VOL. VI. NO. 2. 1959

EDITOR: JAN HAHN

Published periodically and distributed to the

Associates of the Woods Hole Oceano-

graphic Institution and others

interested in Oceanography

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

WOODS HOLE. MASSACHUSETTS

HENRY B. BIGELOW

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

RAYMOND STEVENS
President of the Corporation

PAUL M. FYE

Director

COLUMBUS O'D. ISELIN

H. B. Bige/oiv Oceanographer

BOSTWICK H. KETCHUM

Senior Oceanographer

HE WAY of a ship at sea." No matter how much support for ocean-
ography may increase (we hope), nor how much instrumentation will improve,
in the final analysis oceanography will depend on the will and ability of men
to go to sea and do their work. "Man is not a sea-going animal," Columbus
O'D. Iselin wrote many years ago.

Merchant ships now can be guided to avoid the worst gales and the
highest waves, thanks to oceanographic and meteorological knowledge. Studies
started at the Institution are beginning to lead to more sea-kindly vessels. Our
ships, however, may always have to undergo uncomfortable conditions in our
efforts to acquire a full understanding of the oceans.

EDITORIAL

Vol. VI, No. 2, 1959.

Oince the publication of the report: "Oceanography 1960-1970", by the
Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of Sciences-National
Research Council, we have been overwhelmed by attention and requests for
information on oceanography. This most welcome notice culminated in a visit,
during the first two days in June, by the subcommittee on oceanography of
the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. A hearing was held at
the Institution attended by Congressmen: George P. Miller, (D-Cal.) Chairman;
James D. Oliver, (D-Maine); Gerald T. Flynn, (D-Wisc.) and Hastings Keith,
(R-Mass.) Accompanied by the Chief Counsel of the Committee, Mr. John
Drewry and two U. S. Navy representatives, Capt. R. Holden and Cdr. Stan
Freeborn Jr., the Committee members were informed of our work and given
a tour of the Institution.

A friendlier Congressional Committee hearing could not have been
expected. Dr. Paul M. Fye and staff members presented our case and urged
congressional support for a steady advance in all phases of oceanography.

"Rep. Miller said the visit had confirmed his personal feeling of the need
for greater expenditures in studying the basic facts of the ocean." (Providence
Journal).

"The public can help, too, by indicating to their legislators a continuing
interest in advancement of the sea sciences." (Standard Times, New Bedford.)

C. SPOONER

New Ships

The ARIES off Bermuda, at the start of her first voyage
to Woods Hole.

1

G BOLTZ

The CHAIN, 213 feet long, is the largest ship we have operated. She carries a crew of 38
and 28 scientists.

PROPOSED RESEARCH SHIP

DEVI PI
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

Artist's view of a new $3,375,000 research vessel that the Institution hopes to acquire.

o

NE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS of the
Congressional Hearing at Woods
Hole was the announcement of plans
for a new research vessel to replace
the ATLANTIS. Drawn up by the
Institution's Ship Design Committee,
headed by Mr. Francis Minot, the
designs are being prepared by As-
sociate, M. Rosenblatt and Son of
New York.

Last November, the Office of Naval
Research provided us with an ex-
Navy submarine salvage vessel, the
CHAIN. The first of three ships from
the "mothball fleet" to be converted

for oceanographic institutions in the
U. S., the CHAIN represents a stop-
gap move to replace present-day,
outmoded ships until funds become
available to build ships designed for
oceanographic research.

Through a generous gift of Associ-
ate R. J. Reynolds, we acquired the
93' ketch ARIES, early this year. She
has been carefully converted and
has sailed for Bermuda where, for
the next two years, she will study
ocean currents with the aid of Swal-
low buoys, (see page 20).

I\V

E. R. BAYLOR

"Wait for the return roll" cautions Nat Corwin as a 50 gallon Bodman sampler hits the side
of the CRAWFORD. Large samples are needed for radioactive analysis of seawater.

Bostwick H. Ketchum

Plankton biology and

the Development of Atomic

Energy

<^)\,aaioaclive conlawiinalion oj Ine oceans calls Jor
iderslanaing oj Ine jooa cycle in Ine

an inn

seas.

5 the production of the industrial
energy from atomic reactors develops
in the world it is inevitable that some
radioactive isotopes will be added to
marine waters. Measurable amounts
of fission product radioactivities from
fall-out are already present in the
surface waters of the North Atlantic
Ocean, and probably in all oceans.
In England, waste radioactive ma-
terials are being added to the Irish
Sea, and the permissible quantities
of discharge have increased over the
last few years from a few hundred
curies per month to the present limit
of 10,000 curies per month.

If it were not for the biological
population in the sea, man would
have little interest in its radioactive
contamination. Centuries, combined
with very foolish practices, would be
required before the radioactivity of
sea water could be raised to a level
which would be of direct menace to
man himself. This is partly because
the ocean is one of the least radio-
active environments in the world
today. For example, a large fish liv-

ing at 300 feet of depth in the ocean
receives only about one seventh of
the natural radiation that a man
living on a granite mountain does.
Even man in a ship at the sea surface
receives only a quarter of the radia-
tion of our mountain dwelling indi-
vidual.

However, the ocean teems with
life, and through a complicated food
chain, supports a large supply of
food for man. Some elements are
concentrated many-fold by life pro-
cesses in the sea, and these elements
may be transferred as the smaller
creatures are eaten by the progres-
sively large ones. If these elements
were radioactive isotopes this pro-
cess could result in a much higher
concentration of radioactivity in the
living organisms in the ocean than is
present in the water. Our knowledge
of the problems involved in the addi-
tion of radioisotopes to the ocean, is
very incomplete. Filling the gaps in
our knowledge emphasizes again the
need for intensified research in all
problems concerning the vast ex-
panses of the oceans.

Intensive Studies

For three years we have been con-
ducting an intensified study of the
plankton populations in the oceans;
a necessary first step in understand-
ing the complex relationships among
organisms. The microscopic plant
cell is the living matter most inti-
mately exposed to the chemicals dis-
solved in the water, and it is its
ability to assimilate some of the ele-
ments in high concentration within its
body which makes all life in the sea
possible. Although individual plank-
ton organisms are small they are
vastly numerous and make up the
major part of the living matter in the
sea. It was estimated by George L.
Clarke several years ago, that it takes
about 10,000 pounds of the micro-
scopic plant life (phytoplankton) in
the ocean to produce one pound of
fish harvested on George's Bank off
the New England coast.

Just as a pasture must produce far
more weight of grass than can be
harvested as milk or beef so must the
sea produce a vast excess of plants
to compensate for the losses and in-
efficiency of the biological process.

The photosynthetic process de-
pends upon the chlorophyll in the
plant cell and the sunlight which
enters the ocean. In the clearest
oceanic waters there is adequate
light to depths as great as 300 feet
or so for the plants to photosynthesize
and produce organic matter. In
coastal waters, however, the turbidity
of the water limits penetration of sun-
light so that in a harbor the plants
may have inadequate light at 10 feet
of depth.

As on land, the productivity of the
ocean depends upon the fertility of
the waters. The same fertilizing ele-
ments are required. Some of these
are present in great excess, but phos-
phorous and nitrogen are nearly

Dr. Ketchum, senior oceanogra
pher, is one of the leading ocean
ographers in the field of plankton
ecology. He is in charge of the
investigations in this field at the
Institution. Dr. Ketchum has a farm
in Vermonf, the only New England
State without a sea border.

exhausted in the surface layers as a
result of plant growth. To evaluate
the fertility of the seas, therefore, it
is necessary to study the distribution
of these essential elements and to
evaluate the rate at which they be-
come available to the plants through
vertical mixing of the water column
and through the decomposition of
plant and animal materials.

The Program

Our efforts have been directed
towards understanding the conditions
in the sea which determine the growth
and photosynthesis of the microscopic
plants, or phytoplankton, and which
ultimately control how much animal
life can be supported. For our obser-
vations at sea we have selected a
line of stations extending from Mon-
tauk Point, Long Island, to Bermuda.
This selection includes a range of
depth and of environmental condi-
tions which would be difficult to equal
in any other part of the world. At
the inshore stations the environment
is typical of coastal waters, freshened
by rainfall and run-off from the
rivers, turbid so that adequate light
penetrates to depths of 100 feet or
less, but shallow enough so that in
the wintertime the mixing column ex-
tends from top to bottom. Off the
edge of the continental shelf the
surface waters still reflect the coastal
influence but the deep waters are
typically oceanic in origin and char-
acter. A crossing of the Gulf Stream
is also provided in this section. The
stream carries waters which are trop-
ical in origin and contain a unique
biological population. Seaward of

the Gulf Stream is the Sargasso Sea,
which is commonly called the desert
of the North Atlantic ocean. Here
the illuminated zone is at its deepest
down to 300 feet. In the summertime
the mixing is much shallower than
the illuminated zone but in the win-
tertime it extends much deeper to
about 1,200 to 1,500 feet so that the
phytoplankton organisms spend a
considerable proportion of their time
in the deeper layers with inadequate
light. The selection of this line of
stations for our field studies thus
represents a wide range of condi-
tions and essentially reflects the use
of the ocean as an experimental
system in which the conditions of the
experiment are set and determined
by nature.

