Prospects for Global Ocean Pollution Monitoring: UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 47

In this report a few thoughts are gathered together to assist in the evaluation process. Throughout the world, there is a great deal of research in progress in the marine environment, and there exists a complex array of international committees to co-ordinate the investigations and/or to evaluate the results. A very wide view is required to try and see the way ahead. A great deal of knowledge is needed to assess the effects of pollutants in the ocean, including information from the fields of physical and chemical oceanography, marine biology, ecology, geology and meteorology. There is a continuing need for further work, both surveying and basic research of input of pollutants into the sea. The basic processes to be understood are those of transport, distribution, accumulation and exchange of nutrients and toxic substances in the marine environment, the interplay of abiotic and biotic factors, and seasonal and geographic variabilities. There is a continuous transfer of energy and materials within the ocean and important interchanges occur at the air-sea and sen-sediment boundaries.