Chapter 4
Contributions to
Global Ocean
Observations
RUSS E. DAVIS
My father, an attorney, often commented on the dynamics of legal contests: “More
good stories are ruined by an eyewitness. . . .” Over the last 40 years of oceanography to which I have been witness, a similar principle has held. Theory has explained
why, and models have simulated, but most of the steps in knowledge have been
closely tied to observations. In part, as Walter Munk has often said, this is because
“Every time we look at the ocean in a different way we learn something new.” Today,
those interested in the large-scale structure and variability of the world’s oceans are
blessed with an amazing array of observations with which to work. Satellites provide
the most voluminous ocean data with global coverage and have supported some of
the most significant increments in understanding the ocean; the first SST images
made vivid the different patterns of turbulence in different regions; today altimetry
and scatterometry describe evolving dynamically important fields. Over the last
half-century a complementary global in situ observing system has been developed
and I have been fortunate to observe some of that development. I would like to tell
what I know of its story.
Russ E. Davis, Research Oceanographer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
45
Contributions to
Global Ocean
Observations
RUSS E. DAVIS
My father, an attorney, often commented on the dynamics of legal contests: “More
good stories are ruined by an eyewitness. . . .” Over the last 40 years of oceanography to which I have been witness, a similar principle has held. Theory has explained
why, and models have simulated, but most of the steps in knowledge have been
closely tied to observations. In part, as Walter Munk has often said, this is because
“Every time we look at the ocean in a different way we learn something new.” Today,
those interested in the large-scale structure and variability of the world’s oceans are
blessed with an amazing array of observations with which to work. Satellites provide
the most voluminous ocean data with global coverage and have supported some of
the most significant increments in understanding the ocean; the first SST images
made vivid the different patterns of turbulence in different regions; today altimetry
and scatterometry describe evolving dynamically important fields. Over the last
half-century a complementary global in situ observing system has been developed
and I have been fortunate to observe some of that development. I would like to tell
what I know of its story.
Russ E. Davis, Research Oceanographer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
45