strong winds in the TEKTITE II area were confined mostly 

 to passing squalls. However, the prolonged period of 

 southerly winds did cause abnormally high seas along 

 the southern coasts including Lameshur Bay. 



From the viewpoint of the National Weather Service units 

 involved, only minor difficulties were encountered in 

 supporting TEKTITE II. Most of these were communications 

 problems. Knowing that there were times when the Base 

 Camp at St. John could not contact San Juan by phone 

 and might not have received the latest forecast by 

 other means, we adopted the practice of initiating 

 calls whenever, in our judgement, some feature of the 

 weather situation deserved special mention. Often 

 these calls were merely a check with the San Juan office 

 to determine if they had been in contact with the TEKTITE 

 II office. If not, we usually contacted the office of 

 the Scientific Coordinator, Ocean Suirvey Program. On 

 some occasions we received calls from the Virgin Islands 

 when attempts to contact San Juan failed. Thus the value 

 of having two weather offices familiar with the project 

 was demonstrated. 



In an effort to provide additional upper air coverage 

 for the area of the Virgin Islands during the hurricane 

 season, and to provide adequate wind data in support of 

 oceanographic experiments, the NASA Wallops Island 

 Station made available and installed upper air sounding 

 equipment on St. John, including expendables and logistic 

 support. Unfortunately equipment damage resulting from 

 heavy rains made it necessary to terminate the effort. 



STUDY OF SEDIMENTATION ON THE VIRGIN ISLAND PLATFORM 

 IN THE VICINITY OF ST. THOMAS 



Dr. Charles W. Welby 

 North Carolina State University 



ABSTRACT 



Geochemical work on the approximately 90 samples collected 

 during the TEKTITE II Ocean Survey Program is underway. 

 The bulk of the samples collected are carbonate mud. 



The fathograms suggest the presence of some interesting 

 topography on the platform, and the possibility that evidence 

 for sea level changes may be present. A good High Resolution 

 Boomer survey is needed as well as some coring. 



The bottom sampling done suggests that a program of coring 

 to 20 feet, if not deeper, may be feasible. 



VII-44 



