Shallow Gas determination, prior to drilling, is carried out using 'Engineering Seismic' survey methods. Seismic acquisition data quality is fundamental in achieving this objective as both the data processing methods and interpretation accuracy are subject to the quality of the data obtained. The recent application of workstation based data analysis and interpretation has clearly demonstrated the importance of acquisition data quality on the ability to determine the risks of gas with a high level of confidence. The following pages summarise the 5 primary issues that influence acquisition data QC, suggests future trends and considers their potential impact. The primary issues covered in this paper are: A. Seismic B. Positioning C. QC Data Analysis D. Communications E. Personnel 90 SAFETY IN OFFSHORE DRll.LING FIELD QC ...................... PRIMARY COMPONENTS COMMERCIAL TECHNICAL 1 OPERATIONAL FIGURE 1 HYDROSEARCH The often complex influences of Technical, Commercial and Operational constraints on the acquisition of high quality data require careful management by the QC supervisor in order to achieve a successful seismic survey data set. The following pages only consider the Technical aspects of QC and assume that no Commercial or Operational restrictions are imposed in the achievement of optimum data quality. It is noted however, that such restrictions are frequently responsible for significant compromise in data coverage and quality during routine rig site surveys.

The papers at the General Symposia of the Joint Oceanographic Assembly were presented by authors who had been invited to deal with topics of broad interdisciplinary interest. Together they gave a valuable account of the present state of marine research, its proQlems and potential. There seems merit in publishing them in one volume and we are grateful to the authors who kindly agreed to prepare their papers for publication. This has taken some time (and not all authors found it possible) but we hope the resulting volume is still indicative of trends in modern oceanography. Particularly noticeable is the way in which the applied aspects are beginning to play a more important part in spite of worries about the effects of the Law of the Sea on our freedom to make observations. We are especially grateful to the four authors who agreed to give lectures summarising the work in their own field which was reported at the Assembly. We also wish to thank the other authors, as well as all concerned with the Assembly and with the production of this volume.

The International Symposium on Marine Positioning (INSMAP) was conceived by the Marine Geodesy Committee at OCEANS 84, Washington, DC. It became clear at that time, that timing is appropriate to focus attention on individual specific problem areas under the broad umbrella of Marine Geodesy. After scheduling INSMAP 86 by the Marine Technology Society, we were fortunate to generate strong support from our co-sponsor s. All their assis tance and support are gra tefully acknowledged. Our special thanks are expressed to the U.S. Geological Survey; Charting and Geodetic Services, NOS/NOAA; Office of Naval Research, and Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity for their support through financial grants (ONR No. N00014-86-G-0107, NOS/NOAA No. 40AANC601637, and USGS No. 14-08-0001-G1207) as par tial funding to the INS MAP 86. We are al so gra teful to the U.S. Geological Survey for providing the auditorium and other logistic support in making the symposium a success. A total of 165 persons attended INSMAP 86, of which 20 percent were from outside the United States. Nine technical sessions and five special workshops were held wi thin a four-day forma t. Invited speakers included Dr. Alan Berman, Dean, Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences; RADM J. R. Seeshol tz, Oceanographer of the U.S. Navy; RADM John D. Bossler, Director of Charting and Geodetic Services, NOS/NOAA; Mr. Chris von Al t, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; and RADM L. H. van Opstal, Hydrographer of the Royal Dutch Navy.

Over 60% of the Earth's surface is covered with deep marine sediments, however, until the early 1980s, no comprehensive text books appeared to support the rapid expansion in the study of these sediments. While the whole field of marine geology has expanded enormously and entirely new disciplines, such as paleoceanography, have been developed, there remains a lack of reference texts on study techniques that investigators in the marine community can turn to. Minerals and Mineraloids in Marine Sediments is an optical identifica tion guide that I believe will become a standard reference text for use in the microscope analysis of marine sediment& and sedimentary rocks. The systematic collection of sediment cores from the deep ocean floor began in earnest with the Swedish Deep Sea Expedition, 1947-1948. Much of the microscopic examination of the sediments collected in these piston cores (10 m+ long) was conducted on separated grain mounts or thin sections of impregnated sediments. By the late 1960s a simpler technique of examining a mounted smear of the cored silt and clay size sediment on a microscope slide had become standard practice in American oceanographic institutions. This semi quantitative technique became the standard tool used in core description aboard Glomar Challenger through the 15 years of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), 1968-1983. Visual percentage estimates of biogenic and mineral components were made using petrologic micro scopes."

