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Summer 1956, Vol. IV, No. 4

EDITOR: JAN HAHN

Published quarterly and distributed to the Asso-
ciates of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution and others interested
in Oceanography

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

WOODS HOLE. MASSACHUSETTS

HENRY B. BIGELOW

Chairman of the 7$oard of Trusted

RAYMOND STEVENS
Tresident of the Corporation

COLUMBUS O'D. ISELIN ALFRED C. REDFIELD
'Director (Dissociate "Director

BOSTWICK H. KETCHUM
Senior Octanographer

Contents

WHERE ARE THE SHIPS?

A SMALL WORLD

LIGHT IN THE DEEP

RIGHT WHALES

William S. Von Arx

George L. Clarke

DRIFT BOTTLES ARE GETTING BIGGER

Dean F. Bumpus

The cover design was suggested by Rear
Admiral Edward H. Smith and executed
by Mary K. Minot of Falmouth.

New Director Summer 1956, Vol. IV, No. 4

^'n August 16th the Board of Trustees of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution met at Woods Hole for their annual
meeting and announced that the resignation of Rear Admiral
Edward H. Smith, U.S.C.G. (Ret.) was accepted, and that Dr.
Columbus O'D Iselin was appointed Director, to assure continuity
in the administration during the planning and execution of oceano-
graphic participation in the International Geophysical Year 1957-58.

Admiral Smith, having reached the retirement age, did not
wish to remain in office beyond his six years term of appointment.
Mr. Raymond Stevens, President of the Corporation, expressed the
appreciation of the Trustees and stated that during Admiral
Smith's administration the Institution expanded significantly, while
the sources of interest and financial support for oceanography were
broadened. It was largely due to his efforts that the Research
Vessel CRAWFORD was acquired recently. The resolution also
mentioned Admiral Smith's role in the establishment and growth
of the Associates of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a
group of private individuals, corporations and other organizations
who aid in the support of scientific and educational work at Woods
Hole.

Dr. C. O'D Iselin has been with the Institution since its incep-
tion in 1930. A student of Dr. H. B. Bigelow, first Director, he
started his Oceanographic career on an expedition to> Labrador in
his own schooner "Chance" in 1926. In 1931 he took command of
the Research Vessel ATLANTIS on her first cruise in the North
Atlantic after the ship was built in Denmark. Dr. Iselin served as
Director during the war years and resigned in 1950 to devote more
time to scientific studies. He served on the National Research
Council Committee appointed to advise the U. S. Navy on the ap-
plication of science to undersea warfare. In 1948 he was awarded

the Legion of Merit for: "his prudent foresight and skill in the

development of methods which saved a large number of our ships
during the war." He was elected to the National Academy of
Sciences in 1951 and received the Agassiz Medal, highest award for
oceanographers in this country. Brown University awarded him
an honorary degree in 1948.

Since 1950 Dr. Iselin has divided his time/ as Senior Oceanog-
rapher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as Associate
Professor in Physical Oceanography at Harvard University, and as
scientific consultant and advisor to the government.

Where are

the ships?

I he ATLANTIS (Captain
W. Scott Bray) and the BEAR
(Captain Eugene J. Mysona)
returned in June from a geo-
physical operation on the
Blake Plateau, working out of
Charleston, S. C. for Dr. J. B.
Hersey and his group. Shortly
after return to Woods Hole
the ships left on a geophysical
and geological cruise to the
Caribbean Basin. This cruise
is a continuation of the stu-
dies made by Dr. C. B. Officer
during the early months of
1955 which were described in
OCEANUS III, 3. Two scien-
tific papers have already re-
sulted from that work and
will be published shortly in
the Bulletin of the Geological
Society of America.

Dr. Officer and John Ewing,
chief scientist on the ATLAN-
TIS, are trying to determine
the crustal structure in the
Eastern Caribbean, the Puerto
Rico Trench and the Island
Arc of the Caribbean Basin.
The aim is to determine how

this structure originated, if
and how it differs from the
North Atlantic Basin and
what sort of geological de-
velopment is going on in the
area. So far, it has been found
that the area is an altered por-
tion of the Atlantic Basin.
The crustal structure has
been determined and the prob-
lem now is to try to put all
the observations together to
obtain a consistent picture of
the geological origin and de-
velopment of the region. The
work is supported by funds
from the Office of Naval Re-
search and from the Bureau
of Ships, U. S. Navy.

It is interesting to note that
with the exception of the chief
scientists and Mr. Richard
Edwards the scientific parties
on both ships consisted of As-
sociate Professors, instructors,
graduate students and stu-
dents from Rice Institute,
Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton,
Columbia University, Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, Cornell and
the University of Utah *

The CARYN (Captain Ro-
bert G. Munns) has made sev-
eral cruises to set out and
recover drift buoys and an-
chored buoys. A longer voy-
age was made to the West In-

* Ed. Note to Alumni: No signifi-
cance should be attached to the
order of enumeration, with the ex-
ception that the largest detachment
came from Rice Institute.

The Research Vessel Crawford departing Woods Hole on July 3 on her first
cruise to study the "Birth of a Hurricane."

dies for Mr. L. Valentine
Worthington in his continuing
investigation of the cold deep
water of the North Atlantic
and its rate of overturn. One
cruise was made for Dr.
George L. Clarke, described
on page 17 of this issue.

