‘Tidal Wave’ of Sea Data Expected From Satellites

Polar sea ice, tidal waves and other oceanic wonders will become less mysterious to scientists as they turn to satellites capable of providing a “tidal wave” of information, marine experts say.

The measurements of some ocean conditions will be multiplied by several hundred times with the installation of the satellite equipment, according to John Sherman III, an oceanographer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sherman, speaking at a weeklong Oceans ’85 conference here, said at least 15 new ocean sensors on six new satellites will present a sharp contrast to the scarcity of information now available.

The conference drew researchers from around the world.

Currently, 2,000 to 4,000 reports on ocean wind direction come each day from ships, scientific buoys and satellites. By 1989, there will be between 400,000 and 910,000 reports a day--with the increase almost entirely due to the new satellites, Sherman said.

Detection of treacherous polar sea ice, which also plays a major role in predicting long-term weather and ocean patterns, will be much easier with the new satellite data, he said.

“There’s probably going to be more sea-ice data collected in the next six years than has been collected in the past 100 years,” Sherman said.

Samuel McCandless Jr., of Virginia-based User Systems Inc., said scientists are “about to encounter a tidal wave of information coming at us near the end of the decade.”