This book is a collection of the most recent and significant research on algorithms for the analysis of polar sea-ice SAR data. All algorithms are implemented and tested. One chapter is from the Alaskan SAR Facility, the major NASA archive of polar SAR data and a source of many SAR analysis algorithms, including high-level results of such analyses. One chapter has been written jointly by the US and Canadian Ice Centers, which provide e.g., operational sea-ice products to the shipping and oil-drilling industries and to polar explorations. This book will be useful to all researchers in the polar sciences community.

"Dredged Material and Mine Tailings" are two of the same thing once they are deposited on land: they must be safe-guarded, wash-out must be prevented, and they must be protected by a plantcover. This comprehensive two-volume treatise covers both important aspects of their management: "Environmental " "Management of Solid Waste" turns to the practical applications, such as prediction, restoration and management, while in "Chemistry and Biology of Solid Waste" the principles and assessment are scientifically studied and discussed. Previously, dredged material was a commodity, it could be sold as soil, e. g. to gardeners. In the meantime, dredged material from the North Sea (e.g. the Rotterdam or Amsterdam harbor) must be treated as hazardous waste. Many environmentalists, managers and companies do not know how to solve the inherent problems. This new work deals with the chemical, physical and biological principles; the biological and geochemical assessment; the prediction of effects and treatment; and finally, with restoration and revegetation. It is written by many leading scientists in the various fields, and will prove invaluable for managers and politicians who are concerned with the present environmental situation.

Diffusion of contaminants in the ocean is a major factor forming fields of both natural and man-mad substances introduced into the water medium. Without proper understanding of the laws of contaminant diffusion in the ocean it is impossible to choose the correct methods of calculating the transport of biogenic elements, dissolved gases and pollutants. Diffusion processes in the ocean are very com plicated because of the larger number of factors influencing the distribution of a substance. In this regard, progress in studying the regularities of contami nant diffusion in the ocean can only be reached when combining theoretical and experimental methods. Both theoretical and experimental studies on the diffusion of contaminants in the ocean have been devoted much attention in many countries of the world. The results are being published in a larger number of journals and collected works; however, until now there have been no comprehensive publications on the diffu sion of contaminants in the ocean. This monograph summarizes the results obtained on the problem by the author and other researchers. The presentation of theoretical results is combined with the data obtained in diffusion experiments with artificial tracers. Also given are practical recommendations on how to compute the behavior of contaminants in various hydrometeorological conditions. Several parts of the monograph are based on the studies I have made in colla boration with A.N. Gerentsway, V.1. Zats, G.S. Karabashev, S.S. Muravyev, A."

An editorial by Wanless (1982), entitled "Sea level is rising - so what?", tells the case of an executive editor of a major city newspaper, who, when confronted with evi dence for a recent sea-level rise, replied: "That just means the ocean is six inches deeper, doesn't it?". Whether his "so what?" attitude was real or put on to dike a threat of sensation, there is at present a wide and deepening interest in ongoing and future global sea-level change. This interest has grown along with the concern over global warming due to increasing levels of C02 and trace gases. A stage has been reached where investigators of climat- sea-level relationships call for long-term measurement programmes for ice-volume changes (using satellite altimetry) and changes in temperature and salinity of the oceans (ther mal expansion). This manual, however, is primarily concerned with sea level changes in the past, mainly since the end of the last glaciation. Its major objective is to help answer the ques tion: "how?", which, of course, is little else but to assist in the gathering of fuel for the burning question: "why?" Good fuel, hopefully, for the less smoke and ashes, and the more heat and light produced by that fire, the better scientists are enabled to develop a quantitative under standing of past, and hence of future, sea-level changes on different spatial and temporal scales.

Without light there would be no life in the sea. Since the seas were the cradle for the evolution of all life forms, the theme of this book is central to our understanding of the interaction between living organisms and their environments. To express the breadth of research in this area, leading experts in topics as diverse as satellite imagery and molecular biology have contributed to this collection of essays on light and life in the sea, first published in 1990. Intended for all with an interest in the marine environment, this book aims to present the reader with a sampler of the exciting research that is underway and to provide an introduction to its broad compass.