TEXAS TOWERS

On July 26 the CARYN left
on a short cruise to Nantucket
Shoals with Dr. John M.
Zeigler to make a thorough
survey on the site of Texas
Tower number 3. The exist-
ing tower on Georges Bank is
number 2, while number 1 has
not been erected. Since 1954
this Institution has been in-
vestigating sites for proposed
Texas Radar Towers off the
northeast coast. Senior Ocean-
ographer C. O'D. Iselin is in
charge of the consulting work
and provided oceanographic
information which influenced
the design and location of the
structures.

Hurricane Research

The research vessel CRAW-
FORD (Captain David F. Ca-
siles) departed Woods Hole

on July 3 and worked east-
ward of the Caribbean Sea to
discover the "Birth of a Hur-
ricane." Mr. Colin D. Maca-
fee was chief scientist.

The ship was commissioned
during the Annual Associates
Day on June 30th in the pres-
ence of many Associates and
their friends who afterward
took a short cruise on the ship
to Vineyard Sound. Senator
Theodore Francis Green of
Rhode Island, who has been
most active in the promotion
of hurricane research, was the
principal speaker. During the
cruise the senior Senator re-
leased the first weather bal-
loon from the top deck of the
ship.

During August the ship
worked together with our
PBY (Captain Norman Gin-
grass) just north of Puerto
Rico. Dr. Joanne S. Malkus,
Mr. Andrew F. Bunker and
Mr. Claude Ronne made me-
teorological observations on
board the plane.

The ship returned to Woods
Hole on the 8th of September.

A photograph of the 8-foot model showing the general circulation of the North-
ern Hemisphere. The Gulf Stream is shown as an irregular gray band along
the east coast of North America and across the North Atlantic toward Ireland.
The Sargasso Sea is the lighter gray area extending as far south as the Antilles.
The lightest area south of Spain and west of Africa is the region of the North
Equatorial Current which ultimately enters the Caribbean and feeds the Gulf
Stream.

A photograph of the 8-foot model showing the general circulation of the South-
ern Hemisphere. In this part of the world there are two clearly different pat-
terns of motion. In the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctic con-
tinent, the flow is driven by the west winds toward the east except at the coast
line where the polar easterlies drive water westward into the Weddel and Ross
Seas. In higher latitudes the circulation is almost closed as it moves around
the South Atlantic and the Indian and South Pacific Oceans.

A Small World

by William S. von Arx

Too large an ocean, too few oceanographers.

A miniature world has been built at Woods Hole

to aid in the explanation of some problems.

Jonathan Swift touched a
universally responsive spot
when he placed his readers in
the position of Gulliver in
Lilliput. There is a certain
appeal in miniatures of ob-
jects which arises perhaps as
much from the flexibility of
perspective and delight in
fresh impressions as anything
else. This very feature of en-
gineering and research models
is often as important as the
quantitative data they may
yield. In the case of pheno-
mena occurring on a global
scale these impressions are es-
sentially all we have. Unfor-
tunately, natural processes
which are too large, too slow,
or beyond the reach of observ-
ing instruments, do not nec-
essarily yield up their secrets
in models. In fact it is rarely
possible to design a model
which will represent more
than a few of the important
contributing influences in a
natural occurrence. Even so,
experimental models can
sometimes provide an animat-
ed physical impression of
these few phenomena which
lie beyond the range of ordi-
nary human experience, and

often serve as a proving
ground for analytical thought.
If the model is reliable and
representative, insofar as it
goes, one can gain from it a
fair idea of not only how, but
when an observational pro-
gram may be conducted in
the field and where on the
earth the most significant
data may be collected.

These are some of the con-
siderations which have promp-
ted experiments with ocean
models.

The Modeling Problem

Just at present we are al-
most as much concerned with
models themselves as with
the results they produce. This
is a natural stage in the de-
velopment of any technique.
In scaling the motions of the
earth's fluids down to labora-
tory dimensions we try to
make the model forces, eval-
uated in terms of model
length and time, have the
same numerical value as
their counterparts in nature
measured in ordinary units.
Simple though this is in prin-
ciple, the scaling procedure
is often thwarted by the pull

of gravity and the properties
of materials, like viscosity,
which cannot be changed ap-
preciably.

Because of this, the con-
struction of a satisfactory mo-
del of an ocean requires first
of all a selection of a few of
the many physical parame-
ters which are known to in-
fluence the ocean circulation.
For example, the oceans are
partly heat-driven, respond-
ing mechanically to the dif-
ference in solar heating be-

The 8-foot rotating tank apparatus
in which the experiments shown
on page 4 were made.

tween the equator and poles,
and partly wind-driven; the
atmosphere performing this
function of transforming
thermal energy into mechan-
ical energy. In addition to
heat, wind, or both, one also
has to provide experimentally
the effects of the rotation and
curvature of the earth.

In our laboratory experi-
ment the effects of earth
rotation are present, but by
rotating the experimental ap-
paratus much faster than the

earth does, far stronger rota-
tional forces are produced so
that the earth's effects can be
neglected. Freely moving ob-
jects like streams of water
and puffs of smoke follow
familiar trajectories when
moving across the laboratory
when we watch them in the
ordinary way, but to an ob-
server standing on the rotat-
ing apparatus these paths ap-
pear to be very strongly
curved. The apparent curva-
ture can be thought of as be-
ing produced by a force act-
ing horizontally and at right
angles to the direction of mo-
tion of the particles involved.

