When planning research cruises, marine scientists often must be versed in areas once considered beyond their traditional disciplines: politics and international law. The choice of location by U.S. scientists for marine research hopefully is driven by the substance of the research itself. But geographic choices for research in recent years certainly have been colored by a mix of factors besides scientific substance, such as: the diverse maritime claims of various coastal countries, the proximity to the United States, the history of clearance activity and ease or difficulty of obtaining clearance from particular countries, and the political unpredictability of certain regions.

Ross, D.A., and J. Fenwick. 1988. U.S. marine scientific research and access to foreign waters. Oceanography 1(2):37–39, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1988.07.

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