86 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



though as yet little understood, this subsurface counter-current may 

 have considerable significance with respect to the biology of the area. 



The only upwelling of significance is centered at or slightly south 

 of the Equator. The intensity of this upwelling, as reflected by lower 

 surface temperature, decreases from east (120°W.) to west (180^). Data 

 from Japanese surveys indicate very little upwelling west of 170°E. 

 longitude. The upwelled water, characterized by lower temperature 

 and high phosphates, usually has a northerly movement from the point, 

 of origin. The surface movement may be suddenly checked by con- 

 vergence and sinking. This convergence may take the form of a front 

 with a sudden change of several degrees in surface temperature, or may 

 be reflected as a more gradual change through a zone of transition. In 

 either case, phosphates and zooplankton also usually change, i.e., a de- 

 crease in concentration of PO4 and in zooplankton volume when cross- 

 ing from the southerly colder water into the warmer waters of the 

 South Equatorial Current. 



Data presently at hand permit only generalizations concerning this 

 circulation pattern. Information concerning short period and seasonal 

 fluctuations in the circulation will require additional surveys, these 

 surveys planned to delimit these changes both in space and in time. 



There are not, as yet, sufficient oceanographic data in the Hawaii- 

 an waters to permit even a generalization concerning the circulation or 

 related conditions. This program has been considerably augmented 

 and within six months to a year considerable information will be forth- 

 coming. 



A BRIEF REPORT ON OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 

 IN THE PHILIPPINES 



By D. V. ViLLADOLm 



The oceanographic work now in progress is actually a continua- 

 tion of some phases of the investigations conducted in 1947-50 by the 

 United States Fish and Wildlife Service under the Philippine Fishery 

 Program. Following the termination of its operation in June, 1950, the 

 U.S. Agency turned over to the Bureau of Fisheries the M/V "David 

 Starr Jordan" along with a batch of oceanographic gear and supplies. 

 The boat is a 30-ton otter trawler driven by a 135-lip Murphy full 

 diesel engine, giving a cruising speed of six knots. The principal di- 

 mensions of the boat are: Length overall, 16.2 meters; length at water 

 line, 14.6 meters; breadth, 4.0 meters; and draft, ^,0 meters. A portable 

 laboratory was installed on the afterdeck. 