This is the familiar Coriolis
force that deflects the plane
of vibration of the Foucault
pendulum, and causes the
shells of northern hemisphere
cannon to fall to the right of
the aiming point. Some say
it also causes rivers to wear
away one bank more than an-
other and makes water spiral
down the drain more often
one way than the other, but
these latter effects do not
emerge at all clearly from
the background of chance oc-
currences. In everyday af-
fairs the effects of the Coriolis
force are mainly lost in a con-
fusion of friction and many
other forces of local origin.

In our laboratory model
water does go down the drain
the same way every time;
namely, in the same sense of
rotation as that of the model
apparatus. In this case it is
the Coriolis force, the deflect-
ing force of rotation, that is
responsible for the sense of
spin because it has been made
strong enough to hold out

THE KITCHEN DRAIN.

The familiar circumstance of
viscous gravity flow on the
bottom is contrasted with cy-
clostrophic flow in the whirl-
pool at the surface. In vis-
cous gravity flow the pres-
sure gradient force P.G.F. is
balanced by friction, while in
cyclostrophic flow it is al-
most entirely balanced by
centrifugal force labeled C.F.

against the unenhanced op-
position.

We accept without question
the statement that water
flows downhill; that is, down
the gradient of pressure. Riv-
ers and streams all do this,
water supply systems are de-
signed on this principle, and
yet we have only to pull the
plug in the kitchen sink to
arouse some doubt. The down-
hill direction from any point
near an open drain is most
certainly toward its center,
and yet more often than not
the water spirals around the
hole nearly across the gradi-
ent of pressure.

The difficulty here is that
the initial statement is incom-
plete. It refers to flow that
is dominated by friction. Deep
water tends to gyrate on its
way through household drains
because every chance bit of
net angular momentum in
the water tends to be con-
served. Thus as particles from
some distance away approach
a drain, their radii of gyra-
tion are shortened and their
angular velocity becomes con-
spicuously large. But at the
bottom or in very shallow

water where friction is more
important, the motion is near-
ly straight toward the hole.
In friction layers like this,
and out of doors wherever
winds and ocean currents are
heavily impeded by friction,
air and water tends to move
down the gradient of pres-
sure. But high in the air and
far at sea where friction is
slight, fluid motion is more
commonly across the gradient
of pressure.

To have the motion proceed
in this fashion something
must balance the thrust of the
pressure gradient. In the
case of the kitchen sink where
the earth's rotation is quite
unimportant, the balancing
force directed away from the
drain is centrifugal force; the
thrust we feel urging us out-
ward when we make sharp
turns at high speed. In the
ocean and atmosphere, how-
ever, the curvatures of wind
and water flow are generally
not sharp enough for centri-
fugal force to be conspicuous
and it is the Coriolis force -
the deflecting force of the
earth's rotation that bal-
ances the pressure gradient

force. When centrifugal force
does the balancing we have
what is called cyclostrophic
motion, found alike in kitchen
sinks, tornadoes, and some
tropical cyclones; but when
the Coriolis force is the pre-
dominant balancing agent the
motion becomes geostrophic.
It is this class of balanced
flow across the pressure gra-
dient that is most often en-
countered in the open sea and
in everyday winds of the up-
per air.

This pressure is produced by
the difference in water level
between the Sargasso Sea and
the Slope Water. The Sar-
gasso water on the high side
is, less dense saltier but
warmer than that on the
low pressure side. Naturally
the high pressure water tends
to flow toward the region of
lower pressure but once in
motion, the Coriolis force
turns the flow to the right
(in the northern hemisphere)
until the direction of flow is

This bird's-eye view of the Atlantic coast north of Cape Hatteras shows how
the pressure gradient force P.G.F. produced by the mass of warm light water
in the Sargasso Sea is balanced by the Coriolis Force accompanying the motion
of the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream can be regarded as fluid dam holding
back the flood waters in mid-ocean. Actually were this dam to give way, the
sea level along the coast would rise less than a meter, but the flood water would
be warm and relatively lifeless so that fishing would not be very good for

some time.

Because of the earth's ro-
tation each geostrophic cur-
rent in the real oceans and in
models becomes, in time, as-
sociated with a field of pres-
sure across the direction of
flow. The Gulf Stream, for
example, flows along the
western edge of the Sargasso
Sea where there is a field of
pressure across the current.

parallel with the Gulf Stream
and the outward flow stops.
In this fashion the Coriolis
force balances the pressure
force, or vice versa, and the
high pressure region is sep-
arated from the low pressure
region by the effects of earth
rotation on the moving water
between them.

8

Friction destroys the per-
fection of this scheme and in-
deed, though water is a very
slippery substance it does not
slide over itself with perfect
freedom. Therefore, ocean
currents hardly ever flow ex-
actly at right angles to the
pressure slope and there is
some leakage across currents.
This imperfection is further
exaggerated by the fact that
ocean currents are not smooth
and steady.

The Gulf Stream, we have
learned, flows in a pulsating
fashion, and it also meanders
from side to side of some
mean course that is only ap-
proximately known. More-
over, the individual current
pulses tend to form discon-
nected ribbons some fifty to
one hundred miles long. The
two modes of flow mean-
dering and pulsation are
not mutually exclusive, but
no one has any clear idea of
how they are related.

