PART I: THE OCEANOGRAPHIC PROJECT 



INTRODUCTION 



Since the physical and chemical environment is of basic importance to 

 organic production in the oceanj an Oceanographic Project was initiated 

 within the Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations (PcOoF„I„) to describe 

 this environmento This report is the first of several planned to present 

 the hydrographic data in tabular and graphic form with discussions of some 

 of the results , It is hoped that through these reports the data will 

 become available to workers interested in the oceanography of the central 

 Pacific o 



OBJECTIVES OF OCEANOGRAPHIC PROJECT 



The first objective of the Oceanographic Project is to describe the 

 major currents and the distribution of physical and chemical properties of 

 the central equatorial Pacific in somewhat greater detail than has yet been 

 done. The second objective is to describe and explain as many of the 

 variations of these features as possible. The variations are probably 

 very complex, being of various magnitudes and occurring over different 

 intervals in time and space. Finally, the physical and chemical oceanography 

 is being relat-ed to data collected on the organic production of the region 

 by other PoOcFdc projects, 



DESCRIPTION OF VESSEL, EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES 



Since this is the first report of oceanographic work accomplished by 

 PcOoFoIoj, a brief description of the vesselj, equipment and procedures is 

 presented. 



HUGH Mo SMITH is one of three motor vessels operated by PoO„F„I, 

 She is a UoSo Na'^y YP of 700 dead weight tons converted to carry out 

 oceanographic and fishing research and is pictxired in the frontispiece 

 of this report. Her overall length is 123 feet and her beam 29 feet. Her 

 design is identical to the West Coast bait boat tuna clipper. 



She has two adjacent laboratories on the main deck, one in which 

 biological work is carried out and a second in which chemical analyses 

 are performed, A third cabin at the disposal of the scientific personnel 

 is located on the boat deck. This space houses most of the meteorological 

 recording instruments and the recording sea surface thermograph, 



Loran equipment is aboard which allows very accurate fixes when within 

 abouL I4OO miles of the Hawaiian Islands, Beyond this range, it is usually 

 necessary to rely on astronomical fixes and dead reckoning for position. 



The hydrographic gear includes two winches on the main deck. The first 

 of these is a Markey Type DES 3 15 hp, electric deck winch spooling 5/32" 

 stainless steel wire rope, and used for hydrographic casts, and the second 

 a Kolstrand hydraulic winch which spools 3/32" wire rope and develops 5 hp, 

 for lowering the bathythermograph, A Markey lype DES X electric winch of 

 the same general specifications as the hydrographic winch but spooling 1/4" 

 stainless steel wire rope is located on the boat deck and is used for 

 plankton towso 



