Oceanography : Annals of The International Geophysical Year

227 Pages·1969·31.25 MB·English

by  Gordon

VOLUME XLVI
ANNALS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR
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ANNALS OF THE
INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR
VOLUME XLVI
OCEANOGRAPHY
Editors
ARNOLD L. GORDON
F. W. G. BAKER
International Council of Scientific Unions
Comité International de Géophysique
(C.LG.)
PERGAMON PRESS
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Copyright © 1969
Pergamon Press Ltd.
First edition 1969
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 57-59094
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton and Co., Exeter
CONTENTS
FOREWORD. G. R. Laclavère vii
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Aims and Objects. F. W. G. Baker 3
1.2. National Contributions to the Oceanography Program. F. W. G.
Baker 6
2. SEA SURFACE 23
2.1. Mean Sea Level. /. Hela 25
2.2. Long Waves. W. G. Van Dorn and W. F. Donn 46
3. PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 61
3.1. North Atlantic Polar Front Survey in the IGY 1957/58. G. Dietrich 63
3.2. Review of IGY and IGC Investigations of Physical Oceanography in
the Pacific (1957-9). V. A. Burkov 78
3.3. Circulation and Physics of the Arctic Basin Waters. P. A. Gordienko
and A. F. Laktionov 94
3.4. Océanographie Investigations in the Antarctic. V. G. Kort 113
4. MARINE GEOLOGY 129
4.1. IGY Investigations of Submarine Topography. G. B. Udintsev 131
4.2. Bottom Sediments. P. L. Bezrukov and A. P. Lisitzin 148
5. MARINE CHEMISTRY 185
5.1. Artificial Radioactivity. Y. Miyake 187
5.2. Carbon Dioxide. F. W. G. Baker 191
6. MARINE BIOLOGY 195
6.1. The Study of Plankton During IGY Cruises. M. E. Vinogradov 197
6.2. Study of Sea Floor Fauna Conducted by the Soviet Union During
the IGY and IGC. G. M. Belyaev 210
v
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FOREWORD
As THE concept of the International Geophysical Year developed, the programme was
extended to include more disciplines. When the International Council of Scientific Unions
established the Comité Spécial de l'Année Géophysique Internationale (CSAGI) in 1952,
oceanography was not included in the disciplines, despite the fact that considerable progress
had been made in the field of oceanography since the second International Polar Year.
Initially there was only a limited interest in including oceanography in the IGY. This may
have been due to the fact that in the First International Polar Year "Hydrological Observa­
tions" were included in the optional part of the programme only, and that, even during the
Second International Polar Year, océanographie studies were of secondary importance and
did not merit inclusion in the report given in Volume I of the IGY Annals.
Much greater interest in a programme of océanographie studies was expressed at the
second meeting of CSAGI. The Committee recommended a minimum programme and sug­
gested that contact be made with a number of international authorities, such as the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), in order to obtain océanographie
observations from as wide an area as possible. The Committee also recommended that a
standing committee of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) be
established to develop the programme. In response to this suggestion the IUGG International
Association for Physical Oceanography (IAPO) established a committee for the IGY.
In the interval between the second and the third meetings of CSAGI, Mr. G. R.
Laclavère was appointed Discipline Reporter for Oceanography, and at the third meeting in
Brussels in 1955 it was agreed that the programme should include the following:
1. Long wave recording
2. Sea level recording
3. Deep water circulation
4. Polar front survey and
5. Multipleship current measurement.
The Working Group at this meeting considered the possibility of preparing an océano­
graphie handbook, but after much discussion it was agreed that there was no necessity for
complete standardization of methods and techniques. The draft handbook prepared by the
USA Océanographie Panel was, however, suggested as a useful guide for any groups requir­
ing help and the text of the US handbook was circulated, for their comments, to National
Committees interested in participating in the Océanographie Programme.
At the fourth meeting of CSAGI, in Barcelona in 1956, the Océanographie Working
Group stressed particularly the importance of establishing tide gauges in the Southern
Hemisphere and drew attention to the need for an extended programme in the Southern
Regions, particularly in the Indian Ocean. The Working Group also recommended the
vii
viii FOREWORD
collection and analysis of samples of near-surface water and air for carbon dioxide content,
in an endeavour to obtain information on the rate of exchange of carbon dioxide between
the ocean and the atmosphere.
The complete océanographie programme was discussed in detail at a Conference held
in Goteborg in January 1957, when the CSAGI Working Group on Oceanography con­
firmed the océanographie programme recommended by CSAGI at its fourth meeting, and
suggested a number of supplementary studies including biological investigations, waves and
swell, radio-activity measurements and bathyscaphe observations.
With regard to the question of a special IGY handbook, the Conference regretted that
it was impossible to prepare an IGY océanographie handbook in the time available, and the
Working Group recommended the use of the US Hydrographie Office Publication No. 607,
Information Manual for Océanographie Observations, supplemented where appropriate by
USHO publication No. 606-D, Observer's Manual for Ice Observations, and the Atlas of
Nomograms for the Calculations of Océanographie Data, by N. Chihirin, published by the
USSR Academy of Sciences. It was agreed that océanographie results should be published as
soon as possible in the existing scientific journals and that the IGY océanographie committee
should be responsible for preparing summaries to be included in the IGY Annals. A full
report of this Conference is given in IGY Annals, Volume IIB.
Immediately prior to the fifth and last meeting of CSAGI, the Discipline Reporter for
Oceanography consulted the secretary of the IGY Committee of the International Associa­
tion of Physical Oceanography, Dr. G. E. R. Deacon, about the publication programme for
Oceanography. It was considered that one volume of the Annals of the IGY would be re­
quired for the publication of material on the Océanographie Programme, and a number of
headings were proposed. At the last meeting of CSAGI the following Chapters and Sections
were agreed upon by the Working Group on Oceanography :
1. Aims and objects
2. General description of programme
3. Summaries of national contributions
4. Mean sea level
5. Long waves
6. Circulation and physics of the ocean:
(a) Physical theory of circulation
(b) Atlantic Ocean
(c) Pacific Ocean
(d) Indian Ocean
(e) Arctic Ocean
(f) Antarctic Ocean
(g) Northern polar front
7. Marine chemistry:
(a) Carbon dioxide
(b) Radioactivity
(c) Other aspects
8. Marine geology:
(a) Relief
(b) Sediments
FOREWORD ix
9. Marine biology:
(a) Production
(b) Distribution of marine animals
10. Waves.
It was felt that no data, as such, should be published in the Annals.
It was originally hoped that the manuscript of the Oceanography volume would be avail­
able by 15 May 1959, but a number of authors selected by the Oceanography Working
Group were unable to contribute, and others who had agreed to contribute indicated their
inability to meet this date line. Consultations between the Discipline Reporter for Oceano­
graphy, Dr. Deacon, and others in an attempt to obtain alternative authors were not entirely
successful and it proved impossible to obtain a number of contributions.
Many letters were written throughout the period 1959-1965 to oceanographers who had
agreed to prepare chapters, but it proved extremely difficult to obtain the manuscripts and
eventually it was decided to proceed with the publication of the material available. It is re­
gretted that the volume as now published is considerably less wide in scope than originally
envisaged, and that the information contained therein is already somewhat dated. The
CSAGI Discipline Reporter for Oceanography would, however, like to express his profound
thanks to all those who have helped to make this volume possible (incomplete though it is)
and he is particularly indebted to the authors of the various chapters and those national
committees which provided information for inclusion in this volume.
G. R. LACLAVÈRE
March 1967 IGY Reporter for
Oceanography