OCEAN DEPTH SURVEYS MADE EASIER

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6802, 4 January 1929, Page 10

OCEAN DEPTH SURVEYS MADE EASIER

EGWO SOUNDING AND RADIO APPARATUS SPEED UP WOREWASHINGTON. Describing the progress made m developing of apparatus which measures ocean depths by means of echoes, and instruments which make it possib e to locate the position of these soundings by means of radio, Col. E. Lester .Jones, director of the United Slates Coast and Geodetic Survey, reports an increase of 400 per cent in the volume ot the survey in eight years. The bureau expects to broaden its activities in the East and along the Atlantic coast through the addition of a new ship which will bring the Atlantic survey fleet up to four. Echo Sounding. Through the eo-operatlon of the bureau, a private corporation has assisted in developing an apparatus by means ot echo sounding, based on the fact that if a sound is produced under water an echo will return from t.he bottom. The Coast and Geodetic Survey was primarily interested in the development ot the apparatus as a means of facilitating hydrographic surveys, but it is now convinced that it proves of value to mariners generally, enabling them to feel their way at night and in stormy weather when buoys and light-houses are not visible. Radio acoustic sound ranging which enables survey ships to determine.geographical positions of their soundings, is speeding up hydrographic surveys bv making them also independent of weather conditions. The new device likewise makes possible accurate location of soundings far off shore where former survey methods made it difficult or impossible to chart soundings to any degree of accuracy. The accomplishment of survey parties in regions of prevalent adverse weather conditions has been more than doubled, the bureau reports. In radio acoustic sound ranging, a sound produced at tho survey ship travels through tho water to two or more stations, which automatically send wireless signals to the ship a-s soon as the sound arrives. Accuracy Improved. Echo sounding and radio acoustic sound ranging, declares Colonel Jones, “have now reached that stage of dependability and accuracy which, while not guaranteeing perfection of performance under all conditions, nevertheless warrants their public presentation, and official endorsement.” The report of tho survey's activities during the pa-st year details survey work done on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts, iu Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Virgin Islands and Philippine Islands, as well as in the interior of the United States proper. Tide and current surveys and observations, studies iu seismology, terrestrial magnetism, variations of lattit-ude, and the production of airways strip maps complete the picture of the year’s progress.