Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-23
BY LEONARD ENGEL
Copyright, 1859. by the
Associated Press

The men call 1t the hero board,
because you feel like bloody
hero after you've been out on
1t In bad weather"
It's a swaying, slender pivoted
board that projects out over
the side of the far-ranging
Columbia University research
ship Vema-two-thirds Of the
way aft along the starboard
side, and 7 feet above the deck.
The swaying plank's proper
name is the hydro board. It's
used for attaching recording
thermometers and water sample
bottles to a wire cable that
carries them down to the bowels
Of the ocean. miles below.
In the weeks I was on Vienna,
someone was out on the hero
board almost every day, sending
down and retrieving thermom-
eters and bottles. Vienna and
three other research ships were
cruising the Atlantic north of
Puerto Rico, looking for a site
for the Mohole. the miles-deep
hole that is to be drilled through
the earth's crust beneath the
sea. knowledge Of water con-
ditions is indispensable to the
Mohole project.
Clues to Mystery
Moreover, ocean research
ships send down thermometers
and bottles wherever they go.
For water samples and tempera-
ture measurements provide
clues to one Of the most i'm
portant and most mysterious
regions on earth-the region
below the surface of the sea.
Oceans cover more than 70
per cent of the earth's surface
and contain an almost incon-
ceivably vast mass Of water
over 800 million cubic miles Of
1t. Hidden within this huge
sinner space" is more life than
exists on land-much of it
still unknown.
Hidden in the Inner space"
too, are currents mightier than
hundreds Of MisSiSSippis,
transporting tropical warmth
to one shore and chilling cold
to another. Recent studies have
even connected the oceans with
the ice ages. Warm Atlantic
currents helped bring the
glaciers. that buried the CONT
nents by melting the Arctic
ice and converting dry Arctic
winds to wet, snow-bearing
ones.
Search for Monster
Oceanographers probe many
aspects of the sea simultane-
ously. Almost all research
ships, for example. are con-
stantly on the lookout for new
species of marine life.
Early on its present voyage,
Vienna went fishing for a sea
monster"-the adult form of
Q recently discovered OUTSIDE
eel larva, whose adult form
could easily be Of sea monster
size. No monster was caught,
though something Of great size
and strength struck and
Strengthened out the heavy
six-inch iron hook Vienna had
put down.
And Vema's biology trawl did
bring back, off Central America.
flve specimens of marine
worm belonging to a family
thought extinct for 800 million
years.
Oceanographic ships have
long charted ocean currents.
At first. the purpose was to aid
navigation. Now. they are
studied for clues to the migra-
ton of fish and the role of the
oceans as weather and climate
maker.
Patterns Of Current
Meandering ocean waters
can be tracked in several ways.
One is to look for telltale mark
ers that tag" particular masses
Of ocean water. That's one of
the missions Of the man on the
hero board. The temperature
records and water samples he
obtains identify water masses
deep in the ocean and help re-
veal ocean waters wanderings.
Over the decades, analysis
has shown that the tempera-
ture. salt content and several
other properties of particular
masses of ocean water are re-
markedly constant.
AS a result, ocean research
erS have been able to work
out the main patterns of ocean
water flow. Warm water flows
along the surface Of the ocean
from the equator to the poles.
Cold water flows back again
down below, near the bottom.
New Task Added
Lately, a new wrinkle has
been devised, and a new task
added to the work aboard
Vienna. Now, on about half the
occasions when Vienna operates
its piston corer-a massive ma
chine for punching out samples
Of the ocean bottom-the heavy
corer cable carries extra cargo,
o steel barrel with an ingenious
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