Fixed point observations were also commenced in the fall of 1947, 

 and some hydrographic observations are being made at a fixed station 

 39" N., 153° E. and on the way to and from this point, this being carried 

 out by the request of U.S. Forces for the protection of air ways. The 

 administration for these observations is made in the Central Meteo- 

 rological Observatory, use being raiade of four ships for this purpose. 



These government agencies meet in conferences several times every 

 year, the representative members showing each other the results of the 

 observations and expeditions carried out, and discussing the areas to be 

 explored by different agencies in subsequent expeditions. 



Standard Sea-water 



Towards 1940 the standard sea- water furnished by Professor Knudsen 

 became very scarce in this country, while its importation was limited 

 by government policy. It was therefore very difficult to carry out further 

 salinity determination, and some alternative proved necessary. For this 

 reason a committee met in the National Research Council of Japan for 

 preparing standard sea-water in this country. The first meeting was held 

 in November, 1940, in Tokyo, and the programme of preparing the standard 

 sea-water was decided. The procedure was twofold. The secondary 

 standard was prepared from the natural sea-water. The primary standard 

 or Urnormal is the sea-water whose chlorinity is determined with reference 

 to the atomic weight silver, so the preparation of atomic weight silver 

 was a first consideration. The preparation of pure silver was referred to 

 Professor M. Ishibashi, but it has not been prepared as yet. 



The sampling of sea-water was made at the point 25° 00' N. 143° 40' E., 

 about 100 miles south of Titizima Island, B6nin Group. The sea-water 

 taken was increased in concentration by heating so as to have nearly 

 the same salinity as that of Professor Knudsen — that is, about 19-4 per 

 mille. As to the details about the subsequent processes, we have the 

 report of Dr. Y. Miyake, the chemical oceanographer then in charge of 

 preparation. The second sampling was made after the outbreak of the 

 war in 1943, the third after the end of the war in 1947, the sampling 

 being, of course, made near the coasts of Japanese Islands. 



As is very natural the standard sea- water must be a universally 

 accepted one, since the oceanography can be promoted only b)^ an inter- 

 national co-operation and data obtained must be of international standard 

 for the accurate determination of salinity in the adjacent seas of this 

 country depends upon whether our standard is accepted as reliable or not. 

 For this reason, a comparison of our standard with those of Copenhagen 

 and of Woods Hole is an urgent matter now, and in an assembty of leading 

 Japanese oceanographers in June, 1948, K. Kimura and K. Hidaka 

 suggested that several ampuras of our standard should be sent to America 

 and be tested there for comparison. Dr. T. Yam:;moto, the chief of the 

 committee on the preparation of standard sea-water, made some titrations 

 of our standard, using the standard sea- water of Copenhagen and of 

 Woods Hole, kindly furnished recently by American oceanographers by 

 the courtesy of the U.S. Hj^drographic Office, Tokyo Branch. He made 

 an oral report then on the result of titration that the agreement was 

 satisfactory, the value of chlorinity of our standard coinciding with those 

 of Copenhagen and Woods Hole to within 0-01 ' per mille. For the 

 exploration of the Pacific in future there must not be discrepancies in 



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