In producing this report, the panel had to surmount communication and comprehension difficulties to truly understand, e.g., what someone from another discipline had expressed. One result was an appreciation of just how difficult it is to engage in truly collaborative, cross-disciplinary work. Another result was an insight into what strategies will (and will not) be likely to succeed in performing such work.The panel believes understanding and appreciating these matters are as important to the encouragement and accomplishment of statistical research in physical oceanography as are the descriptions of statistical research opportunities discussed in Chapters 2 through 8. Accordingly, Chapter 9 gives the panel's conclusions, observations, and suggestions on encouraging successful collaborations between statisticians and oceanographers.

The panel gratefully acknowledges the support of the Office of Naval Research in this project and expresses appreciation to all of the people who provided information that aided the panel in the preparation of this report. They include Mark Abbott, Andrew Bennett, Hans Graber, Greg Holloway, Ricardo Matano, Robert N. Miller, Leonid Piterbarg, Michael Schlax, P. Ted Strub, V. Zlotnicki, and four anonymous reviewers who offered insightful comments and suggestions. In particular, L. Piterbarg helped write Chapter 3, P. Strub helped write Chapter 4, M. Abbott helped write Chapter 5, R. Miller and V. Zlotnicki helped write Chapter 6, and H. Graber helped write Chapter 7. The panel also gratefully acknowledges the editorial help of John Tucker and Susan Maurizi in preparing the report.

Comments on the report are welcome, as are suggestions for future topics on which similar reports might help to provide useful cross-disciplinary bridges. All such remarks should be directed to John Tucker at the Board on Mathematical Sciences, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.