| Summary: | Research during this six month period was performed during cruises of the CHAIN to the Romanche Trench, to the Puerto Rico Trench, and to the Mediterranean Sea, and during a cruise of the BEAR to the Gulf of Maine. New instrumentation aboard the CHAIN included the 12, 000 joule Boomer and a 25, 000 joule Sparker for continuous Seismic reflection profiles and other research in hydroacoustics. A semiautomatic data recording system for shipboard use was in.stalled and operated by IBM and, to facilitate launching and retrieving deep gear, a closed circuit television system was used . Also the navigational system, GEON, was installed and tested. Prior to the cruises of the summer and fall redesign and refinement of the instrumentation and equipment entailed overhaul of the thermistor chain and contouring temperature recorder, modification of the heat probe for thermal gradient measurements to lessen lowering time, and improvement of the inverted echo-sounding equipment. Research at sea included collecting samples of rock and sediment and photographing the ocean floor in support of research into the structure and dynamics of the Romanche and Puerto Rico Trenches and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , observing internal waves in the North Atlantic studying water circulation in the Mediterranean, the dynamics of flow through the Strait of Gibraltar (concentrating this year on internal waves there), observing the behavior and measuring the sound scattering properties of deep scattering layers in the Mediterranean, measuring heat flow from the inner Earth across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and in the western Mediterranean, and studying the relationship between sound transmission and the physical properties of the water and sea floor in the eastern Mediterranean. At Woods Hole various analysis programs progressed. Several of these used programs of digital computing which have been prepared lately at Woods Hole. The precision time source for remote control reported earlier was improved and tested ashore. A tape recording system for Scuba ...
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