SCIENCE AND THE SEA 



addition to the regular crew, four highly trained U. S. Weather 

 Bureau technicians are assigned to each vessel to conduct the 

 meteorological program. 



These ships remain at sea from 25 days to 6 weeks. United 

 States ships spend 21 days "on station" steaming within the 10-mile 

 square center of the station grid. The depth at each station is well 

 over 1.000 fathoms. However, the U. S. Coast Guard has marker 

 buoys moored at ocean stations CHARLIE. NOVEMBER and PAPA, 

 and in the near future plans to have all U. S. stations so marked. 



For all practical purposes, the Commanding Officer of a station 

 vessel does not need to know his exact position. However, it is 

 obvious that the greater navigational accuracy he can achieve, the 

 greater will be the accuracy of fixes to aircraft, meteorological data 

 obtained, as well as being in a better position to commence a search 

 and rescue mission. Under average conditions the accuracy of a 

 radar fix given to aircraft at a slant range of 50 miles is about 

 7 miles. At a slant range of 100 miles the accuracy is about 10 miles. 



The United States nominally operates 18 vessels in this program, 

 3 for each of the assigned stations. However, the U. S. Coast 

 Guard actually employs a total of 32 vessels in the program. This 

 additional number is to maintain a uniform schedule throughout the 

 Coast Guard Fleet. Thus, these ships are available for other duties 

 as well as ocean station patrols. 



When the wind exceeds force 10, Commanding Officers of ocean 

 station vessels have found that they are usually required to steam 

 at slow speed. However, the decision to run with the wind, or 

 place it on one bow, depends on circumstances. Usually it is 

 preferable to place the wind on one bow, so that it will not interfere 

 with the upper air balloon launching schedule. During the 23 years 

 that weather ships have been in operation, there have been few 

 occasions when very prolonged storm conditions forced a ship outside 

 the limits of the station grid. 



ATLANTIC-HISTORY 



The prelude of an international weather service began with The 

 International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, "Convention 

 and Final Act", which was signed in London, 31 May 1929. During 

 this conference it was agreed that ships encountering tropical 

 storms would make weather observations and further transmit their 

 findings. Such reports were to include: (a) position and movement 

 of the storms, (b) barometric pressure, (c) barometric change during 

 the previous two to four hours prior to the storm, (d) wind direction, 

 (e) wind force, (f) state of sea, and (g) sea swell. Amplifying 

 reports were to be transmitted every three hours thereafter, as long 

 as the ship remained under the influence of the storm. In addition, 

 certain selected ships were to take meteorological observations at 

 specified hours for the benefit of other ships and various official 

 meteorological services. 



At the onset of World War 11 in, 1939 surface weather reports 

 which had normally been transmitted by transatlantic shipping were 

 discontinued. For their own protection, belligerent nations required 

 their ships to maintain radio silence. The passage of the Neutrality 

 Act then halted U. S. shipping in the European trade. This resulted 

 in the almost complete absence of weather reports from the North 



Atlantic Ocean area. Further complicating the situation was the 

 increase in transoceanic flying activity, which required complete 

 and accurate weather information. Thus, there was a self-evident 

 need for an Atlantic weather observational service from ships 

 strategically placed to best provide the required meteorological data. 



In January 1940 the President withdrew the U. S. Coast Guard 

 cutters performing neutrality patrol off the Grand Banks and 

 directed the Coast Guard to establish ocean weather stations with 

 the vessels. Two stations were established 10 February 1940 namely, 

 Atlantic "1" and "2" at 35.6°North, 53.3° West and 37.7°North. 

 41.2° West, respectively between Bermuda and the Azores. These 

 stations were occupied by cutters with the Weather Bureau 

 providing the meteorological personnel and equipment. 



In 1940 Great Britain was suffering great shipping losses and a 

 decision was made to fly American-built bombers directly from 

 Newfoundland to Britain. This resulted in the establishment of a 

 third ocean station about 500 miles northeast of Newfoundland. By 

 July 1942 the first fighter planes were being flown across the 

 Atlantic via a chain of U. S. Army airfields bridging the ocean from 

 Labrador to Greenland to Iceland. As a result of this new opera- 

 tion, two more plane guard stations were established; one at 

 58°North, 52°West, between Labrador and Greenland, and the other 

 at 63°North, 31.5°West, between Greenland and Iceland. These 

 plane guard stations were primarily established for air-sea rescue 

 and navigational assistance rather than to obtain meteorological 

 data. As the stations were not a part of the ocean weather program, 

 few meteorological records were obtained. 



The number and locations of ocean weather stations manned by 

 U. S. ships were originally determined by the U. S. Weather Bureau 

 in consultation with commercial airlines. With the advent of the 

 war, stations were determined by the cognizant committees under 

 the Joint Chiefs of Staff, primarily the Meteorological Committee, 

 of which the Weather Bureau was a member. Later, with the 

 establishment of the Air Coordinating Committee, that body recom- 

 mended and approved the number and location of stations. The 

 locations of previously mentioned Atlantic "1" and "2" were changed 

 several times during the war as the increase of air transportation 

 dictated different flight routes. Even these positions could not be 

 maintained consistently, due to enemy submarines and rescue duty. 

 Consequently, these two stations were moving much of the time. 



The operational control of the entire weather patrol in the 

 Atlantic Ocean was assumed by the Navy for reasons of military 

 security and exercise of command in March 1944. The United States 

 stations in the North Atlantic were then operated by Task Force 24 

 and station numbers as well as locations varied in accordance with 

 requirements. 



After VE Day in May 1945 the biggest movement of aircraft in 

 history began across the North and South Atlantic to the Pacific 

 theater. To safeguard the tremendous increase in air traffic, plans 

 were laid for increasing the number of weather stations in the 

 Atlantic resulting in a total of 21 by June 1945. Of these 21 stations, 

 6 were maintained by the United Kingdom. 2 by Brazil, 2 jointly by 

 Brazil and the United States, and the remaining 11 by the United 

 States. 



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