Captain F. Spiess and the German Meteor Expedition of 1925-27

Captain F. Spiess and the German Meteor Expedition of 1925-27

Author: William J. Emery

Publisher: BrownWalker Press

Published: 2019-08-01

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1627347127

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Banned from taking naval vessels to foreign ports after WW1 Germany undertakes a comprehensive oceanographic expedition to the Atlantic Ocean to test many new measurement systems and to establish the long term circulation patterns of the Atlantic. Challenged by the proscription on German naval vessels from visiting foreign ports after WW1 a group of German oceanographers from the Institute for Marine Sciences in Berlin carried out a pioneering research expedition from 1925-27 to sample the hydrographic structure of the South Atlantic Ocean. Its captain Fritz Spiess was the primary driving force behind the expedition and the German navy supplied the survey ship Meteor. During this 2.5 year expedition the Meteor scientists tested a great many new measurement systems many of which later became routine oceanographic measurement systems. As a result of their observations the mean circulation pattern of the Atlantic was revealed that has remained valid to this day. People interested in the history of ocean exploration, the history of Earth science and German scientific activity between the World Wars will find this volume to be an intriguing read. Much of the book has been taken from the original cruise report written by Captain Fritz Spiess (1933). In addition, his role has been expanded to demonstrate his essential contribution to the creation of the expedition, its execution and the dissemination of its results upon completion. The present text comments on the captain’s life before and after the expedition. In 1934 Fritz Spiess started his second carrier as President of the German Marine Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte) in Hamburg. A great number of so far unpublished documents demonstrate Spiess’s ability to run his dignified agency in the turbulent times of Nazi Germany without becoming a Nazi himself. Readers will learn how this first ocean expedition, dedicated to the study of the physics a whole ocean basin, helped to provide the background for modern physical oceanography.


Exploration of the Seas

Exploration of the Seas

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-11-04

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0309166802

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In the summer of 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on a journey to establish an American presence in a land of unqualified natural resources and riches. Is it fitting that, on the 200th anniversary of that expedition, the United States, together with international partners, should embark on another journey of exploration in a vastly more extensive region of remarkable potential for discovery. Although the oceans cover more than 70 percent of our planet's surface, much of the ocean has been investigated in only a cursory sense, and many areas have not been investigated at all. Exploration of the Seas assesses the feasibility and potential value of implementing a major, coordinated, international program of ocean exploration and discovery. The study committee surveys national and international ocean programs and strategies for cooperation between governments, institutions, and ocean scientists and explorers, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in these activities. Based primarily on existing documents, the committee summarizes priority areas for ocean research and exploration and examines existing plans for advancing ocean exploration and knowledge.


Why We Study the Physics of the Ocean

Why We Study the Physics of the Ocean

Author: William J. Emery

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2021-04-26

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1527568903

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This book reviews the field of physical oceanography, starting with its history and culminating in the past, present and future challenges of this scientific discipline. It introduces the different aspects of the science, and presents the observational and computational tools used by physical oceanographers. It discusses the day-to-day activities of the physical oceanographers located at universities, government laboratories and industry, and relates the physics of the ocean to such topical issues as climate change and ocean forecasting. The book also presents a review of the historical challenges for physical oceanography and an overview of some of the most important challenges facing physical oceanography today. Reading this book will prove useful to anyone wanting to better understand how the ocean fits into the complex system that makes up the global environment.


Abyssal Channels in the Atlantic Ocean

Abyssal Channels in the Atlantic Ocean

Author: Eugene G. Morozov

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-09-10

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9048193583

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This book is dedicated to the study of structure and transport of deep and bottom waters above and through underwater channels of the Atlantic Ocean. The study is based on recent observations, analysis of historical data, and literature reviews. This approach allows us to understand how water transport and water mass prop- ties have changed over the last years and decades. The focus of our study is on the propagation of bottom waters in the Atlantic Ocean based on new field data at key points. At the end of the 1920s, the first integral study of water masses and bottom topography of the Central and South Atlantic was carried out from the German - search vessel Meteor. This German Atlantic Expedition was one of the first cruises equipped with the newly developed echo sounder (fathometer): an obligatory p- requisite for the investigation of bottom morphology in the deep sea on an - erational base. The results of the expedition were published by Wüst, Defant, and colleagues in the multivolume METEOR publication series starting with the cruise report by the ship’s commander (Spiess 1928, 1932). Historically, this series of p- lications, intermittently interrupted by World War II, was the basis for many years of research into the development of modern concepts about Atlantic water masses and their circulation schemes.


Oceanographic History

Oceanographic History

Author: Keith Rodney Benson

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 9780295982397

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From a study of knowledge of the sea among indigenous cultures in the South Seas to inquiries into the subject of sea monsters, from studies of Pacific currents to descriptions of ocean-going research vessels, the sixty-three essays presented here reflect the scientific complexity and richness of social relationships that characterize ocean-ographic history. Based on papers presented at the Fifth International Congress on the History of Oceanography held at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (the first ICHO meeting following the cessation of the Cold War), the volume features an unusual breadth of contributions. Oceanography itself involves the full spectrum of physical, biological, and earth sciences in their formal, empirical, and applied manifestations. The contributors to Oceanographic History: The Pacific and Beyond undertake the interdisciplinary task of telling the story of oceanography’s past, drawing on diverse methodologies. Their essays explore the concepts, techniques, and technologies of oceanography, as well as the social, economic, and institutional determinants of oceanographic history. Although focused on the Pacific, the geographic range of subjects is global and includes Micronesia, East Africa, and Antarctica; the bathymetric range comprises inshore fisheries, coral reefs, and the "azoic zone." The seventy-one contributors represent every continent of the globe except Antarctica, bringing together material on the history of oceanography never before published.


Ocean

Ocean

Author: Wolf H. Berger

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-05-06

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 052094254X

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The past one hundred years of ocean science have been distinguished by dramatic milestones, remarkable discoveries, and major revelations. This book is a clear and lively survey of many of these amazing findings. Beginning with a brief review of the elements that define what the ocean is and how it works—from plate tectonics to the thermocline and the life within it—Wolf H. Berger places current understanding in the context of history. Essays treat such topics as beach processes and coral reefs, the great ocean currents off the East and West Coasts, the productivity of the sea, and the geologic revolution that changed all knowledge of the earth in the twentieth century.


Meteorite Hunter

Meteorite Hunter

Author: Roy A. Gallant

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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The "Indiana Jones of Astronomy" takes readers on a fascinating hunt for scientific treasures at the major meteorite sites of the wild and desolate Russian interior. 16-page insert.