Presumably the average
motion of the Gulf Stream is
sufficiently fast to hold back
the high pressure of the Sar-
gasso Sea from the lower pres-
sure of the Slope Water along
the Continental Shelf, but the
faster pulses, deflected by the
Coriolis force, could climb the
average pressure slope into
Sargasso Water and the slow-
er portions of the current
could be thrust toward Slope
Water. This process would
tend to form meanders, and
perhaps initiates them. Once
formed, the meanders proba-
bly grow by other mechan-
isms because the meanders
and current pulses move at
different speeds. Both pul-
sation and meandering appear
spontaneously in the rotating
apparatus and there is hope

Dr. von Arx came to the
Institution a little over ten
years ago with an interest in
the large scale ocean circu-
lation. He devised an elec-
tromagnetic method for de-
tecting the surface structure
of ocean currents as the ship
sails through them, and a
wide field camera to photo-
graph from aircraft the fea-
tures of the sea surface and
clouds. During recent years
he has been working chiefly
on model techniques.

that the new 4-meter tank
will permit these relatively
small details of the major cur-
rents to be studied experi-
mentally.

Seasonal Changes

Changes in flow rate can be
reproduced in the rotating
tank apparatus through a
change in wind speeds. But
there is more to it than this.
The simulated winds repro-
duce much of the ocean cir-
culation and water mass
structure when the tank is
filled with ordinary homo-
geneous tap water. This is
suggestive in that written
statements often point out
with care that the ocean cur-
rents are associated with the
boundaries of the principal
water masses of the oceans.
From this laboratory experi-
ment there seem to be grounds
for considering the pattern
of water mass distribution of
the oceans to be consequent
upon the pattern of the wind-
driven circulation. In other
words, the atmospheric circu-
lation determines the ocean
current pattern which in turn
determines the geographic
distribution of water masses.

9

In nature the water masses
of the upper layers of the
oceans have properties which
are determined by the pre-
dominant climate of each wind
zone. But the oceans them-
selves influence this climate
and the pattern of wind zones,
and here we are at the begin-
ning once more. In tracing
out this circle we have not
gained very deep insight into
the essential problem, except
to identify a "feedback" situ-

ation and to realize still more
clearly that the oceans cannot
be studied out of the atmos-
pheric context.

Because of the complexity
of the interaction between the
oceans and atmosphere it is
profitable to study this in the
laboratory where each of the
effects can be isolated. For
example, we have already
shown that the effects of
equatorial heating are not
necessary to the production

The 4-meter (13.12-foot) rotating tank apparatus. The white surface is the
model area, surrounded by a ring of fluorescent lights to provide shadowless
illumination for the cameras mounted on top of the tripod, and a ring of blower
nozzles and infra-red heaters for simulating the planetary winds and sun's
heat. This apparatus floats on water so as to run level and with perfect
smoothness; a difficult thing to achieve with mechanical supports.

10

of a recognizable oceanic cir-
culation pattern. But at the
same time we have found that
a small change of the wind
pattern, such as that which
occurs with a change of sea-
son, produces effects in the
laboratory which are much
too large and too rapid to cor-
respond with those in nature.
This suggests that the con-
trasting density of heated
water in mid-ocean with that
around the edges and beneath
tends to slow the response of
the real oceans to seasonal
changes in the wind distribu-
tion. One can see why this
may be so because the high
pressure body of warm salt
water in the central ocean is
built up slowly, storing ener-
gy in times of strong atmos-
pheric circulation which
would otherwise appear as
water motion. In leaner
times, or were the winds to
cease altogether, the flow of
high pressure water would
be deflected by the earth's
rotation in a manner tending
to maintain the circulation in
nearly its original form. In
this fashion, the water mass
and pressure distribution sys-
tems associated with the ma-
jor ocean currents, function
as a kind of "flywheel", resist-
ing change of speed and tend-
ing from season to season to
suppress the effects of short
lived extremes of wind and
weather.

In an attempt to study these
effects the new apparatus is
equipped with infra-red heat-
ers which are designed to
warm the model oceans most
intensely at low latitudes as
the sun does. Infra-red of the

wave lengths produced by
such heaters is almost com-
pletely absorbed in a layer of
water no thicker than this
paper. This thickness is
roughly in proper scale rela-
tive to the depth of water in
the model to reproduce the
depth of direct solar heating
in nature. While the model
oceans are about 100 times
deeper than they should be
on strict geometrical grounds,
the relationship of their thick-
ness to this penetration of
heat and to the thickness of
the so-called "friction layer"
is about the same as in nature
The theory of the two layer
ocean is still in its earliest
stages of development, and
the physical consequences of
surface heating in a rotating
model are at the moment even
more obscure, but with a few
experiments to guide our
thoughts some understanding
may be forthcoming. This
and the problem of unstable
flow in swift major ocean
currents are among our tar-
gets for the near future.

The Ultimate Experiment

In the distant future, if al]
goes well with the heating ex-
periments, it may be possible
to model the atmosphere in a
heavy gas overlying the ocean
model. If this gas is trans-
parent to the infra-red heater
radiation but opaque to the
lower temperature radiation
of the ocean model (as carbon
dioxide would be) the radiant
heat would penetrate the gas
to the ocean surface and heat
the model atmosphere from
below. Sunlight heats the
real atmosphere by similar

11

An oblique view of the frontal
convergence along the western edge
of the Gulf Stream showing how
complex it can become and how
far ahead it can be traced. Fluo-
rescein dye packages dropped on
lines at right angles to the front
make spots which move toward
the convergence rapidly as they
drift with the main current.

secondary processes. It is just
possible that the motions of
this gas could be made to re-
semble those of the atmos-
phere and with sufficient
strength to drive the ocean
model. The ocean currents
would then carry heat into
high latitudes and cool water
into low latitudes in a manner
resembling nature to produce
some properties of the "feed-
back" system mentioned ear-
lier; probably the most com-
plicated system in planetary

fluid motion. Such an experi-
ment must wait, intriguing as
it may be, because the results
could be no less than bewil-
dering until our minds are
better prepared.

