44 THE OCEAN FLOOR 



cessful, this will benefit deep-sea stratigraphy by 

 increasing our knowledge of the very little known 

 ecology and distribution of surface plankton organisms, 

 which contribute such a large part of the material 

 deposited on the ocean floor. 



The exploring of the ocean floor — a new science — 

 has become of great interest to workers in many allied 

 fields: oceanography, general geophysics and geo- 

 chemistry, deep-sea biology and paleontology, as well 

 as astronomy, archaeology, and paleoclimatology. The 

 vast operation, extending over an area greatly exceeding 

 that of all five continents together, tends in this second 

 half of the twentieth century to become a focus of inter- 

 national cooperation. Its study requires a highly 

 specialized technique and fairly large ships, as well as 

 very powerful equipment. The experience gained by the 

 "Albatross" cruise shows that the ideal ship for deep-sea 

 research should be at least 1,200, and preferably 1,500, 

 dead-weight tons, and should have a cruising speed of 

 at least 12 knots, and a radius of action without refuel- 

 ing of at least 8,000 nautical miles (that of the 

 "Albatross" was 20,000). It should be provided with a 

 winch powerful enough to raise a load of 1,500 kilo- 

 grams at a speed of three to four feet a second. It should 

 have two independent recording echographs giving a 

 detailed bottom profile from the greatest depths en- 

 countered, and it must aftord laboratories and accom- 

 modation, preferably air-conditioned, for a scientific 

 and technical staff of at least 1 2. It should have nothing 