Work At Sea

To present the types of observa-
tions made in this program let us
describe the bustling activity while
the ship is stopped on one of the deep
stations. Some of these deep stations
are predetermined geographical
points, and the ship's officers stop the
ship and inform the scientists that we
are "on station". Others however,
are selected for specific water char-
acteristics. For example, the station
in the Gulf Stream is not always in
the same geographical location since
the Gulf Stream is never in the same
place. Repeated bathythermograph
observations are made, and the sta-
tion is occupied when the temperature
conditions in the water down to a
depth of 900 feet indicate clearly
that we are in Gulf Stream water.

After arrival on station the first
activity is to make what is known as
a shallow "cast" which involves send-
ing a series of bottles attached to the
hydrographic wire to a depth of 300
feet so that the plant population in
the upper, illuminated zone, can be
evaluated. Some of this water is fil-

The grass of the sea
and a grazing copepod

R. L. GUILLARD. D. PHILPOTT,
S. WATSON. E. R. BAYLOR

tered and preserved for the determi-
nation of its chlorophyll content;
other parts of each bottle are used
for the direct determination of the
rate of photosynthesis. This is done
either by measuring the change in
oxygen in samples after exposure for
a known time to a standard light
intensity or by adding radioactive
carbon to the sample and determin-
ing the amount assimilated by the
plant cells and built into new organic
materiak

While these samples are being fil-
tered and analysed another cast is
already on its way down. This cast
may contain a dozen or so of the
well known Nansen bottles spaced at
intervals along the wire to depths of
1,500 feet. Reversing thermometers
are attached to each bottle so that
we obtain an accurate measure of the
temperature at each depth. When the
cast is down, a wait of five minutes is
necessary to allow the thermometers
to come to equilibrium with the tem-
perature of the water. Then a metal
messenger is sent, tripping the series
of bottles so that they capture the
water and can be returned to the
deck. Several analyses are made on
the water obtained in this way. The
oxygen is measured immediately on
board, but we do not have time to
complete other determinations. Sam-
ples for salinity and for total phos-
phorous are bottled and brought
back to Woods Hole. Since the
organisms living in the water would
change the concentration of nutrients
in the water during the storage these
samples are placed in plastic bottles
and frozen to stop biological activity.
These samples are also brought home
for analysis.

While the group in the ship labo-
ratory are bottling the samples, de-
termining the oxygen content and
reading the thermometers the winch
is again busy lowering a small plank-

ton net to the bottom of the illumi-
nated zone so that we obtain a
sample of the plankton in these upper
layers of the water column. This fine
meshed nylon net retains the larger
members of the plant population and
also catches many of the smaller
zooplankton organisms. These sam-
ples are also frozen to prevent
changes. In Woods Hole they are
thawed, the species identified arid
the chlorophyll content and other
plant and animal pigments are de-
termined.

Deep Cast

Meanwhile the time has come to
send down the deep hydrographic
cast. The deepest sample in this cast
may be collected at 15,000 feet, or
nearly three miles below the ship.
This water is treated the same as the
shallower hydrographic cast, but the
time required to collect the samples
is considerably longer. To place the
sampling bottles on the wire and to
lower it on its three mile journey
takes nearly an hour with a seasoned
observer when all goes well. If the
seas are rough or if other complica-
tions arise the time may be longer.
Even for the messenger to fall through
the water on the wire on its three
mile journey takes half an hour.
Finally, however, these samples are
retrieved, bottled and stored.

The final operation on the station
is a plankton tow which is taken with
the ship under way at slow speed. A
larger and coarser net is used for
this tow since we want as large as
possible a sample of the animal
plankton, and have already obtained
our necessary samples of the plant
population. With tne ship proceeding
at two knots, this net, which is about
three feet in diameter and six feet
long is lowered slowly to reach a
depth of about 600 feet. To reach
this depth, since the net is streaming

8

r *

J. H.

THE HYDROWINCH on board the CRAWFORD. L. to R. Capt. David F. Casiles, 1 st mate
J. Q. Burner and 2d engineer J. A. Kostrzewa, during a lowering of Nansen bottles.

out behind the ship, about a thousand
feet of wire has to be paid out. The
net is then slowly retrieved by hauling
in with the ship still steaming at about
two knots. In half an hour this sam-
ple is also aboard and the work on
station is completed some four to
five hours after our arrival.

On some stations other activities
are added to the program. For anal-
ysis of the radioactivity in the sea-
water much larger samples are
needed than can be obtained by the
standard sampling bottles. So, a
special sampler capable of collecting
from thirty to fifty gallons of water
is lowered successively to different
depths. Wjth such large samplers
only one is lowered at a time since
it is impossible to put several on the
wire. Thus, while a standard hydro-
graphic station can be completed in
four to five hours, the large sample
stations may take 24 hours or more.

While proceeding to the next sta-
tion the scientists have an opportun-
ity to complete the analyses done on
board, to check over the results of
the station, to calculate the depth of
the various samples, and to prepare
for the next station which is only a

few hours steaming away. If the ship
were to steam directly for Bermuda it
would take about two days and a
half following this route, but it takes
six or seven days because of the 15
to 18 stations which have been occu-
pied along the way.

Shore Work

After the ship returns to port the
work is barely begun. The salinity
and nutrient determinations must be
completed, the chlorophyll must be
extracted from the plant cells and
measured, the results of the photo-
synthesis experiments require labora-
tory analysis and the plankton must
be sorted and identified in order to
know what species of plants and ani-
mals are living in the water. Just as
on the land, there are marked sea-
sonal variations in the populations,
with the spring bloom, the fall flow-
ering, and the mid-winter dormancy.
Such cruises must be repeated at
various times of year to evaluate the
changes in conditions and the resul-
tant changes in the populations.
Never in the sea does one find com-
pletely barren water. Even in mid-
winter the populations, though small,

are still actively carrying on their life
processes. On the other hand, even
in the subtropical conditions around
Bermuda conditions are more favor-
able for growth at some times of the
year than at others so that peaks of
population are observed when con-
ditions are just right.

Final Aims

The objectives of the program are
to determine what the conditions are
which constitute "just right". Much
progress has been made in under-
standing the productivity of the ocean

but many questions remain unan-
swered.

Knowledge of this complicated pro-
cess is essential before we can
evaluate the oceans as a greater
source of food for the expanding
world populations. Moreover this in-
formation is urgently needed before
we can evaluate the effects of radio-
isotopes which may be added inten-
tionally or inadvertently to the sea in
the future. We are convinced that
any radioactive contamination of the
oceans should be done only under
rigid control, and with full scientific
understanding of its effects.

Jin

"Five physical oceanographers from the internationally known Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution have been appointed professors of oceanog-
raphy, part-time, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. George R.
Harrison, Dean of the School of Science, announced today" (from the M.I.T.
Office of Public Relations, release for May 20, 1959).

Those appointed were: Dr. Columbus O'D. Iselin, Dr. Willem V. R. Malkus,
Henry M. Stommel, and Dr. William S. Von Arx. Dr. J. B. Hersey was ap-
pointed associate professor.

Dr. Robert E. Shrock, head of the department of geology and geophysics
at the M.I.T., stated: "The inclusion of oceanography as a major part of the
M.I.T. curriculum is vital to the advancement of the study of all earth sciences."

C. O' D. Iseli

000
METERS

in

New Discovery in

Physical Oceanography.

A countercurrent observed in the Pacific
poses theoretical problems.

new type of relatively swift cur-
rent has recently been located along
the equator in the Pacific flowing
towards the east. The doldrum belt
lies somewhat to the north of this
current so that it flows against the
prevailing local winds. Maximum
velocities of about 150 cm/sec
(roughly 3 knots) are at a depth of
about 150 meters and extend for as
much as 30 miles either side of the
equator. This core of high velocity
subsurface flow is imbedded in
weaker easterly flow, extending from
just below the surface down to a
depth of about 400 meters and from
Lat. 2N. to about Lot. 2S. This is
an entirely separate current from the
Counter Equatorial Current at about
Lat. 8N., which is shown on all sur-
face current charts. It was first named
the Equatorial Under Current, but it
is likely to be known in the future as

the Cromwell Current in honor of the
oceanographer, Dr. Townsend Crom-
well, who was one of the first to
detect it and who recently was killed
in an airplane accident. The deeper
water under the Cromwell Current
has been shown to be moving slowly
(about 10 cm/sec) towards the west.