Such preparation requires
intensive study of the atmos-
phere as well as of the oceans,
partly by means of models.
The laboratory formerly used
for ocean models is now being
used by Alan J. Faller for
atmospheric motion experi-
ments. These experiments are
directed toward a study of
the quantitative effects of
heating on the general atmos-
pheric circulation. Faller's
model consists of a rotating
tank partly filled with water
to represent a hemispheric
shell of the atmosphere. The
water is heated from below
near the rim, and cooled from
below at the center. Due to
the rotation of the tank the
rising warmed water at the
rim does not move toward the
center but around the center
as a strong narrow current
flowing in the direction of
motion of the tank. Under
proper conditions this cur-
rent develops waves very like
those of the atmospheric jet
stream and this jet stream is
correctly associated with pol-
ar outbreaks of cold water
bordered by sharp fronts.
Cyclonic disturbances develop
on these fronts and move
along them in much the same
way as cyclonic centers de-
velop and progress across
our daily weather maps.
Study of the response of this
kind of system to heating va-
riations of seasonal character,

12

and to non-uniform heating
like that occasioned by the
alternation of land and ocean
surfaces around latitude cir-
cles of the earth, has direct
bearing on an ultimate under-
standing of the ocean-atmos-
phere system.

Ye Gods

As we work with models of
the oceans and atmosphere
there are moments when it
becomes easy to understand
the prankish diversions of the
gods of ancient Greece. A
mere twist of a knob and
there is mortal chaos below.
The chaos we can create in
the models teaches us some-
thing about the sensitiveness
of the earth to change, and
what conditions might be
like under other circumstan-
ces on other planets or in
time past. In 1929, P. Lasareff
published an estimate of the
ocean current systems of the
geologic past obtained by
blowing trade winds over
models of the strange config-
urations of land and sea that
are presumed to have existed
on the earth. Fultz, at the
University of Chicago, has
produced regimes of atmos-
pheric motion that might ex-
ist on other planets. With such
flexibility at our disposal un-
der conditions where thor-
ough physical and mathemat- ,
ical digestion is possible, it
seems clear that models offer
opportunities for intensive
and extensive study of very
large scale phenomena and a
chance to sharpen our older
tools against the grindstone
of experiment.

A chart of the western edge of the
Gulf Stream traced by flying over
frontal convergences. The curi-
ous result of this experiment is
the discontinuous and offset char-
acter of the frontal pattern. From
this and evidence obtained by re-
peated crossings of the current
with one of our ships we are led
to believe that the Gulf Stream is
neither steady nor continuous but
consists of a succession of over-
lapping streamers. The current
may be broken up in this way by
the rise and fall of the diurnal tide
in the Gulf of Mexico.

TEMPERATURE GRADIENT
INDICATED BV AIRBORNE
RADIATION THERMOMETER

VISUAL CONTACT Cl N
RADIATION THERMOMETER

INTERMITTENT VISUAL CONTACT

VISUAL AND INSTRUMENTAL
10ST

56' REPRESENT/,'

SO 7 TEMPERATURES IN DEGREES

NHEIT

SURFACE EXPRESSION OF THE
GULF STREAM FRONT BETWEEN
MIAMI, FLA. AND 70W MERIDIAN

FLIGHT ALTITUDE. 1500 FT,

13

Associates News

Life Membership

I N the 1956 Spring Issue of Oceanus it was announced that a Life
Membership had been established. We are pleased to report the
following Life Memberships since May:

Mr. and Mrs. F. Harold Daniels. Worcester, Massachusetts.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hotchkiss. Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Morgan. New York, New Yor/c.

Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Straus. New Yor/c, New Yor/c.

Mr. Henry B. duPont. Wilmington, Delaware.

New Corporate Associates

American Bureau of Shipping. New York, N. Y.

Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. New York, N. Y.

Farrell Lines, Inc. New York, N. Y.
Hartford Fire Insurance Company Group. Hartford, Conn.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Boston, Mass.

Sangamo Electric Company. Springfield, Illinois

Western Electric Company, Inc. New York, N. Y.

14

Associates Fellowships
1956-57

Funds from the member-
ships fees of the Associates of
this Institution were set aside
last year for annual grants to
promising college graduates
who have shown a keen de-
sire to pursue education in
the earth sciences.

One Fellowship was award-
ed last summer to Mr. Rod-
eric B. Park, who is pursuing
his studies at the California
Institute of Technology. Mr.
Park's Fellowship recently
was renewed for another year.
Two other Fellows were ap-
pointed at the same time.
They are Mr. Duncan C.
Blanchard* of this Institution
who has been working with
Mr. A. H. Woodcock since
1951, and Mr. Edward D.
Stroup of the Pacific Oceanic
Fishery Investigations, U. S.
Department of the Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Honolulu, T. H.

