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Transcript for The Voyage of the Lee, segment 20 of 21
As President Sokomanu has indicated, the voyage of the Lee has also fostered better understanding and cooperation among smaller nations of the Pacific which are dependent on energy sources for their future development. This was a primary goal of the sponsoring organization of Operation Deep Sweep, the Circum-Pacific Council on Energy and Mineral Resources, a group of over thirty-two nations which seeks to bridge the gap between governments, academic institutions, and industries by directing and publicizing scientific research that will assist these small nations in evaluating their own resource potential.
The scientific significance of the voyage of the Lee may not be known for many years, but to the international group of scientists onboard, analysis indicates that the one-year expedition was highly successful. Since the formulation of global tectonics, the concept that the earth's crust consists of plates which move about and collide with one another, scientific study has demanded that we be knowledgeable of all geology on this globe. If we are to understand the geology of our own backyard, we must then view the geology of earth as a dynamic process forming the sea floor and the building of mountains as a worldwide activity. Toward this end, the voyage of the Lee has allowed scientists of the U. S. G. S. as well as other participating nations an opportunity to gain data which will be useful in unraveling complex geologic problems at home.
The voyage of the Lee has gone far in assisting the evaluation of energy and mineral resources of the Pacific. It has helped third world nations in the region to assess their resource potential and geologic hazards. But most of all, it has brought together the nations of the Pacific as well as other nations and formed a team of scientists to study geology for the benefit of all mankind.
I'm George Redding.