SCIENCE AND THE SEA 



to evaluate, generally, the ships-of -opportunity program. At adjourn- 

 ment one thing was apparent: the nation's legislative, scientific, and 

 industrial leaders involved in oceanography were in complete accord 

 that the ships-of-opportunity concept was sound. 



In July 1965. a further experiment in PROJECT NEPTUNE was 

 carried out in the Atlantic Ocean, utilizing the SS Export Champion 

 of the American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines on its New York-Rota- 

 Genoa run. A mobile laboratory was transported to the departure 

 point, in this case. New York Harbor, secured aboard with the aid of 

 Naval Oceanographic Office and General Motors technicians, and in 

 less than 48 hours the vessel sailed with an operating unit of five 

 persons embarked. During the voyage, two types of expendable 

 BTs were successfully streamed, the BT data acquired being sent to 

 Fleet Weather Central, Rota, Spain. General Motors had installed 

 a device that directly digitized the input onto a radio-teletype tape, 

 to the dismay of FWC, Rota, which had not expected a merchant 

 vessel to possess this capability. The high-speed net tow (jet-net) 

 was damaged during the Atlantic crossing by being pulled against 

 the ship's side by propeller action. It was rebuilt in Rota and suc- 

 cessfully operated on the Rota-Genoa run. The continuous recording 

 water temperature probe unit (NSRT) installed, by NAVOCEANO 

 operated successfully throughout the cruise. 



PROJECT NEPTUNE. Atlantic, was considered by project 

 officials to be a definite success in demonstrating that oceanographic 

 units can be quickly mounted aboard merchant ships with little in- 

 port installation time and no shake-down, and that the basic sensors 

 can operate at 19 knots across an entire ocean without interfering 

 with a ship's normal operating procedure. 



In another experiment, the Department of Interior's Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries instigated a 14-month test project utilizing 

 the Matson Navigation Company's SS Califominn as a ship-of- 

 opportunity. Using an expendable device, crew members of the 

 Californian obtain temperature data every 6 hours to a depth of 

 1,500 feet along its track from Honolulu to San Francisco. These data 

 are of interest to oceanographers in general and of vita! concern to 

 the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in its study of the seasonal 

 and year-to-year variations of the California Current region. Here, 

 in an area that was once an opulent sardine fishery, large quantities 

 of albacore, salmon, mackeral. bluefin tuna, and game fishes are 

 taken each year, and major resources such as anchovy and hake exist 

 untapped. Proper monitoring of the environment will be an important 

 element in assuring that these resources may be utilized now, yet 

 maintained for future generations to exploit. The success of this 

 experiment will undoubtedly encourage a further and more extensive 

 use of ships-of-opportunity for fishery research. 



DISCUSSION 



The cumulative successes achieved during these modest experi- 

 ments with unorthodox research platforms has assuredly earned a 

 place for the merchant ship in all future programming of the nation's 

 oceanographic effort. Even at this relatively early stage of develop- 

 ment, the theory that ships-of-opportunity can greatly expand our 

 oceanic research capabilities has been soundly proven. A post 

 analysis of their accomplishments thus far shows that valuable raw 

 data concerning the sea's thermal structure can be provided by these 

 ships over large portions of the oceans. Viable specimens of surface 

 organisms can be taken at relatively high speeds with the prototype 

 jet-net, and surface waters can be analyzed for almost any parameter 

 known. The most surprising aspect of the several programs 

 attempted is that this much has been achieved, for the most part, 

 with "on-the-sheif", practically obsolete, instrumentation. 



Because of the lack of more sophiscated instrumentation, the 

 ships-of-opportunity programs are, at the present time, severely 

 restricted in the types of observations they can make. In the case 

 of the bathythermograph program, expansion of the network utilizing 

 ships-of-opportunity has one serious limitation. A ship must slow 

 to approximately 12 to 16 knots for 15 to 20 minutes while streaming 

 a bathythermograph. The number of American Flag commercial 

 ships operating at the low speeds acceptable for mechanical BT 

 observing is at present very small and decreasing steadily each year. 

 Furthermore, available MSTS platforms will have been exhausted 

 in the near future. Therefore, if the Naval Oceanographic Office 

 is to continue to engage in a vigorous BATHY Network expansion 

 program, a capability must be developed to enable vessels to make 



BT observations at speeds up to 30 knots. Accordingly, utilization 

 of an expendable BT system is being planned for ships-of-opportunity 

 beginning in Fiscal Year 1968. This system should make the entire 

 American Flag fleet of approximately 900 ships available as potential 

 synoptic network participants. 



In spite of the amazing successes in recovering biological 

 samples at high speed, there are no readily available instruments 

 that can duplicate the feat at any significant depth. The Near 

 Surface Reference Temperature (NSRT) System, now being installed 

 on many participating ships, will provide a vast improvement in a 

 synopsis of surface temperatures throughout a given network of 

 ships. The system is, however, still in an experimental stage which 

 will preclude, for the present, mass production of the instruments 

 involved. The expendable bathythermographs, types of which 

 several manufacturers have introduced, are. at the present time. 

 ca^ji^le of measuring temperatures to a depth of only 1.500 feet. 



Para Buoy 



Airborne instruments such as the ART (Airborne Radiation 

 Thermometer) and the AXBT (Airborne Expendable Bathythermo- 

 graph* have been developed and employed on an experimental basis, 

 adding the element of great mobility to the synoptic coverage of the 

 oceans. Here again, the high cost of instrumentation may prohibit 

 the immediate use of large numbers of aircraft for observational 

 purposes. 



It is generally conceded by all concerned that inadequacies exist 

 in the synoptic type oceanographic data currently available for both 

 research and development and operational analyses and forecasting. 

 They can be summarized as follows: 



(a) Insufficient number of observations. 



(b) Inadequate distribution of data points. 



(c) Variations in instruments, exposure, and observational 

 procedure. 



(d) Crude and inaccurate instrumentation. 



(e) Limitations in acquiring certain required observations. 



(f) Locating error in navigation. 



Some of these inadequacies will eventually be resolved as a re- 

 sult of instrumentation development now underway and planned. 

 When available, new instruments will result in greater accuracy of 

 observation and permit acquisition of additional required parameters 

 such as salinity and sound velocity of the marine environment at 

 greater and greater depths. Standardization of instruments such as 

 the NSRT and the expendable BT will refine the quality of data 



46 



