Appendix III) . A strip mosaic of data from the December 19 overflight was 

 constructed by the Air Force 9th Tactical Intelligence Squadron, Langley Air 

 Force Base, Virginia (Photograph 22) . The location and geometry of the plume 

 can be seen faintly in this strip mosaic. 



Additional photographs superimposed on the strip mosaic in Photograph 22 

 are shown in strip mosaic form in Photograph 23, which therefore represents 

 all the imagery obtained during the December 19 overflight and may be useful 

 for more detailed studies of the plume characteristics. On several of the 

 flight lines photographs of the slick were obtained, with time separations 

 that provide quantitative information on the motions of the oil in this 

 region. Photographs 19 and 20 are of the same area separated by about 9 

 minutes. Photograph 19 was taken at 10:29:03; its nadir point is 41° 0.2 N, 

 69° 20.3 W, and the vertical edge is 5°. Photograph 20 was taken 9 minutes 

 later at 10:37:47. Its nadir point was 41° 01.8 N, 69° 19.8 W, or 3300 feet 

 away in a direction of 136°. The orientation of this photograph is 348°. 

 The width of the photo is approximately 7850 feet. These two photographs 

 indicate that the oil slick rotated 5° counterclockwise in a region of cur- 

 rent shear and moved about 0.44 mile to the southeast. Also indicated are 

 the development of stringers at almost right angles to the direction of the 

 wind (250°). It should be noted that the coordinates given to NASA for the 

 location of the Argo Merchant on December 19 were not correct. They were 

 given as 40° 01' N, 69° 28.5' W, but the actual coordinates were 40° 02' N, 

 69° 27.5' W. Thus, the grid labeling on the mosaics is incorrect by 1 minute 

 in both latitude and longitude. 



Coverage from the NASA overflight on December 22 is shown in Figure VII- 

 1, which also gives the approximate locations of five frames taken during 

 that flight. Typical examples of the photographs obtained are shown in 

 Photographs 24 to 28 (Appendix III) . Data from the flights on December 22 

 and January 3, 5, and 6 are being printed and reviewed. 



On December 21, the SOR Team requested support from the U. S. Navy to 

 supply a diving team to examine the underside of the oil slick from the Argo 

 Merchant. Four divers from the Atlantic Fleet Audio Visual Command responded 

 to the request and were on the scene on December 23. During the dive they 

 acquired 200 feet of 16-millimeter color movie footage, as well as numerous 

 still phtographs. The following debriefing describes their findings. 



The four Navy divers were transported by a USCG helicopter to the Vig-i- 

 lant at 0830 AM on December 23, 1976. By 1030, two divers were in the water. 

 Both had trouble descending because of the cold water, 5 to 6°C (41 to 43°F) . 

 The cutter had given them a depth indication of 48 feet, but to their sur- 

 prise the bottom was at 140 feet. The precise location of the divers is not 

 known, but they were directly under the path of the oil slick, which was 

 headed northeast from the Argo Merchant. The visibility was 10 to 20 feet. 

 The divers hit bottom and tried to get good visual coverage. The bottom was 

 clean white sand, covered with clams. The divers made a complete circle 

 without spending too much time on the bottom. They filmed and observed a 10- 

 to 15-foot square area and found no visual traces of oil. (The oil slick had 

 passed over the area they observed because of tides twice a day for 7 days.) 

 When the divers came back up, the oil looked like "burned carbon" and also 



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