MAJOR PROGRAM AREAS 



17 



Fig. 11. Aquanaut Sonnenburg in Sealab II wearing an ex- 

 perimental electrically heated pressure -compensated 

 wet suit 



OCEANOGRAPHY 



Programs in physical oceanography and marine biology were conducted by civilian 

 oceanographer-aquanauts from the U.S. Naval Mine Defense Laboratory and Scripps Institution 

 of Oceanography. 



The Mine Defense Laboratory programs (Chapter 39) were slanted toward physical ocean- 

 ography, with emphasis on those aspects which have potential usefulness for application to 

 naval problems. Major areas covered included a study of general environmental parameters, 

 underwater surveying and mapping, ambient-noise conditions, investigation of the effects of the 

 Sealab n environment on plants, bottom-roughness power spectrum, diffusion studies of bottom 

 boundary layer and near-bottom turbulence, ultraviolet fluorescence, and wave-induced bottom 

 motion (Fig. 12). 



The results of these studies indicate that even though Sealab II was not designed primarily 

 as an oceanographic platform, it does provide the capability to attack many significant oceano- 

 graphic problems, the solution of which would lead to a better understanding of the marine en- 

 vironment and how to exploit it. 



The aim of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography biology program (Chapter 40) was to 

 describe the biological activity in, on, and just above the sea floor in the vicinity of the habitat 

 and as far away as divers could operate with safety. The program was designed to describe 

 the normal bottom fauna and to document any qualitative or quantitative changes that took place 

 after Sealab was placed on the bottom. This was done by determining the identities, abun- 

 dances, and spatial distributions of the organisms attracted to the Sealab site throughout the 

 operation and comparing and contrasting these with the normal sandy-bottom and canyon 



