Forty top international scientists have converged on Bermuda as part of the world's most ambitious ever study of the oceans.

The research on currents and temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific will greatly boost understanding of global climatic patterns.

It will also increase knowledge about the effects of ozone layer depletion.

"If and when there is a global change, in time it will show in the ocean,'' said Dr. Peter Niiler, one of the leading scientists here. "The ocean is the great moderator of temperatures in the world, and is closely linked to the climate.'' The ocean scientists have been discussing the latest findings for three days at the Hamilton Princess Hotel.

They have flown in from as far afield as Moscow, Taiwan, Italy, France, Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Britain.

Several are from oceanographic centres in America and Canada, although there was no local representation.

All are engaged in the Surface Velocity Programme (SVP) -- which is backed by the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Programme.

The SVP was launched in 1988, and will continue indefinitely.

Research is focussing on measuring the ocean currents, sea temperatures and atmospheric pressures.

It is being carried out through transmitters floating on the ocean surface with the help of buoys.

A weather satellite can pick out the transmitters, which are dragged through the water with the current. Their progress is carefully charted.

Barometers are also being fitted to the devices to detect atmospheric pressure.

The data is being collated at two principle centres: the California-based Scripps Insitution of Oceanography, and Miami's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

SVP director Dr. Niiler, from the Scripps Institution, said 350 buoys had been dropped in the Pacific, and 50 in the Atlantic.

There were five around Bermuda, within a 100-500 kilometre radius.

"We have only recently started dropping them in the Atlantic,'' said Dr.

Niiler, who has been chairing the conference, which ended yesterday.

"We would like mariners to be aware of them, and leave them alone. They are important experimental devices.'' The aim was to have 1,000 buoys in the world's oceans by 1997.

During the conference each country or agency presented a short update on its own "drifter'' programme.

Dr. Niiler said it could take at least 30 years for major trends to be established from the research.

"We are here planning a major global ocean observation system for years to come,'' he added.

"I am concerned about our environment. We are still trying to understand it and this programme will greatly increase our understanding.'' Dr. Niiler went on: "So far we have learned how the ocean mixes in the tropical Pacific, how water from one latitude joins water from another latitude.'' The research will have many practical benefits, stepping up awareness of the effects of waste disposal at sea and pollution.

It will also significantly benefit navies, coast guards, air/sea rescue operations and fishermen.

DR. Peter Niiler.