Chapter 39 

 OCEANOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATIONS 



W. H. Tolbert and G. B. Dowling 



U.S. Navy Mine Defense Laboratory 



Panama City, Florida 



INTRODUCTION 



Since the U. S. Navy Mine Defense Laboratory has had a long-standing interest and expe- 

 rience in the application of diving for scientific purposes (1, 2, and 3), a program for conducting 

 oceanographic studies from Sealab II was formulated. Development of this program was guided 

 by the following general considerations. 



1. Conduct research which emphasized having the trained eye on the spot. 



2. Explore the feasibility of Sealab-type habitats as oceanographic platforms. 



3. Attempt to take advantage of the potentially longer bottom times at depths afforded by 

 Sealab. 



4. Perform research in the area of physical oceanography with emphasis on those aspects 

 which have potential usefulness for application to naval problems. 



The proposed program resulting from the foregoing considerations, after several modifica- 

 tions, provided for both the general monitoring of undersea weather and more detailed stud- 

 ies in a number of specific problem areas. In all, it was proposed to record and monitor four 

 general environmental parameters and to investigate, in more detail, 15 specific problem areas. 



The writers were aware that there were a number of factors which might preclude the 

 successful accomplishment of all the proposed efforts. Among these factors were: 



1. The program was deliberately designed to be overly ambitious, in order to insure max- 

 imum utilization of bottom time; e.g., in the event that certain tasks were not possible even to 

 attempt, there would still be sufficient work available. 



2. It was necessary to provide flexilility to allow for the inclusion of new research tasks 

 which may be revealed only after gaining experience in the Sealab environment. 



3. An imdeter mined amount of time would have to be diverted from the oceanographic pro- 

 gram for participation in humanfactor studies, supply, housekeeping, and watchstanding. 



In the sections that follow there will be detailed discussion of the final planned program, 

 including those results and conclusions that are presently available, and/or a discussion, where 

 necessary, of reasons why certain parts of the program were not successfully accomplished. 



Following this there will be a general discussion of conclusions and recommendations 

 which hopefully will aid in better planning and execution of future Sealab investigations. 



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