Since Cromwell's death the current
has been traced for about 2,000
miles along the equator in the Pacific
and during the past year an exten-
sive series of sub-surface current mea-
surements has been secured by Mr.
John Knauss of the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography across the equator
at longitude 140W. These set the
volume of the water being transported
eastward at about thirty million cubic
meters per second or roughly one
third of the maximum total volume of
the Gulf Stream passing New Eng-

11

land. That this major current has
escaped detection for so long is due
to the fact that it is only weakly
represented at the surface.

Here at Woods Hole we have
naturally been interested in the ques-
tion of whether or not a similar sub-
surface current is present along the
equator in the Atlantic. There is
indirect evidence that the Atlantic
has no such current. An analysis of
near surface salinity distributions in
the tropical Atlantic by R. B. Mont-
gomery in 1938 shows several streams
of near surface water with a west-
ward and northward component at
the equator. If a counter current does
exist in the Atlantic at the equator it
would have to be very much shorter
than the newly discovered Pacific
current.

Existing theory is quite incapable
of accounting for the Cromwell Cur-
rent. Its peculiar characteristics must
be associated with the disappearance
of the Coriolis Force at the equator.
The hydraulic head to maintain this
subsurface, swift flow is probably
supplied by the piling up of the near
surface tropical waters on the western
side of the ocean by the Trade Winds.
If this is true, such a current would
not be present in the Indian Ocean
where the winds reverse themselves
seasonally.

The new subsurface current mea-
surements from near the equator in
the Pacific present physical ocean-
ographers with a major problem. It
has been known for some time that
weak counter currents are usually
present on either side of most major
ocean curents, but in these the veloc-
ity decreases gradually with depth,
as indeed it does in most ocean cur-
rents. To account for a sharp velocity
maximum at a depth of only 150
meters requires a completely new
concept.

The counter currents, whatever
their causes, are of extreme biologi-
cal importance. If they did not exist,
the entire population of the near
surface waters would be living on a
'one way street". It would be the
fate of all pelagic organisms to end
up in an inhospitable environment.
The counter currents take some of
them back to where their ancestors
started from. Although obviously an
important aspect of oceanic circula-
tion their causes have remained ob-
scure. The Cromwell Current is a new
piece to be fitted into the puzzle.

Dr. Iselin, former director, occupies
the Henry Bryant Bigelow Chair
of Oceanography.

,

at

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STOflHCL E_aq , ElHlQlTtNG THK6E DIFFERENT

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ADMISSION

Oh - why can't we

Y

C SPOONEF

HARKS MAY HAVE several series of teeth in actual use and whole rows of
teeth in reserve which move into place, not only when one tooth has broken
off, but continuously throughout the shark's lifetime.

The reserve teeth are shown clearly in our photograph of the jaw of a
dusky or shovelnose shark (Carcharinus obscurus) caught in the Gulf of Mexico.
This is not the whole "stock" for a life span. New rows are developed in a
deep dental groove along the inner margin of the jaw. From one to four
series of teeth may be in actual use and from two to seven rows in reserve.
In the upper jaws the reserves are lying with the points up, in the lower jaw
with points down.

The foremost or outer teeth are constantly moving outward and drop off.
Since shark's teeth are imbedded in the gums and not in sockets they have no
trouble shedding the teeth. Apparently teeth are not often broken under
natural conditions but if this happens a new one takes its place from the
reserves. Teeth are shed frequently enough. One rarely finds that they are
worn down to any extent. Aquarium observations have shown that it takes
from two days to a week for an individual tooth to become detached. As the
shark grows, the reserve teeth gradually increase in size, although little or
not at all in numbers across the jaw.

In some species, such as our common spiny dogfish, the teeth are not
spaced apart but form a continuous interlocking cutting edge. In these sharks,
teeth do not fall off individually but in a whole band either on one side of the

jaw or simultaneously on both.

Wm. C. S.

Ed. Nofe:

The above and many other interesting information may be obtained from Dr. Bigelow
and Mr. Schroeder's "Fishes of the Western North Atlantic", Part one, Memoir Sears Founda-
tion for Marine Research, Number I. New Haven, 1948. 576 pp. This book, as well as th
authors' other standard works, makes interesting reading and is full of information of us*
not only to the scientist but also to the sportfisherman and the layman.

13

Associates News

I HE SEVENTH ANNUAL DINNER meeting was held at the American
Museum of Natural History on Friday, May 12. Professor Harrison Brown,
Chairman of the Committee on Oceanography of the National Academy of
Sciences was the distinguished guest speaker. Professor Brown spoke on
"Oceanography 1960-'70", the Report which has raised national interest in
the science. A copy of the Report has been sent to all Associates. We are
proud that the Associates through their support, have evidenced their aware-
ness of the importance of oceanography long before the nation was awakened
to its value.

New Corporate Associates

AMERICAN MACHINE AND FOUNDRY COMPANY
BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION
DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INC.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, INCORPORATED

New Life Members

Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Morss, Jr., Cambridge, Mass.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Reynolds, Sapelo Island, Georgia

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Straus, New York, New York

Gifts

At the end of 1958 we received monetary gifts from several Associates
and funds to replenish the "Lou Marron Science Fund".

Associates' Fellowships

The Educational Policy Committee announced that the following were
recipients of the 1959 Associates Fellowships:

David A. McGill, Zoology, B.S. ('52) Bucknell University, M.A. ('56) Columbia
University, presently a research assistant at the Institution. John S. Reitzel,
Geophysics, B.A. ('52), M.A. ('58) Harvard University. Graduate student at
Harvard. John S. Farlow III, Geology, ( ; 57) Harvard University. Graduate
student at Johns Hopkins University.

Industrial Aid

ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE (ASW) programs at the Grumman Aircraft
Engineering Company (a corporate associate) have been greatly extended

14

during the past year and a half. The Grumman support in these ASW areas
ranges from research in underwater physics and other related phenomena to
flight test and development work with actual Fleet units.

To further Grumman's knowledge in the ASW field, Robert L. Erath of
the Research department, is at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, for a six-month educational program. Purpose of
the training is to learn the latest developments in underwater sound techniques
and obtain the most recent information concerning the physical properties of
the ocean.

The program is designed so that Erath will work closely with the Woods
Hole scientific staff on their current projects, and acquire his knowledge
through active participation in the field. He will also have the opportunity to
make one or more cruises and thereby receive first-hand experience with the
latest transducer systems, indicators, recorders and listening devices.

Manganese Nodules

Known for many years, the manganese bottom deposits
recently have been widely discussed.

I HE OLD, and for quite some time associated with heavy metals not
unpopular notion that manganese normally soluble in sea water. The
nodules on the sea floor may result organism utilizes the organic portion
from biological activity has recently for life processes and rejects the rest
been revised by Dr. John W. Graham, which then accumulates as the well-
geologist on our staff. His findings known complex mixture of manga-
of a number of organic compounds nese, iron, nickel, cobalt and copper
in some nodules from the Blake Pla- hydrated oxides, along with smaller
teau (off the Carolines) aroused his quantities of a number of other
curiousity in the subject. Subsequent metals found in manganese nodules,
work has uncovered the facts never

emphasized before - that the Chal- Preparations are now being made

lenger Expedition (1873-76) found Jo search for the suspected organism,

most manganese nodules in the cold- lf IS confoable that it might be cul-

est bottom water, and that no nodules tivated and P ossib * ^ ed ' some ^

have been found in the Mediterran- f concentrate valuable metals from
ean and Red Sea where the bottom e sea '

water is relatively warm. These facts Apart from participating in a num-

are most simply explained by the ber of cruises, this is Dr. Graham's

notion that a manganese concentre- first contribution since joining the

ting organism, supported by a starva- Institution. He stated that his nodule

tion diet, must live in a cold work is just as exciting, and possibly

environment, otherwise it would "burn will become as controversial, as the

itself up". work he did during the previous ten

years on the subject of rock magne-

The food that this postulated or- fjsm Qf fhe Dep artment of Terrestrial

gamsm consumes is a subject of Magnetism o f the Carnegie Institution

fascinating speculation. It seems rea- of Was h ington .
sonable that the food consists of

metabolically useful organic materials * See photo*, page 31, Ocean us. Vol. VI, no. 1.

15

ami

Decimal J3larrfi

Francis A. Richards

Seawater is a dilute solution of salts
in which the major variable is the amount of water.

,LTHOUGH the beard of the gentle-
man shown here might identify him as
having recently returned from an
oceanographic cruise, he never, so
far as we know, went to sea in the
pursuit of science. Beards were the
fashionable rule, not the post-cruise
exception, in his day. In spite of
never having gone to sea, William
Dittmar, F.R.S.S. L. and E., Professor of
Chemistry at Anderson's College,
Glasgow, was one of the early giants
in oceanography. His importance to
the science stems from his analyses of
seventy-seven samples of sea water,
collected during H.M.S. CHALLEN-
GER'S 1873-1876 round the world
cruise. These samples were entrusted
to him by Sir C. Wyville Thompson,
scientific leader of the Challenger
Expedition. Dittmar's methods and
results were not only a classical dem-
onstration of accuracy, but they
formed the basis for one of the most
important tenets of oceanography
that of the constancy of composition

of sea water, or Dittmar's law.