Duncan C. Blanchard has

been with the Institution
since 1951 working with A. H.
Woodcock and A. T. Spencer.
Together they have made
many field trips by airplane
and other means to chase
raindrops and salt particles
from Hawaii to the Virgin Is-
lands.

His degrees include a Bach-
elor of Naval Science from
Tufts College in 1945, B.S. in
General Engineering from

* See OCEANUS IV, 3. pp 21-24.
'The Fingerprints of a Storm".

Tufts and a M.S. in Physics
from Pennsylvania State Uni-
versity in 1951. He has pub-
lished twelve scientific pa-
pers on raindrop size and dis-
tribution and on the behavior
of water droplets. This work
was described in the Spring
1956 issue of OCEANUS and

in the July 7 issue of the Sat-
urday Review. During recent
years he has also been inter-
ested in the electric charge
transfer process between the
sea and the atmosphere and
what role breaking bubbles at
the sea surface play in this
process.

Mr. Blanchard will do his
graduate studies in the De-
partment of Meteorology at
the M.I.T., starting this au-
tumn and plans to work at
Woods Hole during the sum-
mer months.

Edward D. Stroup, born in
Honolulu, attended the Uni-
versity of Washington in Se-
attle and the University of
Hawaii. Starting in marine
biology he switched to phy-
sics major and received his

15

B.A. in June of this year.
Since 1951 he has worked
part-time during the school
years at the Pacific Oceanic
Fishery Investigations. His
sea-going experience includes
seven major oceanographic
cruises and some shorter
trips. Moreover, as he pointed
out: "coming from Hawaii I
have been in, on, around and
under the water most of my
life".

Mr. Stroup has published a
report on one of the Equa-
torial Cruises with T. S. Aus-
tin as co-author, and a Review
of the Oceanographic Pro-
grams of the Pacific Oceanic
Fisheries Investigations, pub-
lished in the Transactions of
the AmericanGeophysicalUnion

With T. Cromwell and R. B.
Montgomery he published a
preliminary report in Science
on the Equatorial Undercur-
rent in the Pacific. He has

also read papers at scientific
meetings in Hawaii.

A photographer and a char-
coal broiler of turkeys, Mr.
Stroup may have to forget
his third hobby of surf swim-
ming for awhile as he intends
to use the Fellowship to study
physical oceanography at
Johns Hopkins University.

What, no sea serpents?

What are we looking at?
Or, who's looking at us? It
is the underside of the head
of a small shark belonging to
the family Oxynotidae, of
which only one genus with
three species are known, two
in the Mediterranean and one
in Australian water. They
grow to about three feet. The
very rough skin and peculiar
teeth are not possessed by
any other shark.

The shark is being studied
by Dr. H. B. Bigelow and Mr.
William C. Schroeder for a
paper on spiny ray sharks.
The well known spiny dog-
fish is included in this group.

16

Light in the Deep.

by George L. Clarke

Light is essential to life. The conditions of light in
the deep sea have been a matter of speculation for years.
A new instrument has made it possible to measure light
to a depth of more than one mile.

\ HE penetration of light in-
to natural waters is of vital
concern not only for the
growth of green plants but
also for the photic reactions
of animals. In addition, a

knowledge of water transpar-
ency has many practical ap-
plications, for instance in
salvage work and underwater
photography or television.
Measurements made for many

17

years have provided us with
considerable information on
the intensity and quality of
light in the upper water lay-
ers during the daytime, and
its ecological significance.

Most pelagic or free swim-
ming animals in the ocean

other known factor of the
environment. In certain in-
stances in which the vertical
migration was confined to rel-
atively shallow depths, meas-
urements of the illumination
in the water have been made
at the same time that the po-

A haul from the deep sea. Note luminescent organs along the bodies of the fishes.

and in lakes are limited in
their vertical distribution to
definite ranges of depth, and
many kinds of zooplankton
and fishes are known to un-
dertake characteristic vertical
migrations downward to low-
er levels in the early morn-
ing with a return to higher
levels in the evening. This
diurnal migration appears to
be more closely correlated
with changes in the strength
of the light penetrating from
the surface than with any

sitions of the animal popula-
tions were determined by
means of plankton hauls.

However, photometers of
the usual type containing
photovoltaic cells are not re-
liable for the measurement of
intensities less than about
0.01% of sunlight. This means
that with this type of photo-
meter the relation between
light as an ecological factor
and the activities of migrat-
ing animals cannot be direct-
ly investigated at depths

18

greater than about 180 to 250
feet even in clear waters. At
greater depths or in less
transparent water a more
sensitive photometer is re-
quired, or else reliance must
-foe placed on an extrapolation
of the diminution of light as-
suming that the extinction
rate in the deeper water is
the same 'as that actually
measured near the surface.
Such an assumption might
lead to highly erroneous re-
sults.

In the ocean beyond the
edge of the continental shelf
net hauls have shown that
certain species of Crustacea
carry out diurnal migrations,
the lower limits of which are
as great as 2500 feet. In addi-
tion, echo sounder records
have revealed the widespread
occurrence in the sea of
"deep scattering layers"*,
commonly at depths of 1200
to 1800 feet during the day-
time but also sometimes as
deep 3000 feet. These layers
typically migrate vertically
hundreds of feet each day.
Although it is difficult to de-
termine what kinds of ani-
mals are primarily responsi-
ble for sound-scattering, it
seems probable that the small
shrimp like euphausids and
fishes are involved in at least
some of these layers. Very
likely concentrations of other
animals, some of which do not
reflect sufficient sound to be
recorded by present equip-
ment, are living at various
levels in the ocean and are
carrying out similar or per-
haps even more extensive mi-
grations, as yet undetected.

