LONG-TERM GOALS Our long-range goal is to develop optimization methods: 1) to estimate the physical state of the ocean in order to understand the present and future conditions and associated variability/uncertainty, and 2) to utilize such forecast information for control-decisions such as optimal drifter deployment strategy. This is being accomplished through the use of data assimilation methods for ocean cir culation models and the study of extending the assimilation formulation to an optimal control problem.