tion which aids in determining age, origin, and 

 movement of water masses and their influences 

 upon marine life. Some of these analyses must 

 be made immediately after water sampling. 

 Other samples may be stored and analyzed 

 ashore at a later date if the facilities of the ship 

 are not adequate. 



A-5 Meteorological Oceanography.— The 



interaction of sea and air and the influence of 

 each medium upon the other is a necessary part 

 of most oceanographic studies. In certain areas 

 prevailing winds affect ocean currents, whereas 

 in others the sea water modifies air tempera- 

 ture. Solar radiation affects the heat budget and 

 influences the biological environment. Thus, 

 meteorological information that must accom- 

 pany all oceanographic observations includes: 

 Air temperatures, wind direction and speed, 

 atmospheric pressure, cloud types and amount, 

 and visibility. 



A-6 Biological Oceanography. — Biological 

 oceanography is concerned with both plant and 

 animal life in the sea. All marine life may be 

 divided into three general groups — the benthos 

 (bottom living), the nekton (swimming), and 

 the ■plankton (wanderers or floating and drift- 

 ing life). The plankton are further divided into 

 phytoplankton (plant forms) and zooplankton 

 (animal forms). Little is known of most of the 

 life cycles of marine life and of pelagic popula- 

 tions. We are interested in the distribution of 

 plankton populations, from both quantitative 

 and qualitative points of view, as well as the 

 distribution and habits of the benthos and nek- 

 ton. Different types of nets are towed in an ef- 

 fort to sample marine life, and panels of various 

 materials are placed in the sea for specified 

 periods of time to determine growth rates of 

 fouling organisms. It is considered that studies 

 in this field may solve many physical problems 

 whicli are believed to be of biological origin. 

 Among these are the influence that marine life 

 may have on the transmission of underwater 

 sound. 



A-7 Geological Oceanography. — Another as- 

 pect of oceanography is submarine geology, es- 

 pecially the nature of the bottom. The tech- 

 niques of echo sounding, seismic exploration, 

 underwater photography, and bottom sampling 

 and coring are gradually providing a picture 

 of the shape, character, and history of the ocean 

 bottom. 



A-8 Oceanographic Platforms. — Principal 

 platforms now being used by oceanographers 

 are surface ships such as those in figures A-1 

 and A-2. In addition, submarines and ocean 

 towers have served ivs satisfactoi-j- platforms, 

 and recently considerable progress has been 



made in developing the potential of unmanned 

 buoys, airplanes and satellites, and undersea 

 vehicles as oceanographic data collection plat- 

 forms. But the surface ship is still the principal 

 survey platform used by the U.S. Naval Ocean- 

 ographic Office. 



A-9 Shipboard Equipment and Facilities.— 



The most basic requirement for an oceano- 

 graphic ship to meet is the provision of a stable 

 platform from which obser^'ations at sea can 

 be made. The more stable the platform the 

 greater the number of working days possible 

 under adverse weather and sea conditions, with 

 the resulting greater return of more accurate 

 data. Coupled with stability is the ability to 

 remain on station with a minimum amount of 

 drift. Thus, a deep-draft ship with a minimum 

 amount of freeboard to give windage is desir- 

 able. Other basic requirements for an oceano- 

 graphic ship include adequate deck working 

 space and machinery, laboratory facilities, ex- 

 tended cruising range, and living accommoda- 

 tions for the scientists and crew. Desirable fea- 

 tures include control of the ship's heading at 

 very slow speeds and while lying-to on station, 

 ability to maintain silent ship conditions (with 

 batteries substituting for generators) for pe- 

 riods up to at least 12 hours, and adequate 

 weight-handling equipment such as booms and 



A-10 Deck Space and Machinery. — Open 



and uncluttered deck space is needed to handle 

 the numerous pieces of large oceanographic 

 equipment, of which some are very heavy while 

 others are long and awkward to handle. Deck 

 machinery essential to the oceanographer in- 

 cludes specially designed winches, Dooms, and 

 cranes. 



A-11 Shipboard Winches.— The largest of 

 the winches used by oceanographic research 

 ships are the deep-sea anchoring ivinch and the 

 deep-sea coring ivinch. These winches carry 

 more than 45,000 feet of %- to %-inch tapered 

 wire rope or 20,000 to 35,000 feet of 1/2-inch 

 nontapered wire rope. These winches are used 

 for anchoring the ship, in addition to lowering 

 cameras, towing bottom dredges and larger mid- 

 water trawls, and obtaining large bottom cores. 

 The winch the oceanographer probably uses 

 most is the oceanographic-hydrographic winch. 

 This is a medium size winch which holds 20,000 

 to 30,000 feet of %2" or y^e-iiich wire rope or 

 approximately 12,000 feet of 7-conductor elec- 

 trical cable. The winch is a high-speed type and 

 is the one from which the majority of oceano- 

 grapic instruments are lowered. It is used for 

 water sampling bottles, current meters, under- 

 water cameras, small coring devices, small 

 dredges, plankton nets, various temperature 



A-2 



