a quay, A wharf extending into the water, with 

 accommodations for ships on both sides, is called 

 a PIER. See DOCK, JBTTY, LANDING, MOLE. (17) 



WHISTLE BUOY . A buoy equipped with a whistle. In 

 the United States a whistle buoy is usually a coni- 

 cal buoy with a whistle on top. (17) 



WHITE NOISE . White noise is a noise whose spectrum 

 density (or spectrum level) is substantially inde- 

 pendent of frequency over a specified range. (2) 



WHO . World Health Organization. 



WHOI. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



WHOLE GALE . See GALE. 



WIANCKO PRESSURE MEASURING SYSTEM . This pressure 

 measuring system is used to measure and record 

 water pressure changes of 0.1 inch to 80.0 inches 

 to a depth of 200 feet. The system includes three 

 basic units. The underwater unit consists of a 

 differential pressure gauge in a housing which also 

 contains a hydraulic filter to compensate for 

 static pressures and a calibration relay circuit. 

 The differential pressure gauge produces an elec- 

 trical signal which is proportional to the pressure 

 variation by changing the ratio of two inductances . 

 The electronic unit contains two resistances which 

 complete a bridge circuit with the two inductances 

 and produce a d.c. voltage proportional to the 

 pressure variations. The recording unit is a 

 recording milliammeter which serves as the indicat- 

 ing device for the pressure variation. (35) 



WILLIWAW . A sudden blast of wind descending from 

 a mountainous coast to the sea, especially in the 

 vicinity of either the Strait of Magellan or the 

 Aleutian Islands. (17) 



WILLY-WILLY . A tropical cyclone which originates 

 over the Timor Sea and moves southwest and then 

 southeast across the interior of northwestern 

 Australia. (17) 



WINCH . Essentially the winch is a piece of the 

 deck machinery of an oceanographic research ship 

 which is used to lower and raise various pieces 

 and types of equipment and devices such as current 

 meters , hydrophones , corers , plankton nets and 

 numerous other types of equipment. 



The largest type of winch used by oceano- 

 graphic research ships is the deep-sea anchoring 

 winch. This winch uses steel wire rope in lengths 

 of 20,000 to 35,000 feet. Some winches use special- 

 ly tapered wire, while others use wire of about 

 1/2-inch diameter. The tapered wire can be used 

 to greater depths than the untapered wire because 

 it has been calculated that a vertical steel wire 

 of any diameter will not support its own weight 

 with a safety factor of two if it is more than 

 30,000 feet long (Von Arx, 1954, after Stommel) . 

 Such a winch is used for deep-sea anchoring at 

 great depths for periods ranging from a few hours 

 to a month. Other uses to which this winch is put 

 include bottom dredging, towing large midwater 

 trawis, taking large bottom cores, and obtaining 

 samples of sea water for carbon-14 (C-*-^) analysis. 



The winch the oceanographer probably uses the 

 most is a medium size winch which holds 20,000- to 

 30,000-foot lengths of wire rope. This wire is 

 about 5/32 inch in diameter and is usually stain- 

 less steel. The winch is a high-speed type and is 

 the one from which the majority of oceanographic 

 instruments are lowered. It is used for water 

 sampling bottles, current meters, underwater cam- 

 eras, small coring devices, small dredges, plankton 

 nets, various temperature measuring instruments, 

 and numerous other types of equipment . 



One of the smallest winches used on an oceano- 

 graphic ship is the bathythermograph, or BT, winch. 



This winch is used to lower the BT, both while 

 underway and when lylng-to on station. The BT is 

 a recording thermometer capable of registering tem- 

 perature against depth down to 900 feet). The 

 winch uses about 2,500 feet of 3/32-inch diameter 

 stainless steel wire. It is sometimes used in shal- 

 low water for taking small bottom samples when 

 underway with a specially designed bottom sampler 

 called a "SCOOPFISH". Mechanical current meters 

 and vertical hand plankton nets are sometimes 

 lowered from the BT winch. (35) 



WIND CHOP . See CHOP. 



WIND CURRENT . A current created by the action of 

 the wind. From theoretical considerations, cur- 

 rents produced by winds in the open sea will set 

 to the right of the direction towards which the 

 wind is blowing if in the northern hemisphere and 

 to the left of this direction if in the southern 

 hemisphere. (14) 



WIND SET-UP . See SET-UP WIND. 



WIND TIDE . See SET-UP WIND. 



WIND WAVE . A wave created by the action of the 

 wind. The ordinary waves which are continually 

 breaking on the beaches are usually of this type. 

 It is not necessary that the wind be blowing in 

 the iimnediate vicinity as such waves may result 

 from winds far out to sea. (14) 



WINTER ICE . Ice created in a single season, and 

 therefore less than a year old. It is usually 

 less than 12 feet thick. (17) 



WIRE ANGLE REMOTE INDICATOR . The instrument is 

 clamped on the hydrographic wire, after the wire 

 has been paid out to the working position. The 

 remote indicators are mounted in the pilot house, 

 permitting the ship's engines to be used in maneu- 

 vering to obtain zero wire angle. The sensing 

 element of the wire angle remote indicator is a 

 180° POTENTIOMETER. The sliding arm of the poten- 

 tiometer is attached to a heavy pendulum. Two 

 potentiometers are mounted at right angles to each 

 other to furnish the desired directional indication. 

 The entire case of the sensing unit is filled with 

 damping fluid to minimize undesirable pendulum 

 motion. The angle indications are given in terms 

 of degrees fore and aft and port and starboard. 

 (30) 



WIRE DRAG . A buoyed wire towed at a given depth 

 to determine whether any isolated rocks, small 

 shoals, etc., extend above that depth, or for de- 

 termining the least depth of an area. (27) 



WIRE ROPE . Various constructions of wire rope are 

 designated by the number of strands in the rope and 

 the number of wires in each strand. 



The following are brief definitions of some 

 common terms encountered: 



Airplane Strand: A small 7- or 19-wire galvan- 

 ized strand made from plow steel or crucible steel 

 wire. 



Cable Laid Rope: A compound laid rope consist- 

 ing of several ropes or several layers of strands 

 laid together Into one rope, as, for instance, 6 by 

 6 by 7. 



Crane Rope: Wire rope consisting of 6 strands 

 of 37 wires around a hemp center. 



Elevator Rope: Wire rope usually made of iron 

 and composed of 6 strands of 19 wires each, and a 

 hemp core. 



Extra-flexible Hoisting Rope: A rope consist- 

 ing of 8 strands of 19 wires each with a large 

 hemp center. 



Flat Rope: A rope consisting of alternate right 

 and left lay rope strands, each rope strand consist- 

 ing of 4 strands of 7 wires, all sewed together with 

 a number of soft iron sewing wires. 



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