Dr. Redfield has more recently re-
stated this principle by defining sea
water as a dilute solution of salts in
which the major variable is the amount
of water. It tells us that all sea water
is essentially similiar insofar as the
kinds of major constituents are con-
cerned (chloride, bromide, sulfate,
bicarbonate, magnesium, calcium,
strontium, potassium and sodium ions),
which comprise 99.8 to 99.9% of the
total dissolved matter, and further-
more that these ions occur in the same
relative amounts in all sea waters,
although their total concentration may
vary considerably.

On this tenet depends the validity
of Knudsen's Hydrographical Tables
relating the chlorinity, salinity and
temperature of sea water to its den-
sity, relationships between electrical
conductivity and salinity, computa-
tions of the solubility of the atmos-
pheric gases in sea water, and a host
of other oceanographic parameters.

Dr. Francis A. Richards, chemical
oceanographer, has been with the
Institution since 1950. He is leaving
us this summer to accept the appoint-
ment of Associate Professor of Ocean-
ography at the University of Wash-
ington.

Dittmar was German born (in
Umstadt near Darmstadt, April 15,
1833) and German trained. That he
became an assistant to Bunsen pro-
claims his relationship to the great
school of North European analysts
which laid down so much of the
foundation for modern chemistry.
Dittmar first removed to Edinburgh,
in 1861, but returned to Germany
after eight years, lecturing in mete-
orology at the Agricultural College
at Poppelsdorf. In 1872 he returned
to Edinburgh, and was appointed
Professor at Glasgow in 1874. He
lectured as usual on the morning of
February 9, 1892, but returned home,
feeling unwell in mid-day, and died
at 11:30 that night.

Dittmar's analytical results now
have to be modernized because of
our better knowledge of atomic
weights, but no inaccuracies in his
values for the ratios of the major
constituents of sea water have been
found in the open oceans. However,
new methods for determining salinity
by means of the conductivity bridge*
have introduced a new order of pre-
cision into oceanography, and it may
now become necessary to . reinvesti-
gate Dittmar's values to "one more
decimal place".

The caricature here reproduced
was kindly supplied by Drs. Sheina
Marshall and A. P. Orr, after their
recent visit -to Woods Hole. It orig-
inally appeared in the December,
1878 issue of "The Bathe".

* See article: "The Salinometer" in this issue.

National Merit Scholars

Two Cape Cod High School students who received unusually high ratings
in the National Merit Scholarship eliminations were selected by Dr. Fye to be
employed this summer.

Miss Sara Lee Morin of Orleans High School will assist Prof. Mary Alys
Plunkett, while David Hirschfeld of Lawrence High School, Folmouth, works
with Dr. W. S. Richardson. A third student Miss Jean McGilvray of Lawrence
High School, also eligible, has worked at the Institution in past summers and
had already been promised employment.

Science Fair Winners

A cruise on the R.V. BEAR is to be the reward for three Massachusetts
Science Fair winners. The three were selected by Commander J. A. Sharpe of
the Office of Naval Research, U. S. Navy. They are: Paul Elterman of West
Roxbury; John W. Miller of Springfield and Allan Ramo of North Abington.

'

Of Tunas,

--

Marli

ns

an<

Wahoos

Frank J. Mather,

A tagged white marlin

Tracing big game fishes from the
Caribbean to the Atlantic.

D,

'URING a cruise of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service M/V "Oregon"
in April, 1955, concentrations of
giant bluefin tuna, albacore, and
yellowfm tuna were discovered in
the Windward Passage and its south-
ern approaches. Also, the first wes-
tern Atlantic record of bigeye tuna
was obtained off the south coast
of Hispaniola. These results were
described by Harvey R. Bullis, Jr. of
the Fish and Wildlife Service and the
author, who participated in the cruise
as a guest.

A cruise to explore the distribu-
tion and movements of the larger
pelagic fishes in the southeastern
Bahamas, and off northern Haiti and
northeastern Cuba was carried out
this spring. The cruise was sponsored
by Lou Marron, who donated the use

of his sport fishing yacht "Eugenie
VIII" for the trip and, with Mrs. Mar-
ron, participated in a portion of the
cruise. Scientific work was conducted
by the author and Donald S. Erdman,
leader of the Dingell-Johnson Project
in Puerto Rico.

The present cruise was planned
to trace the possible movements of
the fish toward the Atlantic. In par-
ticular, it was hoped to f.nd a
connection with the annual north-
ward run of giant bluefin tuna in
May and early June off Cat Cay in
the northwestern Bahamas. Measure-
ments and counts for use in biometric
studies were taken from the speci-
men's habits and condition of gonads
with respect to spawning. Environ-
mental data gathered included ob-
servations of weather conditions,

18

surface temperature, temperature to
450 feet by bathythermograph, and
water transparency. Plankton tows
were made to obtain approximate
data on the richness of the water and
to collect eggs and larvae of the
larger fishes. Juveniles were collected

UNITED

STATES

from 15 to 45 fathoms below the
surface. Trolling and bottom fishing
supplemented the longline when time
permitted.

The Catch

Despite unseasonably adverse wea-
ther and some mechanical difficulties,
as well as the usual delays encoun-
tered in obtaining fuel, supplies and
bait in remote localities and in
conforming with official requirements,
a satisfactory amount of work was
completed. Sixteen longline sets and
thirteen plankton tows were made.
Twenty-one yellowfm tuna, 1 bigeye
tuna, 2 albacore, 1 blackfin tuna, 2
wahoo, 3 blue marlin, 8 white marlin,
12 dolphin, 2 barracuda and 44
sharks were taken on the longline. A
major disappointment was the failure
to take any bluefm tuna. Loss of
gear on a set made on May 3rd south-
west of Great Inagua and northwest
of the Windward Passage suggested,
but did not prove, their presence in
that area. The most successful set
was made on May 14th in the center
of the Turks Island Passage, taking 1
blue and 2 white marlin and 5 yel-
lowfm tuna. The results of the long-

6.5 C

The outer Bahamas cruise of the EUGENIE VIII.

by dip netting. Fishing for adults
was done largely by use of the Jap-
anese longline, a line in this case
about 2 miles long and carrying 130
hooks. The line was suspended from
floats so that the hooks, each baited
with a fish about 6 inches long were

line fishing are considered fair in
view of the facts that good bait was
seldom available and that it was nec-
essary to haul the line by hand.

Some indications of a movement
through the passage and channels,
or at least a connection between

Please turn to page 22

Excerpts of the log of Aries cruise

Photos by the Editor

10 March: 0230 Wind shifted to West.

0240 Jibed to Port Tack.
0445 C/C to trim. 0458 Re-
sumed base course. (Wind
NW at 24 Kts.) 1800 C/C
to 352 T. Called all hands.
1815 Mainsail lowered. 1820
C/C to 348T. (Wind 37 Kts.
NW) 2200 Radio antenna
carried away. 2300 Decks
awash. Shipping heavy seas.
(Wind NW at 44 Kts.)

1 1 March: 0400 Hove to. Wind force

occasionally storm force. Un-
der staysail and mizzen.
(Wind NNW at 52 to 60 Kts.)
0815 Underway on reduced
power. C-285T. Secured
radio antenna. 2100 Sky
overcast. Sea moderating
slowly. Discovered water
leaking through chain pipes.
Secured. (Wind NW 13-18
Kts.) 2400 Light variable
winds. Sky overcast. (Wind
Ne'ly 5 to 9 Kts.

12 March: 0750 Called all hands to set

square sail. Lowered fore-
staysail. 0820 Square sail
set. (Wind SW 24 to 30 Kts.)
0900 Like sailing on the
point of a pin. Making good
time. (Wind SW at 37 Kts.)

20

No. 1

9-16 March 1959

Captain John Gates

0950 Lowered Square sail & Mizzen.
1000 Running on bare masts before
whole Gale and very rough seas. Se-
cured decks for Gales. Extra gaskets on
sails. (Wind SW at 52 to 60 Kts.)
1200 Barometer falling rapidly. Sea
increasing. Running on bare poles. Oc-
casional Hurricane force winds (Wind
SW 60-68 Kts.)

1800 Very rough quartering sea. Ba-
rometer still falling. Wind veering to
West. Extremely rough sea. (Wind SW
60 - 68 Kts.) Barometer 29:05)
2100 Shipping heavy seas on deck.
2200 Wind increasing. Sea very rough.
2325 Reduced Engine RPM. Shipping
heavy seas. Visibility poor. Heavy rain.

