give better resultcs; 

 6, Preliminary flight to determine best height and baseline suggestedo 

 The s.tereo-photos were made three years after the date of this first nieet- 

 ing. Much thought, discussion, planning and revision took place in that in- 

 terval, and yet the final operational plan differed little in essence from that 

 set forth in the VonArx note which is outlined above. 



At this pointy work on the problem ceased, and almost a year passed 

 before interest was revived. Wave theory was advancing at a rapid rate, 

 ajod W. J. Pierson, convinced that basic theoretical conclusions should be 

 substantiated by experimental work, persuaded the Office of Naval Research 

 tO: begin a project of aerial stereo-photography. Shortly afterward, the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution agreed to help on the problem. Dr. 

 Iselin, Senior Oceanographer, offered the services of the R V ATLiANTIS 

 to provide a horizontal scale factor and to obtain with a capacitance wave 

 pole recorder a record of the sea surface as a fiuiction of time at a fixed 

 point in order to determine the sea surface spectrum as a fixnction of frs^ 

 quency. Since this frequency spectrum is the integral (with respect to 

 direction) of a transformation of the two-dimensional spectrum to be obtain- 

 ed by stereo-photography, it is the only method of testing the validity of fee 

 directional spectrum. 



As the mechanics of the project began to crystallize, the maltitw.de of 



"minor problems" associated with an air-sea venture of this sort became 



evident, and a meeting was scheduled to coordinate the facilities available 



19 



