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DISCUSSION: John F. Holmes 



I believe Dr. Barnes and Dr. Lyons have covered the subject of the 

 Arctic very completely. There is only one point I wish to add and assign my 

 own set of values to, and that is: The major difficulty in making any scientific 

 observation is transportation of men and equipment across the Arctic ocean. 

 I believe suitable transportation amounts to 90% of the problem of oceanography 

 in the Arctic. 



My experience has indicated that the present oceanographic instruments 

 will be as useful in the Arctic Ocean as in any other ocean. The ice cover may 

 be more of an assest than a barrier. We found that we could make a station in 

 almost the same elapsed time on the ice field as could be made on rough ocean. 



DISCUSSION: William G. Metcalf 



I believe that the combination of Dr. Barnes' paper and Lyon's remarks 

 concerning it are extraordinarily complete. There is only one thing which I 

 should like to add -- something which we did not suspect at the time of the sym- 

 posium. 



The use of plastic bottles for impounding water samples in the Arctic is 

 mentioned. Both on recent aircraft operations and on the ice island, T-3, we 

 have had very discouraging experience with plastic bottles. It seems that their 

 high rate of shrinkage in low temperatures frequently forces brine out of the bot- 

 tles no matter how tightly the cap is put on. In an extreme case on T-3, a 

 sample was reduced in salinity by more than 15 parts per mille. Many cases of 

 losses of from 2 to 2 or 3 parts per mille have been observed. 



As a result of this, we have lost a very fair share of the salinity data 

 which was gathered at great trouble and expense. If we can prevent others from 

 making the samemistake, then at least the difficulties we had will result in 

 some good being done. 