13 March: 0820 Contacted NMY for weather re-
port (Winds 60 to 68 NW)
1000 Fighting heavy seas. Trailed deck
lines over stern to hold ship steady.
1100 Hand rail Starboard, aft, carried
away. (Wind NW 60 - 68 Kts.)
1200 Fighting heavy breaking seas.
Using oil overside. Little effect. Stand-
ing 2 hr. Watches.

1500 .Port handrail aft carried away.
Sea extremely rough. Breaking on
quarterdeck.

1600 Heavy snow storm. Crew getting
tired.

1900 Rigged lifelines. 4 Lines trailing.
2200 Snow. Gave orders for everyone
not on watch to stay below until called.

(Ed. Note): Times are in 24 hours. C/C to 352T means: Change
course to 352 True.

Atlantic and Caribbean populations,
were obtained. Aside from sharks,
yellowfm tuna (called Allison tuna by
sport fishermen) were the most abun-
dant and widely distributed species
available to the longline. Those taken
in the Turks Island Passage averaged
50 pounds, while those caught to the
westward were considerably smaller.
This species is not abundant in the
Straits of Florida. White marlin were
taken at two sets in the Crooked Island
Passage at sets off Great Inagua and
Cayo St. Domingo south of there, in-
dicating a concentration or possibly
a migratory passage in this area.
Catches of albacore in the Crooked
Island and off Great Inagua link up
nicely with those made by the "Ore-
gon" in the Windward Passage.

A bigeye tuna taken off Cayo St.

Mr. Mather, Research Associate in
Oceanography, also is a well-
known game fisherman. In 1949
he took the world's smallest bluefin
tuna (about one foot long) on rod
and reel. His wife Willia accom-
panies him on many of his inves-
tigations and holds several women's
angling records.

Domingo is the first confirmed record
of the species from the Bahamas and
a link between Caribbean and wes-
tern Atlantic records described by the
author and Dr. Robert H. Gibbs, Jr.
in a recent publication.

The food of the larger fishes con-
sisted largely of the young of true
pelagic fishes or the pelagic young
of shore fishes. The latter were
present to a surprising and significant
extent. From gonad examination, it
seemed that white marlin were ap-
proaching spawning condition while
blue marlin were considerably further
from it. None of the larger tunas
(yellowfm, bigeye, albacore or the
wahoo) were ready to spawn, but the
smaller blackfm tuna, the little tuna
(southern bonito) the oceanic bonito
and the dolphin were approaching a
fully ripe condition.

The results of the exploration of
these remote and little-known waters
were therefore of considerable inter-
est and the Institution is greatly obli-
gated to Mr. and Mrs. Marron for
sponsoring this cruise and for their
enthusiastic participation^

Some of the catch. At left,
Associate Lou Marron, in
shorts: Donald Erdman and
Frank Mather.

22

Gifts and Grants

The following grants were received from the National Science Foundation:

for: "Procurement of deep water large sample bottles for the

continuing U. S. Antarctic Research Program" $ 2,000

for.- "Composition of oceanic deep scattering layers" under the

direction of Dr. Richard H. Backus $ 58,100

for: "Design concepts for research vessels" under the direction of

Francis Minot $ 1 8,400

for.- "Environmental cetology" under the direction of William E.

Schevill $ 56,700

for.- "Operational costs and related expenses in the International
Geophysical Year deep current oceanography program in
the Atlantic" under the direction of Dr. Paul M. Fye $ 5,000

for: "Directional spectrum of water waves" under the direction of

Harlow G. Farmer $ 24,000

for: "Biology of the larger pelagic fishes of the western Atlantic"

under the direction of William C. Schroeder $ 65,000

for: "Analysis of Oceanographic data in the International Geo-
physical Year inter-disciplinary research program" under
the direction of Dr. Paul M. Fye $ 60,000

for.- "Atmospheric convection, and its role in tropical meteorology"

under the direction of Dr. Joanne S. Malkus $156,100

for.- "Sea-salt nuclei their origin, physical-chemical nature and
role in atmospheric processes" under the direction of A. H.
Woodcock $ 83,1 00

for.- "Ship operation costs for basic biological oceanographic re-
search" under the direction of Bostwick H. Ketchum $250,000

for.- "Collaborative study of deep ocean current systems", under

the direction of Henry M. Stommel $290,000

From the Esso Education Foundation $ 3,500

From the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

for.- Fellowship support $ 10,000

From the U. S. Steel Foundation

for.- Basic research in oceanography $ 5,000

23

3[rmn jikulleru to <3frmtt parlor

By David H. Frantz, Jr.

DUOYS have become respectable."
This pronouncement was made re-
cently by Columbus O'D. Iselin,
former Director of the Institution and a
member of the National Science
Foundation's Committee on Ocean-
ography whose report "Oceanogra-
phy, 1960 to 1970" has highlighted
in the public mind the significance of
oceanography as a natural science
worthy of national support. What is
the significance of buoys in the study
of the seas, and why is it that an
apparent ascent from the scullery to
the front parlor has taken place? The
development of buoys received prom-
inent mention in the report. What
makes a buoy respectable?

A buoy, as a scientific tool, is a
floating, unmanned object which
functions as a useful and economical
adjunct to a research vessel. A sure
criterion of respectability is that either
individually or collectively it provides
believable data; and an only slightly
less valid one is that it give promise
of providing such data after the ex-
penditure of a reasonable develop-
ment effort. Instrumentation for an
earth science such as oceanography,

24

in which measurements are made
largely in the field, has one character-
istic that places it in a class apart
from apparatus, however sophisti-
cated, which functions in the well-
equipped Idboratory ashore; it must
function reliably within its intended
limits of accuracy under extremely
adverse conditions. These conditions
are at their worst at or near the sea-
surface, and even though we may be
interested in making measurements
in the comparatively serene depths,
we must always get our device to the
location, usually on a ship on the
surface of the sea, and then we must
get it safely off the ship and through
the sea-surface. In classical physical
oceanography, whose most famous
tools are the Nansen bottle and re-
versing thermometer, we see the ef-
fect of the rigorous environment on
instrument design. A good reversing
thermometer can be believed; if it
has suffered damage sufficient to
make it unreliable, it is probably a
broken thermometer. A string of
Nansen bottles and the winch to
lower it is heavy, clumsy, and expen-
sive but given reasonable care it is
extremely reliable and can be used
in sea conditions which may be far
from perfect. But these devices are
used by men, and read and adjusted
by men. When we speak of buoys
and the devices to be mounted on
them, we are adding another order
of magnitude to the problem of reli-
able design; that it must function
after transportation on the surface of
the sea, deck handling and getting
over the side, and then continue to
function when beyond all chance of
adjustment and repair.

Accomplishments

How have we been doing in pro-
ducing buoys which function with the
reliability necessary to give us useful
information about the oceans? If the

function is simple enough, we have
done well. The most simple buoy has
been used for at least a hundred
years and is still being used, the bal-
lasted drift bottle. By virtue of its
small size it survives the worst the
sea alone can do to it, and a surpris-
ing number survive the ultimate land-
ing, to be found, and reported. Much
valuable data on mean surface cur-
rents has been collected by this
means, but this buoy is reliable only
when considered collectively; any
one bottle has a small chance of re-
turn, and any one return is of itself
quite unreliable but must be consid-
ered in relation to many others.
Nevertheless, within its limitation, it is
a respectable buoy.

A buoy of much more recent de-
sign than the drift bottle is the Woods
Hole telemetering drift buoy. This
was conceived as the basic element
of a system of data gathering and
transmission by radio, but its real
contribution to date has been its use
in the investigation of surface cur-
rents by our Oceanographer Dean
Bumpus, in the Bay of Fundy, on
Georges Banks, off the coast of
Massachusetts, and in Onslow Bay,
North Carolina, all areas of interest
in fisheries research. These buoys are
put out at selected locations in the
area being studied and allowed to
drift with the surface currents for as
long as several weeks. Their unique
characteristic is that they listen con-
tinuously by radio for an appropriate
signal, and when this signal is trans-
mitted by ship or plane, the buoy
makes a short transmission, usually a
call-sign in code followed by a long
dash, by means of which a ship or
airplane can obtain a radio bearing.
Thus it is possible to locate these
buoys periodically during the course
of an experiment with the ship. The
data are akin to drift bottle data
but we know the route and times be-

25

26

tween the point of recovery, informa-
tion that is always in doubt with an
individual drift bottle.

A third buoy which has been used
to produce significant results is the
"submerged drift-bottle" or Swallow
float, a unit developed by Dr. John
Swallow, of the (British) National
Institute of Oceanography for the
study of the deep currents in the
ocean. "Except for the facts that it
operates submerged and uses acoustic
signals rather than radio, it is very
closely related to the surface buoy
described above. Both require the
quite close attendance of an observer,
and neither gives any information
other than its own location.