This collection of papers originates from a meeting are in current use on board UK research vessels. organized in May 1988 at the Geological Society, Marine geological exploration requires information under three further headings: (i) the "shape" of the London, under the auspices of its Marine Studies Group. The meeting was concerned with reviewing sea floor, (ii) the nature of the rocks and sediments the present state-of-the-art of marine geological and which lie at its surface, and (iii) the nature of deeper geophysical sampling and surveying techniques. structures. Studies of the shape of the sea floor The pace of scientific exploration of the ocean (bathymetry) are based primarily on echo sounder basins has increased dramatically over the past few and side-scan sonar surveying. Technology in this decades in response to interest in the global tectonic field has seen major advances over the past two processes which control their long-term evolution decades, with the development of new ceramic ma and the regional and local sedimentary and tectonic terials to provide more efficient and powerful trans ducers, the increasing use of digital data processing processes which shape them, as well as more practi cal questions such as the nature and extent of off techniques to improve the quality of the signal from shore mineral resources, problems of waste disposal the sea floor, and the introduction of new design at sea and the response of sea level to global climatic concepts to provide higher resolution records."

Recent advances in the power of inversion methods, the accuracy of acoustic field prediction codes, and the speed of digital computers have made the full field inversion of ocean and seismic parameters on a large scale a practical possibility. These methods exploit amplitude and phase information detected on hydrophone/geophone arrays, thereby extending traditional inversion schemes based on time of flight measurements. Full field inversion methods provide environmental information by minimising the mismatch between measured and predicted acoustic fields through a global search of possible environmental parameters. Full Field Inversion Methods in Ocean and Seismo-Acoustics is the formal record of a conference held in Italy in June 1994, sponsored by NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Centre. It includes papers by NATO specialists and others. Topics covered include: . speed and accuracy of acoustic field prediction codes . signal processing strategies . global inversion algorithms . search spaces of environmental parameters . environmental stochastic limitations . special purpose computer architectures . measurement geometries . source and receiving sensor technologies. "

Suppose one were given the task of mapping the general circulation in an unfamiliar ocean. The ocean, like our own, is subdivided into basins and marginal seas interconnected by sea straits. Assuming a limited budget for this undertaking, one would do well to choose the straits as observational starting points. To begin with, the currents flowing from one basin to the next, over possibly wide and time-varying paths, are confined to narrow and stable routes within the straits. Mass, heat and chemical budgets for individual basins can be formulated in terms of the fluxes measured across the straits using a relatively small number of instruments. The confinement of the flow by a strait can also give rise to profound dynamical conse quences including choking or hydraulic control, a process similar to that by which a dam regulates the flow from a reservoir. The funneling geometry can lead to enhanced tidal modulation and increased velocities, giving rise to local instabilities, mixing, internal bores, jumps, and other striking hydraulic and fine scale phenomena. In short, sea straits repre sent choke points which are observationally and dynamically strategic and which contain a full range of fascinating physical processes."

All coastal areas are facing a growing range of stresses and shocks, the scale of which now poses threats to the resilience of both human and environmental coastal systems. Responsible agencies are seeking better ways of managing the causes and consequences of the environmental change process in coastal zones. This volume discusses the basic principles underpinning a more integrated approach to coastal management and highlights the obstacles that may be met in practice in both developed and developing countries. Successful strategies will have to encompass all the elements of management, from planning and design through financing and implementation, as highlighted in this book.

The power of microwave remote sensing for studying the oceans of the world was demonstrated conclusively by the SEASAT mission in 1978. Since then, no further satellite-flown instruments have been available to provide further data of this type. However, the proposed launch of ESA's ERS-1 satellite will lead to a new set of active microwave instruments being flown in space in 1990. Even though similar data has been obtained from aircraft-flown instruments SAR, scatterometers, altimeters etc. - a great deal of activity has been taking place to develop the necessary expertise in handling and analysing such data when it comes on-stream from ERS-1 and from subsequent satellites. It was against this background that the scientific Affairs Division of NATO again agreed to sponsor an ASI in Dundee in 1988. Its purpose was to review existing knowledge of the extraction of marine and atmospheric geophysical parameters from satellite-gathered microwave data and to enable scientists to prepare themselves and their computing systems to utilise the new data when it becomes available. The importance of the data is largely as input parameters to assist in the fitting of boundary conditions in large computer models. The course was concerned more with the non-imaging instruments, that is with passive radiometers, altimeters and scatterometers, than with the (imaging) synthetic aperture radar.

The Arctic region has long held a fascination for explorers and scientists of many countries. Despite the numerous voyages of exploration, the na ture of the central Arctic was unknown only 90 years ago; it was believed to be a shallow sea dotted with islands. During Nansen's historic voyage on the polarship Fram, which commenced in 1893, the great depth of the central basin was discovered. In the Soviet Union, investigation of the Arctic Ocean became national policy after 1917. Today research at several scientific institutions there is devoted primarily to the study of the North Polar Ocean and seas. The systematic exploration of the Arctic by the United States com menced in 1951. Research has been conducted year-round from drifting ice islands, which are tabular fragments of glacier ice that break away from ice shelves. Most frequently, ice islands originate off the northern coast of Ellesmere Island. These research platforms are occupied as weather sta tions, as well as for oceanographic and geophysical studies. Several inter national projects, conducted by Canadian, European, and U. S. groups, have been underway during the last three decades. Although much new data have accumulated since the publication of the Marine Geology and Oceanography of the Arctic Seas volume in 1974 (Yvonne Herman, ed. ), in various fields of polar research-including present-day ice cover, hydrogra phy, fauna, flora, and geology-many questions remain to be answered."

Sequence stratigraphy has advanced considerably since the early applications of the concepts on seismic data. It attempts to discern the migration of facies re sulting from changes in a combination of factors such as, sea level, tectonics, climate and sediment flux, and integrates it with a meaningful chronostratigraphy. The stratigraphic record is envisioned as a framework of repetitive packages of genetically-related strata, formed in response to the shifting base level, in which the locus of deposition of various sediment types may be anticipated. This attribute is rapidly promoting sequence stratigraphy as an indispensable tool for prediction of facies in exploration and production geology. In hydrocarbon exploration the application of sequence stratigraphy has ranged from anticipating reservoir- and source-rock distribution to predicting carbonate diagenesis, porosity and permeability. The capability to anticipate vertical and lateral distribution of facies and reservoir sands in the basinal, shoreface, incised valley-fill and regressive settings alone has been a great asset for exploration. In frontier areas, where data are often limited to seismic lines, sequence-stratigraphic methodology has helped determine the timing and of types of unconformities and anticipate transgressive- and regressive-prone intervals. In production it is aiding in field development by providing improved source and seal predictions for secondary oil recovery. A recognition of stratigraphic causes of poor recovery through improved understanding of internal stratal architecture can lead to new well recompletions and enhanced exploitation in existing fields. The sequence-stratigraphic discipline is in a state of rapid expansion."

In its relentless pursuit of further knowledge, science tends to compartmentalize. Over the years the pursuit of What might be called geophysical acoustics of the sea-surface has languished. This has occured even through there are well-developed and active research programs in underwater acoustics, ocean hydrodynamics, cloud and precipitation physics, and ice mechanics - to name a few - as well as a history of engineering expertise built on these scientific fields. It remained to create a convergence, a dialogue across disciplines, of mutual benefit. The central theme of the Lerici workshop, perhaps overly simplified, was 'What are the mechanisms causing ambient noise at the upper surface of the ocean?' What could hydrodynamicists contribute to a better understanding of breaking wave dynamics, bubble production, ocean wave dynamics, or near-surface turbulence for the benefit of the underwater acoustics community? What further insights could fluid dynamicists gain by including acoustic measurements in their repertoire of instrumentation? While every attendee will have his or her percep tions of details, it was universally agreed that a valuable step had been taken to bring together two mature disciplines and that significant co-operative studies would undoubtedly follow. The scope of the workshop was enlarged beyond its original intent to also include the question of ice-noise generation. The success of this decision can be seen in high quality of the presentations. the contribution of its disciples in the other workshop discussions and the heightened awareness and interest of we other novices."

The Black Sea ecosystem is a unique marine environment. Its isolation from the ocean and large catchment basin, covering industrial and rural parts of the European and Asian continents, render the Black Sea ecosystem extremely vulnerable to the imposed environmental burdens Complex scientific problems related to the recent evolution of the Black Sea ecosystem were tackled in the framework of the NATO TU BLACK SEA project Ecosystem modelling as a management tool for the Black Sea', implemented between 1993 and 1997. The primary results and the products of the TU BLACK SEA project were presented to the scientific community at a dedicated symposium held on 15-19 June, 1997 at Zori Rossii on the Crimean coast of the Black Sea. The present two volumes contain 47 of the papers presented at the symposium, selected by peer review. Volume I contains 27 papers in all, two on the NATO TU Black SEA database and database management system, eight on the Black Sea biogeochemistry, and 17 on the biological structure of the basin. Of the 20 papers appearing in Volume II, nine are physical processes and 11 are on the modelling of the circulation and the ecosystems of the Black Sea.

Gorda Ridge presents a primarily technical summary of recent advances in seafloor research related to mineral exploration of the only seafloor spreading center within the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Spreading centers are known to be the locus of hydrothermal activity and to host mineral deposits of hydrothermal origin. The book includes sections on the results of mineral exploration on Gorda Ridge, the newest technologies for mineral exploration and sampling on the seafloor, and the evolving field of hydrothermal vent biology and ecology. What makes the book unique is that it is: 1) a site book, 2) a truly multidisciplinary summation of the state of the art in complementary areas of deep ocean geology and biology, and 3) a marker in the evolution of federal-state relations concerning ocean development.

An Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) sponsored by NATO and the California Space Institute was held in Corsica (France) October 3 to 7, 1983 to discuss the role of satellite observations in the large-scal.eoceanographic experiments, especially those under discussion (e.g., the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, WOCE, and the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere, TOGA). This volume is based on papers presented during that meeting, summaries of the discussions of the working groups and recommended necessary tasks to be accompl ished in preparation for WOCE and TOGA. The participants of the meeting decided that, although the collection of issues discussed in the meeting was undoubtedly incomplete, the summaries of the discussions and recommended tasks warranted being conveyed to the organizers and sponsors of WOCE and TOGA. Although not discussed at the workshop, it was recognized that an important role of satellites is as data collection and location systems. Some of the common conclusions of the different working groups discussions are that: 1) Studies are needed of the sensitivity of the ocean response to errors in surface parameters (wind stress, heat flux, SST etc.) in a variety of physical models. These should be one of the basis for determining the accuracy requirements in WOCE and TOGA."

Although international scientific cooperation - particularly in meteorology - was established previous to the first International Polar Year, the IPY-1 (1882-83) is considered to be the first revolutionary step towards an extensive international cooperation in the polar areas for the benefit of science rather than national prestige and territorial gain. This was followed by IPY-2 (1932-33) and IPY-3 - actually the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) - before the crowning effort of IPY-4 (2007-08). The history of these years is recounted here and explains the political, economic, technical and scientific conditions and expectations that laid the basis for each IPY and which gradually expanded both the scope and extent of our understanding of the complexities in polar regions

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is 344 400 square kilometres in size and is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. This comprehensive guide describes the organisms and ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. Contemporary pressing issues such as climate change, coral bleaching, coral disease and the challenges of coral reef fisheries are also discussed.

In addition, the book includes a field guide that will help people to identify the common animals and plants on the reef, then to delve into the book to learn more about the roles the biota play.

Beautifully illustrated and with contributions from thirty-three international experts, The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a baseline text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs.

The explosion of interest, effort, and information about the ocean since about 1950 has produced many thousand scientific articles and many hun dred books. In fact, the outpouring has been so large that authors have been unable to read much of what has been published, so they have tended to concentrate their own work within smaller and smaller subfields of oceanog raphy. Summaries of information published in books have taken two main paths. One is the grouping of separately authored chapters into symposia type books, with their inevitable overlaps and gaps between chapters. The other is production of lightly researched books containing drawings and tables from previous pUblications, with due credit given but showing assem bly-line writing with little penetration of the unknown. Only a few books have combined new and previous data and thoughts into new maps and syntheses that relate the contributions of observed biological, chemical, geological, and physical processes to solve broad problems associated with the shape, composition, and history of the oceans. Such a broad synthesis is the objective of this book, in which we tried to bring together many of the pieces of research that were deemed to be of manageable size by their originators. The composite may form a sort of plateau above which later studies can rise, possibly benefited by our assem bly of data in the form of new maps and figures.