* See: Oceanus III, 1. "Sound in
Marine Research"

Dr. George L. Clarke,
Marine Biologist on our staff
since 1931 is Associate Pro-
fessor of Zoology at Harvard.
He took part in the maiden
cruise of the ATLANTIS and
is the author of "Elements of
Ecology" published by John
Wiley & Sons in 1954.

New light meter

The construction of photo-
meters containing extremely
sensitive photomultiplier
tubes has made possible the
direct measurement of light
at the depths at which the
deep scattering layers are
found in the ocean and hence
has opened the way toward a
more exact study of the role
of light in the control of diur-
nal migration. Last year,
Gunther K. Wertheim, and
the author designed a bathy-
photometer which can meas-
ure light as faint as 0,000,-
000,001 percent of full sun-
light, as found at ocean depths
of about 2000 feet. The re-
sponse, of the instrument can
be read directly on board
ship with the aid of a record-
er.

Luminescent flashes

Many animals living in the
deep sea have light producing
organs, sometimes arranged
in rows along the body, at
other times along the jaws
and on the head.

An impression of the abun-
dance of luminescent animals
in the sea and a measure-
ment of the intensity of their
luminescent discharge was

19

obtained by lowering the
bathyphotometer a t night.
When the instrument was
suspended below 600 feet, the
light meter recorded large
but very brief increases in
current at regular intervals.
At greater depths the flashes
increased until at about 900
feet flashing was practically
continuous.

Below 900 feet the general
illumination from bio-lumi-
nescence at night became
greater than the light reach-
ing this depth from the sur-
face during the day. Individ-
ual flashes were as much as
1,000 times brighter than the
background illumination. As
yet we do not know whether
large flashes were caused by
brilliant luminescence at some
distance or by weaker dis-
charges near the instrument,
but we hope to eliminate this
uncertainty in the future.

This year an improved mod-
el of the bathyphotometer
has been built by Charles J.
Hubbard. The new instru-
ment is provided with a sim-

plified electrical circuit, a
greater length of cable, and
a housing capable of with-
standing pressures at greater
depths. On a recent cruise of
the CARYN the new bathy-
photometer was used success-
fully to depths greater than
5,500 feet or just over a mile.
A record was obtained of the
diminishing light from the
surface and of the flashes of
luminescent animals. The ob-
servations showed that lum-
inescence exists at night at
all levels but that the flashes
vary in intensity and in fre-
quency at different depths.
During the day luminescent
flashing was observed at all
levels below those where day-
light would obscure it.

Since our records at a depth
of one mile show flashes oc-
curring as frequently as five
or more per second, we now
know that the deep sea is not
continuously enveloped in
inky blackness but at times,
at least, must present the ap-
pearance of the night sky on
the Fourth of July.

THAR GOES FLUKES!

Last April three Right Whales cavorted for about one week in Men-
emsha Bight off nearby Martha's Vineyard. Through Mr. Stanley
E. Pool's initiative it was possible to record the underwater sounds
made by the whales near the launch Risk. Heretofore it had not
been definitely established that baleen whales make sounds, al-
though many recorded noises of toothed whales are in the files of
Mr. William E. Schevill.

20

Right Whale having just surfaced to blow. Note blow-holes closing just behind

the 'bonnet", a characteristic feature caused by parasites. Gay Head Lighthouse

in the background and the Risk in right foreground.

Below: Showing flukes as one of the smaller whales sounds in about 45 feet
of water, and a model of a Right Whale.

American Museum of Natural History

21

Drift Bottles

are

getting

bigger

by Dean F. Bumpus

David Frantz, in the typical oceanographer's pose,
fastens a line to a radiotelemetering buoy.

of the drawbacks of conventional drift bottles is that
one does not know where they have been between the point of
launching and the point of recovery, nor is there any indication
on variations in the speed of drift. A "drift bottle" has been de-
veloped which is kind enough to show its position when asked to
do so from shore, ship or airplane.

Our electronics shop, under
the leadership of Robert G.
Walden, has successfully de-
veloped and tested at sea a
radio-telemetering drift buoy
as a means of studying non-
tidal currents in the sea. This
is essentially a spar buoy
drawing 19 feet with one foot
freeboard and a whip anten-
na which transmits radio sig-
nals of 15 seconds duration for

direction finding purposes
whenever it is keyed by radio
from ship, aircraft, or Woods
Hole.

On 12 June one transpond-
ing drift buoy was set adrift
30 miles west southwest of
Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard.
During the following two
weeks the position of the buoy
was determined as often as
weather conditions and other

22

commitments of our aircraft
permitted. The buoy was lo-
cated by homing on it with an
airborne direction finder using
a "spiraling in" procedure, un-
til it was obvious that the
buoy was in the immediate
vicinity. We then endeavored
to locate the buoy visually.
This latter endeavor was not
always successful owing to
the small size of the above-
surface portion of the buoy.
In the future we plan, for
daytime observations, to se-
cure a large orange plywood
panel to the buoy and, for
night-time observations, to
place a small lamp on the
buoy which will light up
when the buoy is triggered.
We hope this will aid in mak-
ing visual contact.