The three examples above have at
least one thing in common; they have
functioned successfully on more than
one or two occasions. Two factors in
the design of each have contributed
much to this success; each is as simple
and rugged as it is within our present
means to make it, and each avoids to
a certain extent the rigors of the sea-
surface. The drift bottle and the drift
buoy are very seaworthy in the way
that a small, strong ship is seaworthy
when hove-to; i. e., these devices do
not fight wave action but give with
the punch. The Swallow floats, of
course, get through the surface very
quickly and descend to the quiet
depths where corrosion and the
steady pressure of salt water are the
only external enemies.

Anchored Buoys

A more difficult problem is the
establishment of an unmanned instru-
ment station in a fixed location at sea
for long periods of time. A number
of instruments for such stations exist
today, and we believe that many of
them are simple enough and rugged
enough to perform satisfactorily. Little
valuable data have come from such
instruments as yet, because we have
not learned how to keep them where

they belong and to get them when
we want them. There is no doubt
that a large buoy can be maintained
in deep water through the worst wea-
ther and presumably for long periods
of time,- the submarine cable compan-
ies have done it for years, but most
oceanographers feel that while there
is a place for the large instrumented
buoy station, not only economics but
sheer lack of capacity of available
vessels makes them impractical for

J H.

Drift bottles going on their way from
the R.V. CARYN.

any program requiring more than a
few stations, so we must be able to
keep a small (1,000 pounds or less)
buoy on station in deep water in the
worst weather as well. In the calmer
regions of the ocean such buoys have
been maintained for considerable
periods, but the North Atlantic in the
wintertime is our testing area, and
while the number of attempts to date
has been too small to be statistically
significant, we know we have a long
way to go.

A telemetering drift buoy

One of the promising types is a
Woods Hole development of the
basic 'drift buoy described above. It
has added displacement, for greater
buoyancy, and like the basic buoy it
is designed to transmit on demand.
As well as the locating signal, how-
ever, it can send quantitative inform-
ation on temperatures, currents, wea-
ther conditions, etc., for a distance of
at least 150 miles. These devices
have not yet achieved "respectability"
in that they have not been incorp-
orated in a scientific program, but
tests, while in each case revealing
some weakness, have been promising.

Another buoy designed to stay on
station until called is the Instrument
Recovery Buoy*. This avoids the
troublesome sea surface by descend-
ing below it, hauled down by its
anchor and returns to the surface
where it transmits a radio signal for
final recovery. Where only sub-
surface data are required this may
well prove to be the more convenient
and economical approach, since it
need not have the stamina to take
the pounding of waves, but in its
relatively favorable submarine envi-
ronment it still must maintain absolute
reliablity for successful recovery.
Testing of apparatus such as these is
time consuming and frustrating, since
under actual field conditions oppor-
tunity for a post-mortem on any fail-
ure is generally non-existent.

There are other technical fields in
which problems of no lesser magni-
tude than those we face have been
overcome, given sufficient incentive.

* See: "New Instruments", Oceanus, Vol. II,
no. 20.

Mr. Frantz, Research Associate in
Engineering, knows first hand what
type of weather his buoys have to
withstand. He was on board the
Aries cruise from Bermuda this
spring.

The design of reliable electronic ap-
paratus for function under adverse
conditions has been very successful in
certain fields. For instance, commu-
nications and radar equipment de-
veloped under the stimulus of military
necessity. Another example may be
found in the fine, accurate oscillo-
graphs which became available
through the demands of oil-well
prospecting. These particular exam-
ples have been adopted successfully
by oceanographers and now rank
almost with the Nansen bottle in reli-
ability. However, in terms of technical
manpower alone, the effort devoted
to strictly oceanographic instrumenta-
tion, and particularly to the design of
the platform on which to mount the
instruments have been almost infini-
tesimal compared to that which has
gone into even one class of device
mentioned above, military communi-
cations equipment, for example.

The oceanographic buoy station
has become respectable in that it is
obvious that the problems are not
monumental compared to similar ones
that have been solved in other fields.
Unmanned stations still have to at-
tain that full measure of respectabil-
ity which will come when scientific
programs using the devices in con-
siderable number can be planned
with good prospect of success by
oceanographers, not by instrument
designers.

The Salinometer

By Karl E. Schleicher

For many years oceanographers have brought back thousands of water
samples to be titrated chemically for their salinity content. Now, salinity can
be measured on board ship with greater precision and with a great saving
of time.

I HE idea that the electrical con-
ductive properties of sea water might
be used to determine salinity was
first suggested by Karsten in 1897.
Though the years immediately fol-
lowing saw rapid advance in tech-
niques and apparatus concerned
with conductivity measurements in
general, it was not until 1922 that a
really successful conductivity bridge
was built designed specifically for
the routine determination of salinity
on board a research ship. This in-
strument was designed and built by
the Bureau of Standards for the U. S.
Coast Guard. Since then several
other models were constructed and
the last one of this series has been
in use successfully for many years
by the U. S. Coast Guard on its an-
nual Ice Patrol cruises.

Other instruments based on con-
ductivity measurements but designed
to record salinity or other related
properties of sea water continuously
have been used in more recent years
at the Institution and elsewhere.
These instruments were, for the most
part, extremely useful in the job for

which they were designed but be-
cause of the difficulties inherent in
in-situ measurements none of them
could match the precision of the
Coast Guard type of bridge which
was designed to determine the salin-
ity of single samples as taken from
Nansen Bottles. As far as the writer
is aware it was not until 1954, when
the first of the Woods Hole Salin-
ometers was built, that another in-
strument comparable to the Coast
Guard Bridge was used as a routine
method of finding salinity on board
ship.

The electrical conductivity of sea
water, (its ability to conduct elec-
tricity) is dependent on its salinity
and its temperature. There is also a
pressure dependence but since all
measurements made by the salin-
ometer are at atmospheric pressure
we need not concern ourselves with
this relationship. Furthermore it has
been found that for most practical
purposes, the conductivity-salinity-
temperature relationship is unique
and is independent of the geographi-
cal location of the source of the sea

water samples. It is evident then that
once this relationship has been de-
termined we can find the salinity of
any sample by measuring its conduc-
tivity and temperature. If high ac-
curacy is desired, however, this direct
method is not very satisfactory due
to the difficulties in absolute measure-
ments of both the conductivity and
temperature to the precision required.
To avoid these difficulties the salin-
ometer makes use of a "standard"

"heart" of the instrument which does
the comparing of the conductivities
as mentioned above; the bath unit
which is a constant temperature oil
bath to keep the sea water samples
at a temperature of 15C; and the
electronic gear necessary to run the
instrument.

There are now four salinometers
at Woods Hole. The original No. 1,
built in 1954, is more or less retired
to shore duty after having been on
seven cruises during which almost

J. H.

GEORGE BOLTZ

AT SEA and in the laboratory the salinometer has proved its value during recent years.

sample of water whose salinity is
known and compares the conductiv-
ity of this water to that of the un-
known sample at the same tempera-
ture.

The Instrument

Physically, the new model of the
Woods Hole Salinometer is slightly
larger than a standard four drawer
office filing cabinet. It can be dis-
mantled easily for transfer from ship to
ship or ship to shore. It is divided into
three main units: the bridge unit, the

9,000 samples were analyzed. This in-
strument does not have a refrigerated
bath nor is it as automatic as the newer
models. Also not being as compact
as the others it is less convenient to
take to sea. On the other hand it is
more versatile being able to analyze
water from about 16 o/oo to 40 o/oo*
instead of the more limited range of

* Salinity is essentially a measure of the
total quantity of dissolved solids in a given
sample of sea water and is given in units
of parts per thousand by weight (o/oo.)
The average salinity in the open ocean is
about 35 o/oo.

29

salinometers 2, 3, and 4, of 30 o/oo
to 40 o/oo. It is therefore the best
of the four instruments to keep on
shore where there is often the need
to analyze samples of low salinities
taken from inshore waters.

The last of the salinometers, No. 4,
was finished in November 1958 and
is now on its maiden cruise on the
VEMA of the Lamont Geological Ob-
servatory in the southern Atlantic.

Altogether the salinometers have
been on 14 cruises (of six different
vessels) not counting the ones they are
on at present. On these cruises a
total of more than 17,500 salinity
samples have been analyzed. The
number of samples that have been
analyzed on shore by the instruments
is not known too well but there have
been at least 16,000. Most of these
have been analyzed on salinometer
No. 1. There have been approxi-
mately 14 different operators of the
salinometers including two Germans
who operated No. 3 for a month
while it was on loan to the German
Hydrographic Institute in Hamburg.

