Evening star., 1923-02-04
RADIO MAY AID In FINDING
CAUSE FOR EARTHQUAKES
Naval Instrument Substituting Sound
ior ether Waves Proves Big
Help in Charting Ocean.

ture. prior to the development of the
Navy's new sound system. would >in-
volve extensive advanca preparations
requiring several months time. the
employment Or vessels especially fft-
ted out for taking soundicgs, and the
ultimate expenditure OF hundreds @
thousands of dollars and the actual
operations would require approx
mately two years time.
BY utilizing the new method, sound
tngs were taken over the $4,000
square mile area in only thirty eight
days time. Moreover. no advance
preparations are now necessary FOR
sounding operations over such wide
areas. and vessels equipped eNclu-
sively for sounding are no longer re-
quired. as all vessels of the Navy are
gradually being equipped with the
new sound apparatus.
Preparing Contour Map.
Obviously. heavy expenditures for
soundings Will likewise be avoided
in the future. because all vessels. in
Guiding merchant vessels. may now
take soundings without interfering
with routine work on board and
routine operations of the vesselS in
their ordinary services.
AS result of these sounding opera
tions of the Hull and Cory not only
has there been made available to the
Carnegie Institute of Washington for
its studies in the interests OF science.
an up-to date and true contour of the
oceans bed with this $4,000 square
mile areaf but the photographic office of
the Navy has likewise been provided
with data from which is being con-
structed corrected contour map which
will be Of untold value for all naviga-
ton purposes.
1t should be borne in mind that SINH
lar navigational data concerning the
depths of water within this area had
been made available from soundings
taken by the old methods from time to
time during the past twenty or thirty
years.
Many Inaccuracies Found.
The recent soundings disclosed some
startling inaccuracies which will neces-
state "A more or less complete revision
of ravigational charts of this $4,000
square-nile area by the photographic
Office. not only for use by our Navy and
merchant marine. but by mariners of
all ma tions.
For example several banks were
found which did not appear on any
navigational charts in existence. One
mountain ridge under the sea. located
l20 miles southwest OF the Coronado
Islands. showed depth OF water of
only 500 fathoms by the new method.
whereas the existing chart snow a
depth of l.S0o fathoms. Some known
banks located north of Bishops Rock
were found to lie only t.iirty fathoms
beneath the water inste5E of 700 faith
oms AS indicated on exSRing charts
obviously the correcti-a of errors such
as these will be of unt5ii value to navi-
CATION in general. by enabling vessels
to avoid areas of shallow water and the
many treacherous ledges of rocks which
are hidden beneath the ocean waves
New system Valuable.
Not only is the Navy'S new sound sys-
tenn extremely valuable for accurately
! charting the oceans bottom, put il is
of great assistance to the navigator Of
a vessel when under way with land
marks obscured by darkness, storms or
fogs.
BY utilizing the new sound wave ap-
paratus the Hull and Cory were enabled
to approach unlighted islands during
thick weather with safety. by taking
soundngs every two or three minutes.
1t would not only have been imprac-
such approaches prior to the advent Of
the new system.
That the new system is of very great
interest to scientists in general is eX-
emplified by the fact that representa-
tive of the Carnegie Institute. DIR. Gran
dali of the Scripps Biological Institute
of La Jolla, remained on board the
Cory during the thirty -eight days the
Investigations were being carried on,
and the equipment was carefully
studied by Prof. Lawson of the Uni
versity of California and by Profs. Milli-
kan and Fraiuf of the California Insti-
tute of Technology.
Copyright. 1921