NOTES REGARDING OCEANOGRAPHY 



97 



the expense of time, for greater economy of equipment. 

 The greatest amount of time was consumed, of course, 

 by the bottom sampling and the deep water-bottle series. 

 The final program in general was as follows. The bot- 

 tom sampler was started down, and when about 1000 

 meters of the piano wire were out, the wire angle was 

 noted and an estimate formed of the expected wire angle 

 for the water-bottle line. Then the shallow water-bottle 

 series was payed out and allowed to come to equilibrium 

 in temperature and the reversing messenger released. 

 After the sampler had struck bottom, hauling in on both 

 lines was begun. The deep water-bottle series was not 

 started down until the hauling in of the bottom sampler 

 had been completed. The plankton pump and nets were 

 payed out and hauled in at convenient times during the 

 other operations. Under this arrangement the time re- 

 quired for the occupation of an oceanographic station 

 generally was that required for the bottom sampling and 

 the deep water-bottle series. This usually was from 

 three to four hours. 



An attempt was made to check the drift of the vessel 

 with a sea anchor, but it had little effect because of the 

 low drift velocity. Also an attempt was made to improve 

 the verticality of the wires by the use of the auxiliary 

 engine. This was very nearly disastrous to the lines 

 which were out, and had to be abandoned. 



Under adverse conditions of wind and current the 

 wire angle was large and, with the original messenger 

 equipment, a station could not be occupied successfully 

 when the angle was greater than about 45° because of the 

 uncertainty as to whether or not the messenger would 

 slide down the wire. This limiting wire angle was in- 

 creased about 10° through loading the brass messengers 

 by filling drill holes with lead. The dimensions of the 

 messengers remained as before but the weight was in- 

 creased from seven to thirteen ounces. The use of too 

 heavy a messenger must be guarded against because of 

 the possibility of damage to the water bottle. 



In the biological work, some difficulty was experi- 

 enced at first because of the silk nets being torn bytheir 

 rapid motions caused by the roll and pitch of the vessel. 

 Considerable improvement was effected by attaching the 

 net line to a twenty-foot length of rubber airplane rope. 

 Some idea of the strains to which the nets were subject- 

 ed may be gained from the statement that at times the 

 surge of the vessel elongated the rope to twenty-eight 

 feet. 



A feature of design or arrangement of an expedition 

 ship that may be lost sight of easily is the matter of 

 storage space for collected specimens. This becomes 

 of even greater importance if the field is not limited to 

 plankton and small marine life. Not only should such 

 storage space be ample, but also it should be accessible. 



It is recommended that on oceanographic expeditions 

 of the future the chemical and biological work be sepa- 

 rated both as regards personnel and laboratory space, 

 if at all possible. It is recommended also that the chem- 

 ists and biologists be relieved of such time-consuming 

 labor as cleaning glassware and keeping the laboratories 

 in order. 



Provision should be made on future research ves- 

 sels for a water-bottle rack on which bottles of the Nan- 

 sen type could be placed after being brought up. This 

 rack should be of convenient height for drawing off the 

 samples and should be sheltered from the weather, yet 

 reasonably convenient to the davits. If the rack is prop- 

 erly sheltered, the thermometers need not be removed 



from the bottles but may be left in place to come to tem- 

 perature equilibrium, tt would be desirable to carry 

 equipment suitable for the calibration of the deep-sea 

 thermometers, at least such equipment as would be 

 necessary for determining the ice point. 



A diving outfit suitable for shallow depths is not 

 only useful for the study of marine life and coral forma- 

 tions near shore but was found to be of service in the 

 repair of the sheathing on the Carnegie and once was 

 used for helping untangle fouled lines in oceanographic 

 work. It would be well to include such equipment on 

 another expedition ship. 



Routine measurements of salinity were made on the 

 Carnegie by physical rather than chemical means. A 

 Wenner salinity bridge was used and was checked against 

 silver nitrate titrations. 



If the program permits, measurements of submarine 

 illumination might be included on future expeditions. 

 Comparative measurements can be made by means of 

 Secchi's disc, and Poole and Atkins (1) have used a pho- 

 toelectric cell to advantage. This field has not been 

 thoroughly investigated and the adoption of any method 

 of measurement should be the result of careful consid- 

 eration. 



For obtaining profiles of the ocean bottom, sonic 

 methods of sounding are necessary for rapid work. It 

 would be desirable to have several different types of 

 sonic depth finders on a new vessel, completely to cover 

 the range of depths encountered and as an occasional 

 check on the accuracy of the instruments. The better 

 directional qualities of shorter sound waves make it de- 

 sirable to include a supersonic machine in the equipment. 

 In addition to the Navy type of instrument, a Fathometer 

 and a supersonic should be installed as a minimum of 

 equipment. A more intensive program than was carried 

 out on the Carnegie is recommended. An unsatisfactory 

 arrangement on the Carnegie was the installation of the 

 motor generator control panel in a different part of the 

 vessel from the location of the depth finder. These ordi- 

 narily would be closely adjacent. For ease and accuracy 

 of sonic sounding, the quietest and most vibrationless 

 propelling machinery should be installed. For this rea- 

 son, as well as for flexibility and economy, electric 

 drive is recommended. 



Whether the prime mover for the generator is to be 

 a Diesel engine or a steam turbine is another matter. 

 Bothersome vibration may be less with a steam turbine 

 than with a Diesel, but more space would be required. 

 If steam is used, it is recommended that the boiler fur- 

 nace be an oil burner both for comfort and reduction of 

 labor, and because of the lesser interference with at- 

 mospheric-electric work. An item to be remembered 

 is the fact that a new vessel should be designed with 

 both tropical and cold weather in mind. In hot climates 

 the Diesel has the advantage, but if such a power plant 

 is selected a small steam heating plant should be in- 

 stalled for use in cold weather. 



As meteorology is so closely related to certain 

 phases of oceanography, work in this field would be 

 done in any case on an oceanographic vessel. It would 

 be most unfortunate if the meteorological program were 

 not of such scope as to make the fullest possible use of 

 such an opportunity. The program should include meas- 

 urements by sea-water and air thermographs, wet- and 

 dry-bulb thermometers distributed at various heights, 

 evaporimeters, and rain gages. Measurements of baro- 

 metric pressure by a number of types of instruments 