Great Precision

The two most obvious advantages
of a salinometer over the chemical
Knudsen titration for determining sa-
linity is the increase in precision
(about five times) and the much
greater ease of operation at sea.
With the greater precision available
it is possible to differentiate between
two water masses so close together
in salinity-temperature characteristics

Mr. Sch/ei'cher, Research Associate
in Physics, has made many cruises
on our ships and last summer
sailed on the German R.V. ANTON
DOHRN to Icelandic and west
Greenland waters.

that the scatter in the titration method
would prevent their separate identifi-
cation. This opens up many new
possibilities in the investigation of
deep ocean waters. The ease of op-
eration at sea now makes it practical
to have all salinity data worked up
before the cruise is over. Indeed, if
desired, the data on any one station
may be completed within an hour or
two of gathering the samples and
the results may help the oceanogra-
pher in deciding upon the plans for
the following station. This may grad-
ually change the planning technique
of future hydrographic cruises which
till now have been essentially of the
survey type where the location and
most of the details of the stations
have been decided upon before the
cruise starts. It should be mentioned
that titration has been done at sea
and in some cases still is. However,
it is relatively difficult and takes so
much skill to get reasonable results
that it is not done as a general prac-
tice. With the salinometer, analysis
at sea can be done with as much
speed and as good precision, even in
moderately rough sea conditions, as
on shore, assuming that the operator
himself is not overly affected by the
motion of the vessel.

30

Potheads

JAN HAHN

I HREE POTHEAD WHALES (Globicephala) lazing at the glassy surface near
"Atlantis" early on an August morning last year in the western Mediterranean.

They were members of a large group swimming between the U.S.C.G.
YAMACRAW and the "Atlantis" while the ships were waiting early in the
morning to start the day's program of seismic exploration. Dr. Richard H.
Backus and some companions put out in a rubber boat and approached close
enough to touch the whales, and for nearly an hour observe their behavior
at close quarters.

31

The Swallow Buoy

By Gordon H . Volkmann

Direct measurements of sub- surface currents were made
possible with a simple, reliable device.

\ HE Pinger developed by Dr. John
Swallow at the (British) National In-
stitute of Oceanography for the
measurement of deep current uses ihe
difference between the compressibili-
ties of aluminum tubing and water as
the depth stabilizing element. In
other words the tube is less compressi-
ble than water. As it sinks into the
ocean it gains buoyancy. By careful
calibration its overall density can be
adjusted to correspond to the density
at any given depth in the ocean and
there the pinger will become neutrally
buoyant and drift with the current at
that depth. While this relative incom-
pressibility is fairly common among
structural materials, aluminum has a
feature not so common. It can be
made of sufficiently heavy stock to
withstand the pressures encountered
in the deep oceans and at the same
time remain lighter than water so that
it can carry a pay load.

The tubes under development at
Woods Hole are 4 inches in diameter
with a wall thickness of 0.312 inches.
They are 8 ft. long and can carry a
pay load of 8 pounds to a depth of
25,000 ft. This is sufficient to reach
the bottorr. of the ocean everywhere
except in the deep trenches.

The pinger has inside it a simple
electronic device similar to the elec-
tronic flash used in photography to
send current through a coil wrapped
around a nickel ring outside the tube.
This nickel ring then produces a noise
by the commonly used "magneto-
strictive effect." This is the "ping" of
the pinger and is used for tracking
it. Heard in the air it is an unim-
pressive sound and probably wouldn't
be noticed even at a small cocktail
party. But in the ocean where this
seems to be an unusual sound and
where sound transmission is much
better it can be heard 3 to 4 miles.

I G Y

The Swallow buoy and some areas where subsurface currents have been detected with
its aid.

The simplicity of design both struc-
turally and electrically of course en-
hances its reliability.

The pinger has already been used
in a wide variety of places. It was
first used off the coast of England
where it showed tidal oscillations at
middle depths. The next series was
the now famous experiment off the
Carolines where it showed the deep

flow under the Gulf Stream.* Swallow
has also used pingers in various parts
of the North Pacific and in the deep
water west of Spain. During the next
year Dr. Swallow will use pingers to
study subsurface currents in the mid-
dle of the ocean with the aid of our
newly acquired R.V. ARIES which will
be stationed at Bermuda during that
period.

* See: Oceanus, Vol. V, nos. 3 & 4.

33

Sediments

Turbidity Currents,

by Richard G. Leahy

Bottom sediments off South America

were influenced by deposits from the Amazon

and the Rio de la Plata.

S part of the current ATLANTIS
cruise to the South Atlantic, a geo-
logical investigation was carried out
in the western basin between the lati-
tudes of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos
Aires. This work and the general
hydrographic program of Mr. Arthur
Miller, chief scientist on the ATLANTIS,
are part of the Institution's program
for the International Geophysical
Cooperation of 1959, the continua-
tion and windup of the International
Geophysical Year.

The original interest in the geology
of the bottom sediments in this area
was instigated by the general lack
of any previous data from this area
and from the supposition that the
area might present an uncomplicated
sedimentary record which could be
utilized for analyses designated to
investigate the paleoclimatic record
for these latitudes. For this purpose

it was hoped that the sediment
would be completely oceanic in na-
ture and would be the result of a
very slow rate of deposition measured
in centimeters per thousand years
such that long term climatic trends
could be expected to be reflected in
a vertical section through the sedi-
ments. A section of slowly accumu-
lating sediment would also be useful
for a second problem which was
concerned with the diffusion and
distribution of naturally occurring
trace elements and the change in the
chemical content of the water in the
sediments with depth in the core.

A third problem related to the
changing problem related to the
changing thorium content of the sur-
face sediments with changing salinity
conditions and it was planned to take
samples across the shelf and into the
fresh water sediments of the Rio de

34

<!' v- ***sw

* - -/

ff**iV-T>-- -

*T k - 7^^.A .

R. G. MUNNS

The piston coring tube alongside the ATLANTIS
ready for a lowering.

Dr. Leahy and Richard Edwards cutting and
preserving the sediment.

Chief scientist A. K. Miller at the Woods HoU
precision recorder.

la Plata. To permit the special geo-
chemical analyses which were neces-
sary to resolve these problems, elab-
orate sampling techniques were
developed to extrude and section the
core to prevent chemical contamina-
tion and to squeeze the interstitial
water from sediment samples.

R. G. MUNNS

R. G. MUNNS

The preliminary examination of the
sedimentary material carried out
while the cores were being sampled
on board the ATLANTIS indicated
that a much different depositional
picture existed in the area than was
hoped for when the project was
orginated. A core taken in over
15,000 feet of water 1,200 miles east
of the mouth of the Rio de la Plata
demonstrated many of the character-
istics indicative of turbidity current
desposition. Rather than being the
product of a slow relatively uniform
depositional process, turbidity cur-
rent deposits are considered to form

catastrophically with several feet of
sediment being accumulated within
hours. The source of these sediments
is postulated to be some higher topo-
graphic area such as the edge of the
Continental Shelf where a river may
be dumping material by normal
processes. This sediment piles up un-
stably due to its topographic position,
fast rate of supply and high water
content where it remains until the
submarine slide is triggered by some
mechanism such as an earthquake or
a major storm. When the submarine
slide begins, the material slips down
the slope and picks up velocity until
it finally reaches a basin where the
sediment is redeposited, the coarser
material, having travelled faster, is
on the bottom of the bed and grades
into finer sediment above. Due to
this banding and other depositional
features, distinct cycles can be rec-
ognized and four or five were noted
in a twenty foot core from this South
Atlantic area. It has been suggested
by some geologists that these tur-
bidity slides and currents achieve
sufficient densities to erode the sub-
marine canyons that are known in
Continental Shelf areas and to reach
velocities of over sixty miles per hour.
Although these extreme views are not
generally held, they indicate the
nature of this phenomenon.

The occurrence of this type of de-
posit in the region under investigation
proved disappointing in light of the
proposed research program which
was dependent upon the discovery
of an area of slowly accumulating oce-
anic sediments such as an area
known in the central Pacific. The

Dr. Leahy is assistant to the Direc-
tor. He has been responsible for
the co-ordination of our IGY ef-
forts and is interested in the CO 2
cycle and other geochemical prob-
lems.

rapidly accumulating sediments found,
fit the depositional picture for what
is known for the rest of the Atlantic
basin between the mid-Atlantic Ridge
and North and South America. The
present rate of supply of sediment by
rivers such as the Rio de la Plata and
the Amazon and the former rate of
such North American rivers as the
Hudson during glacial times have
contributed tremendous volumes of
sediment to the western Atlantic. This
material is found all the way to the
base of the mid-Atlantic Ridge be-
tween the limits of sea ice in both the
northern and southern hemisphere.

36

Where are the ships?

SOUND VELOCITY METER LOWERINGS
ECHO SOUNDING
THERMISTOR CHAIN
REVERBERATION MEASUREMENTS
BOTTOM PHOTOGRAPHY

FOR DETAILS

SEE CHART II

HYDROGRAPHIC SECTION
ALONG 36" N

DETAILED ECHO-
SOUNDING SURVEY

SUSPENDED ECHO SOUNDER -CAMERA STUDIES

ECHO SOUNDING

REVERBERATION MEASUREMENTS

BOTTOM TOPOGRAPHY

BIOLUMINESCENCE OBSERVATIONS

MARINE ANIMAL SOUND RECORDING

C. INNIS

The CHAIN (Capt. W. S. Olivey) left in April on a four months cruise in the Mediterranean
for Dr. J. B. Mersey's geophysical group and students.

