Evening star., 1954-09-01
Morine Life Believed
Living in Cold Zones
Ocean Belts Compared
To Weather Cold Fronts

~ VS0AuSt N0tO tIVUtS
By Thomos R. Henry
There are belts Of life In the seas.
They are areas where the water
temperature drops sharply several de-
grees in few yards.
They are characterized by an ex-
traordinary abundance OF tish and
other marine organisms and appar-
emily have q vital part In ocean
biology.
This hitherto unknown phenomenon
has just been described by oceanog-
raphers Of the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at La Jolla, Calf.
The ocean life belts are compared
by their diScoverer. DR.. Townsend
Cromwell. to the "cold fronts in the
atmosphere which are now an inn
portant factor in weather forecasting.
Apparently they long have been known
to fishermen who have used water
temperature changes to guide them to
rich fishing areas.
characterized by Fish.
Cold fronts In the atmosphere are
notable for turbulence, high winds and
rain. The oceanic fronts are relatively
quiet but are distinguished by the
multitudes Of fishes feeding on plants
and smaller sea animals which swarm
along the line Of temperature change.
DR.. Cromwell has determined sew
eral such fronts from water tempera-
lures in the Gulf of California and
has observed one eight miles long from
the air. They are marked by lines of
kelp and foam and by schools Of fishes.
There is. DR.. Cromwell says, very
long and almost permanent front of
this sort which runs across the Pacific
near the Equator which has proved
especially rich in fish, including the
commercially valuable tuna.
Such front arises when warm and
cold water meet and oppose each other.
There is a general movement of water
downward on both sides of the line.
When two bodies of water meet, float
ing objects such as sea weeds and
feebly swimming small animals tend
to collect. Fish then gather to feed
on these creatures.
Such fronts, DR.. Cromwell says, may
possibly explain how some creatures
remain alive in great abundance. If
the sardine, for example. strained only
ocean water, 1t would starve.
They must be seeking food in areas
where the plant and animal life Is
richer than in the ocean 'as WHOLE"
he says. 'and these frontal regions
might be the spots"
Cosmic Distances Gauged.
A new yardstick Of creation has been
devised by two Cambridge University
astronomers.
1t makes possible for the first time
using radio stars. mysterious "hot spots"
in the cosmos, to determine distances.
These radio stars. the nature of which
still is unknown although there is good
reason to believe that some are vast
clouds of hot gas in extremely rapid
motion, are inviSible-so there Is no
way of determining their distances by
ordinary optical methods. Their posi-
tions cannot be located with any pre-
cision so the triangulation methods used
for nearer visible stars are inapplicable.
About all that has been known up to
-billion-star Milky Way galaxy and
some in other galaxies across vast
chasms of empty space.
ia The difficulty can be solved in part.
Drs. d. r. w. Williams and r. D. Davies
report in the British scientific journal.
Nature, by analysis of the radiation
they emit. This is in many wave lengths
within the radio wave range. It Is
known that space between the stars Is
filed very tenuously with hydrogen.
which will absorb certain wave lengths
while it is completely translucent to
others. The amount of absorption de-
pends on the amount Of interstellar
hydrogen encountered, and hence the
distance traversed. Thus a measure Of
distance is afforded by the variation in
the strength of the wave lengths absorb
able by the gas.
Density Believed Uniform.
This theory makes the assumption.
not now provable. that the amount OF
matter between the stars is of about
the same density throughout the galaxy.
BY applying the theory the two
British astronomers have made esti-
mates of the distance Of two OF the
major radio stars-one in the constel-
lation of Cygnus and the other in
Cassiopeia. The former turns out to
be about $500 parsecs. The parsec, q
commonly used distance unit in astron-
omy, is approximately 30.000,000, ,0oo.-
600 miles. This places the source well
outside the Milky Way galaxy.
The latter. the hydrogen absorption
measure indicates, is at distance Of
about $500 parsecs and probably is To-
Gated in one of the spiral arms Of the
Milky Way galaxy itself.