In the course of the fifteen
day period of drift the buoy
was located seven times. It
was last located within seven
miles of its starting position,
but in the course of time had
drifted throughout at least
one clockwise rotation having
been 18 miles to the east
southeast and 21 miles to the
west southwest of the initial
position while on this circuit.
The buoy failed to respond
after 1345 on 26 June while
our boat ASTERIAS was en-
route to recover it. A visual
search of the area was un-
successful.

Oceanographer Dean F.
BumpUS has been with the
Institution since 1937 and has
actively studied inshore water
masses. At present he is in
charge of the investigation of
climatic and oceanographic
factors influencing the envi-
ronment of fish.

Two weeks later we learned
that a Navy tug towing a
target had knocked the an-
tenna off the buoy at 1420 on
the 26th of June, only 35 min-
utes after the last successful
transmission from the buoy.
This casualty to the buoy had
been witnessed by a Destroy-
er Escort which picked up
the buoy and eventually re-
turned it to us.

The indicated rates of
drift of the buoy are of inter-
est. Following a relatively
slow northward drift on the
first day, the buoy moved
southeasterly at the rate of
fifteen miles per day, thence
westerly and southwesterly
at decreasing rates. During
the last week, with fixes on
the 18th and 25th, the drift
was north northeast at only
two miles per day. It is pos-
sible that, had fixes been
made more often during the
last week the rates of drift
would have been larger, for
we have no reason to believe,
on the basis of the buoy's
drift during the previous

23

week, that it went directly to
the last observed position.

We have noted no phenom-
enon in the tidal cycle local-
ly which would be sugges-
tive of the cause for the sud-
den speedy drift with a grad-
ual recovery to the more ex-
pected rate. We believe the
tidal cycle in these waters to
be rotatory at rates somewhat
less than one knot.

Earlier experiments with
conventional drift bottles in
this general area suggest that
there is a westerly set from
Nantucket Shoals, inshore of
the area where the buoy was
adrift, at rates of two to five
miles per day; and another
drift more or less along the
100 fathom contour at slight-
ly greater speeds. This one
experiment with the trans-

ponding drift buoy suggests
that the waters between these
two westward drifts undergo
an anti-cyclonic irrotational
motion; one quite erratic in
it's rates of movement and
direction, suddenly speeding
up and gradually slowing
down and nearly completing
it's orbit in two weeks.

Six more transponding drift
buoys are under construction.
Plans are shaping up with
the Fish and Wildlife Service
to employ these buoys in the
Bay of Fundy this autumn
and on Georges Bank next
spring. The development of
these buoys has been support-
ed under a Navy contract and
the employment of them to
study drift will be under the
contract with the Fish and
Wildlife Service in the study
of the environment of fish.

Currents and Tides

The tide gauge house which
has been standing for 25 years
on the inside edge of our dock
has been moved to a stronger
location and placed about ten
feet higher than formerly.

Almost all tide gauges
along the coast, including our
own, were put out of action
during hurricanes, a fact
which proved most bother-
some for our studies of water
levels associated with hurri-
canes.

The Agassiz Medal of the
National Academy of Sciences
was presented recently to Dr.
A. C. Redfield in recognition
of his distinguished contribu-
tions to oceanography.

The Agassiz Medal has
been awarded 25 times in 45
years. Other recipients of
the honor in this Institution
are: Dr. H. B. Bigelow, Dr. C.
O'D. Iselin, and Dr. M. Ewing.

24

'iiiiliiiiiiiifiiiiiiiiiii 1HRARV
UH 1? YT Y

ASSOCIATES

OF THE

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

GERARD SWOPE, JR.. Chairman

N. B. McLEAN, President

JOHN A. GIFFORD, Secretary

RONALD A. VEEDER, Executive Assistant

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR.
BENJAMIN H. ALTON
WINSLOW CARLTON
RACHEL L. CARSON
PRINCE S. CROWELL
F. HAROLD DANIELS
POMEROY DAY

JOHN A. GIFFORD
GEORGE F. JEWETT
N. B. McLEAN
HENRY S. MORGAN
MALCOLM S. PARK
GERARD SWOPE, JR.
THOMAS J. WATSON, JR.

JAMES H. WICKERSHAM

INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE

Chairman: CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR.
President, Raytheon Manufacturing Company

ROBERT M. AKIN, JR.

F. M. BUNDY

W. VAN ALAN CLARK

POMEROY DAY

M. C. GALE

M1LLARD G. GAMBLE

CAPTAIN PAUL HAMMOND

F. L. LaQUE

LOUIS E. MARRON

T. V. MOORE

WILLIAM T. SCHWENDLER

D. D. STROHMEIER
MILES F. YORK

President, Hudson Wire Company

President, Gorton Pew Fisheries

Chairman, Avon Products, Inc.

Partner, Robinson, Robinson and Cole

President, Monarch Buick Company

President, Esso Shipping Company

The Hammond, Kennedy & Legg Company

Vice President, International Nickel Company

Chairman, Coastal Oil Company

Esso Research and Engineering Company

Executive Vice President, Grumman Aircraft
Engineering Corporation
Vice President, Bethlehem Steel Company
President, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company

Ex ffirta

RAYMOND STEVENS, President
COLUMBUS O'D. ISELIN, Director
EDWIN D. BROOKS, JR., Treasurer

Published by

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION

WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS