World Ocean Circulation Experiment
195
interval so as to take advantage of the independently funded satellite missions, and
simultaneously telling the space agencies that the satellites had to be flown in a finite
time window to take advantage of the independently funded in situ, WOCE program.
The strategy worked for altimetry; only marginally for scatterometery; and failed for
gravity missions which are only now becoming reality. (Cost estimates for WOCE
vary greatly depending upon whether one includes the satellite expenditures. During
the planning process, some oceanographers never did seem to understand that if an
oceanographic satellite such as TOPEX/POSEIDON were cancelled, the resulting
funds would not be available for in situ observations. Considerable acrimony existed
over this point. The effort to fly a high-precision altimetric satellite was extremely
unpopular with much of the physical oceanographic community, many of whom
regarded it as a colossal waste of money. This widespread skepticism was artfully
concealed, in particular, from NASA management.)
195
interval so as to take advantage of the independently funded satellite missions, and
simultaneously telling the space agencies that the satellites had to be flown in a finite
time window to take advantage of the independently funded in situ, WOCE program.
The strategy worked for altimetry; only marginally for scatterometery; and failed for
gravity missions which are only now becoming reality. (Cost estimates for WOCE
vary greatly depending upon whether one includes the satellite expenditures. During
the planning process, some oceanographers never did seem to understand that if an
oceanographic satellite such as TOPEX/POSEIDON were cancelled, the resulting
funds would not be available for in situ observations. Considerable acrimony existed
over this point. The effort to fly a high-precision altimetric satellite was extremely
unpopular with much of the physical oceanographic community, many of whom
regarded it as a colossal waste of money. This widespread skepticism was artfully
concealed, in particular, from NASA management.)