sciences at NSF as "rotators" and career staff over the past 50 years.