The Universe Below

Recent books about undersea exploration have focused on scientific discoveries. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Broad (Teller's War, etc.), a science reporter for the New York Times, presents a wider perspective here. He reviews the history of oceanography and reveals the roll of the military in developing new technologies within that field. By 1957, the Navy was searching for new weaponry to use in undersea warfare; a decade later, it had established a global network of deep microphones that spied on Soviet ships. Broad points out that although no Soviet sub has ever defected to the U.S., ""the bottom of the sea was extravagantly endowed with the paraphernalia of war."" Enter the submersible Alvin in 1964; since then, development has included deep-diving small submarines, robots and laser line-scanners (which found pieces of the wreckage of TWA Flight 800 in Long Island Sound). In an exciting foray into the deep, Broad details his dive in Alvin 1.5 miles down in the North Pacific (the first object seen on the ocean floor was a sneaker). The end of the Cold War freed hundreds of military devices and technologies to civilian and commercial interests, he notes, setting up a conflict between treasure seekers and marine archeologists. Broad addresses the problem of radioactive wastes and other pollutants in the oceans, and discusses the 1994 U.N. Convention Law of the Sea and the search for minerals. He forcefully points out that we still do not know enough about mid-sea creatures and food chains in the deep, and he proposes an international oceanic sanctuary, off-limits to fishing, mining, development and recovery efforts. Intensively researched and crisply told, this is an illuminating, stimulating portrait of one of Earth's last frontiers. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Apr.)