C. INNIS

CRUISE PLAN

CHAIN 7
APRIL-AUGUST 1959

VARIOUS GEOPHYSICAL OBSERVATIONS

&TER EXCHANGE STUDIES WITH
1ERMISTOR CHAIN, ECHO SOUNDER,

OTTOM PHOTOGRAPHY 8

OTTOM REFLECTION OBSERVATIONS

THERMISTOR CHAIN

ECHO SOUNDING

SOUND TRANSMISSION RUNS

g

37

The BEAR (Copt. H. H. Seibert) participated
in the "Mohole" survey; a seismic reconnai-
sance to determine if the area shown, off
Puerto Rico, is suitable for an attempt to
drill through the crust of the earth.

The ATLANTIS (Captains, W. S. Bray, R. Colburn and E. Mysona) finished the southernmost
section (32 S.) in June. The small CRAWFORD (Capt. D. Casiles) has done the lion's share of
the work made in conjunction with the (British) National Institute of Oceanography. Each dot
represents a "hydro station" where observations were made of temperature, salinity, oxygen,
phosphate and other properties, from the surface to the bottom. Complete bottom profiles and
other data were also obtained. Not shown are stations occupied in the Indian Ocean, Red Sea
and Mediterranean.

38

Fellowships

LLEVEN SUMMER STUDENT Fellowships were awarded this Spring by the
Institution. The Fellowship program, which is now in its 29th year, gives
students an opportunity to pursue advanced studies in oceanography under
the supervision of the Institution's staff. No degrees, credits, examinations or
grades are given, although a certificate of accomplishment may be issued.

"We consider the Fellowship program one of our most important activities
and are proud that many men and women now engaged in scientific research
once were our Fellows," said Paul M. Fye, Director of the Institution. "Ocean-
ography is expanding rapidly. We need the brains and drive of present day
students to aid in our aims to describe, understand and eventually predict
natural occurrences so that man may learn to make full use of his environment
rather than be ruled by it."

The Education Policy Committee, consisting of Drs. B. H. Ketchum, V. T.
Bowen, W. S. von Arx, J. B. Mersey and Joanne S. Malkus, received 98 appli-
cations from students in 22 schools in the U. S., India, Japan and Sweden.
Recipients are:

Mr. Robert A. Berner, Harvard University; Mr. John Charles Gille, Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology; Mr. Edward H. Green, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Mr. Donald James Hall, University of Michigan; Mr. William S.
Maddux, Rutgers University; Mr. Thomas Owen Phillips, Princeton University,
Mr. Robert A. Phinney, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Edward A.
Spiegel, University of California (Postdoctoral); Mr. Lynn Ray Sykes, Massa-
chusetts of Technology; Mr. B. Samuel Tanenbaum, Yale University; Mr.
Thomas F. Webster; Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rossby Memorial Fellowship

The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Memorial Fellowship was established by the Board
of Trustees of the Institution as a fitting memorial to our Senior Meteorologist.
Preference will be given to applicants interested in those many areas of study
which engaged Professor Rossby's attention. The American Meteorological
Society was invited to name the first Rossby Fellow. Dr. P. M. Sounders of the
Imperial College of Science and Technology (University of London) was
selected and will arrive in Woods Hole this fall.

Swedish-born Carl-Gustaf Rossby, world famous meteorologist, (1899-
1957) had been associated with our Institution since its beginning. His drive
and uninhibited enthusiasms are sorely missed. His last project: to bring
meteorology into close relationship with oceanography, is succeeding and will
be forwarded through the Rossby Fellowship.

39

Currents and Tides

The report "Oceanography 1960-
1970" of the National Academy of
Sciences National Research Coun-
cil, has received widespread attention.
It was, therefore, deemed not neces-
sary to discuss it in this issue. Copies
of the report were sent to the Associ-
ates.

"The Gulf Stream" a physical and
dynamic description is the title of a
book by Henry Stommel, published
recently by the University of California
Press.

A Conference on Physics of Pre-
cipitation was held at the Institution
on June 3-5, 1959. Arranged by the
cloud physics committee of the NAS-
NRC, this was the second conference
at Woods Hole. The first conference
(September, 1955) led to the publi-
cation of a book, "Artificial stimula-
tion of rain". Pergamon Press, New
York, 1957.

Working for 15 hours on end in
the hot equatorial sun and through
the humid night, scientists and crew
of the CRAWFORD worked to bring
some 10,000 feet of wire with 11
Nansen bottles back on board.
The winch had broken down two days
out of Rio de Janeiro, during the IGY
crossing along 24 South.

The Printing and Publications Of-
fice of the National Academy of
Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue,'
Washington, D. C. brought out a
magnificent set of six IGY posters,
including one: "The Oceans". The
price per set is $5.75, available at
the above address.

Most of our IGY observations have
been submitted to the World Data
Centers in record time. Hard work
on the part of the scientific partici-
pants and the salinometer (see page
28) made this possible.

The ATLANTIS and the CHAIN are
scheduled to be at New York during
the International Oceanographic Con-
gress at the United Nations from
August 31 to September 12th.

A 16 mm sound projector was given
to the officers and crew as a reward
for their efforts. Chief scientist Wm.
G. Metcalf stated: "We at the Insti-
tution recognize the part the CRAW-
FORD has played during the IGY. It
is to the credit of the crew as much
as anyone's that our IGY work was
so successful."

An advanced program for our
Industrial Associates and others was
held last fall at the Institution. A
one week course was presented by
staff members: "Environmental factors
influencing the performance of naval
weapon systems."

One outcome of our Fellowship
program was the description of one
new genus of squid and two new
species. Gilbert L. Voss of the Marine
Laboratory of Miami University, the
recipient of the Fellowship, studied
the mollusks collected by Richard H.
Backus on the ATLANTIS during a
West Indies cruise in 1954.

One of the two new species (Se-
lenoteuthis scintillans) was described:
"_ mus t rank among the most brilliant
of our luminous bathypelagic species."

40

LIBRARY

UH 17YX

ASSOCIATES

OF THE
WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

NOEL B. McLEAN, President

JOHN A. GIFFORD, Secretary

RONALD A. VEEDER, Executive Assistant

CHARLES F. ADAMS
BENJAMIN H. ALTON
WINSLOW CARLTON
RACHEL L. CARSON
W. VAN ALAN CLARK
PRINCE S. CROWELL
F. HAROLD DANIELS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

JOHN A. GIFFORD
PAUL HAMMOND
NOEL B. MCLEAN
HENRY S. MORGAN
MALCOLM S. PARK
GERARD SWOPE, JR.
THOMAS J. WATSON, JR.
JAMES H. WICKERSHAM

INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE

Chairman: CHARLES F. ADAMS

President, Raytheon Manufacturing Company

ROBERT M. AKIN, JR.
F. M. BUNDY
M. C. GALE
MILLARD G. GAMBLE
PAUL HAMMOND

F L. LaQUE

LOUIS E. MARRON
WILLIAM T. SCHWENDLER

D. D. STROHMEIER
MILES F. YORK

President, Hudson Wire Company

President, Gorton's of Gloucester, Inc.

President, Monarch Edsel Company, Inc.

President. Esso Shipping Company

President, The Hammond, Kennedy & Legg

Company

Vice President, The International Nickel

Company, Inc.

Chairman. Coastal Oil Company

Executive Vice President, Grumman Aircraft

Engineering Corporation

Vice President, Bethlehem Steel Company

President, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company

EX-OFFICIO

RAYMOND STEVENS, President

PAUL M. FYE, Director
EDWIN D. BROOKS, JR., Treasurer

Contents

Articles

PLANKTON BIOLOGY AND THE DEVELOPMENT

OF ATOMIC ENERGY 5

B. H. Ketchum

NEW DISCOVERY IN PHYSICAL

OCEANOGRAPHY 11

C. O'D. /se/m

BEARDS. SALTS AND DECIMAL PLACES 16

Francis A. Richards

OF TUNAS. MARLINS AND WAHOOS 18

Frank J. Mather III

FROM SCULLERY TO FRONT PARLOR 24

David H. Frantz, Jr.

THE SALINOMETER 28

Karl E. Schleicher

THE SWALLOW BUOY 32

Gordon H. Volkmann

SEDIMENTS AND TURBIDITY CURRENTS 34

Richard G. Leahy

Features

NEW SHIPS 2

OH. WHY CANT WE? 13

ASSOCIATES' NEWS 14

MANGANESE NODULES 15

GIFTS AND GRANTS 23

POTHEADS 31

WHERE ARE THE SHIPS? 37

FELLOWSHIPS 39

CURRENTS AND TIDES 4O

Articles and items in this issue may be reprinted in
whole or in part provided credit is given to: "OCEANUS,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution."

Published by

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS