River discharge patterns and large-scale circulation patterns are evident in the 

 shallow-water isotherm plottings now available from IRT work such as that carried out 

 in the Gulf of Mexico. 



The Naval Oceanographic Office can utilize all IRT data for the Continental Shelf 

 and Slope for defense purpose. 



From an ecological standpoint the location of thermal gradient boundaries may be 

 more important than reporting of absolute temperatures for many purposes. 



It was concluded that the continuance and expansion of ERT survey activity should be 

 encouraged, including the distribution of the isotherm maps, but they should be interpreted 

 with the above sources of variation in mind. 



For air-sea interface studies involving energy exchange it is necessary to have 

 absolute temperature to an accuracy of ±0.5°C. or better. 



IRT survey data for an area will increase in value with the number of known tem- 

 perature reference points at the sea surface with which to interpret or adjust the infrared 

 readings. IRT data will serve to greatly enlarge the information that can be obtained from 

 surface operations if planned conjointly with the surface work. 



Question 10. What possible improvements could be made to reduce sources of error 

 in presently available IRT equipment ? 



It was concluded that the most expeditious method of handling this matter was to re- 

 quest the Barnes Engineering Company to solicit from present IRT users their opinions on 

 improvement of the instrument. The Technical Representative agreed to see that this was 

 being done. 



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