SEEING THE SEA: AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF OCEAN DISCOVERY BY CAPTAIN SKIP THEBERGE, NOAA CORPS (RET.)

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SEEING THE SEA AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF OCEAN
DISCOVERY BY CAPTAIN SKIP THEBERGE, NOAA CORPS
(RET.)
A HISTORY OF SOUNDING
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Edward Forbes Inspiration for Nineteenth Century
Ocean exploration
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EVOLVING TECHNOLOGIES

• SOUNDING AND IMAGING METHODS
• BIOLOGICAL SAMPLING
• PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL METHODS
• NAVIGATION METHODS

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METHODS OF SOUNDINGAND INTERPRETING BATHYMETRY
AND GEOLOGYPOLE SOUNDINGLEADLINE
SOUNDINGSOUNDING MACHINESHEMP ROPE
PIANO-WIRESINGLE BEAM ACOUSTICSIDESCAN
SONARSMULTI-BEAM ACOUSTICBOTTOM-PENETRATION
SONARS
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NAVIGATION METHODS

• LINE OF SIGHT VISUAL
• DEAD RECKONING
• CELESTIAL
• RADIO ACOUSTIC RANGING
• ELECTRONIC NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
• GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

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EGYPTIAN SOUNDING POLE 1450 B.C.
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The legend of St. Brendan 1000 A.D. Same pole
as Egyptians
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LEADLINE SOUNDING SHIP HEADING UP THAMES
RIVER TO LONDON. WEIGHT WITH LINE
ATTACHED. 1450 A.D. IN THE FIRST ENGLISH RUTTER
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Martin Behaim Globe 1492
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Martin Waldseemuller World Map of 1507 An
Inspired Guess, or Was It Clandestine Knowledge
That There Was a Pacific Ocean?
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Battista Agnese Map 1543 - First Mapped Depth
Also Indication of Gulf Stream
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Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer 1584 Inventor of
Modern Nautical Charts
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A SEGMENT OF A WAGHENAER CHART OF NORTHERN
EUROPEAN WATERS. DEPTHS, BUOYS, DAYMARKS, SCALE,
COMPASS ROSE, LANDMARKS, ANCHORAGES, COASTAL
VIEWS, AND A SMALL MONSTER
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HOOKES SOUNDING MACHINE - 1667

• .the Balls with Springs for finding Depths
  never answerd the end they were designd for
  many of them having been hove overboard, but few
  or none ever obtaind their Resurrection to
  inform those above of what they found below.

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The contour, as Dainville so expressively put it
, had risen out of the sea like Aphrodite,
The use I have made of the soundings, and
which no one has employed before me to convey
the depths of the sea, seems to
me very appropriate to make known in a sensible
manner the gradient or slope of the coasts and
which shows us by degrees the bottoms of the
the basins of the sea. Philippe Buache, 1752.
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HMS RACEHORSE 1773 683 FATHOMS IN NORWEGIAN
SEA SINKER AND LINE BROUGHT UP BLUE MUD AS
PROOF OF FINDING BOTTOM
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FIRST MODERN DEEP SEA SOUNDING SOUTH ATLANTIC
- 2425 FATHOMS - SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS - 1840
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"Sections were made two years since for the
off-shore map, embracing the space between Gay
Head and Cape Henlopen, which showed the curious
result of the sudden and rapid slope of the
bottom of the sea, after the depth of one hundred
fathoms was reached." (Bache, A. D., Report of
the Superintendent ... 1851. p. 42.
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1849 Continental Shelf Break and Continental
Slope
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MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURYS FIRST BATHYMETRIC MAP -
1853
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MAURYS 2ND BATHYMETRIC MAP- FIRST PUBLISHED 1854
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SECOND PROFILE OF ATLANTIC OCEAN BY MAURY IN 1854
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BERRYMAN-DAYMAN 1857 TELEGRAPHIC PLATEAU SURVEY.
RIGHT-HAND GRAPHIC SHOWS ONE SOURCE OF INACCURACY
IN HEMP-ROPE SOUNDING
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(No Transcript)
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Following Berryman/Dayman work, Maury published
his final Bathymetric map in 1858 showing the
Telegraphic Plateau trending East/west and Middle
Ground to the south
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SOUNDING MACHINES DETACHABLE WEIGHTS ALLOWED
BOTTOM SAMPLING AND ASSURED BOTTOM REACHED
1853
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JOSEPHINE BANK FIRST SEAMOUNT DISCOVERED AS
RESULT OF CONSCIOUS EXPLORATION. 1869.
Courtesy of Dr. Arthur Svante
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COAST SURVEY 1845-1870. FIRST DEFINING OF
CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE
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(No Transcript)
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BATHYMETRIC MAP OF N. ATLANTIC 1873 BASED
PRIMARILY ON DAYMAN WORK
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Atlantic Ocean 1874 Includes the most recent
information from the outward bound CHALLENGER
Expedition
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MAP OF ATLANTIC PUBLISHED IN THE VOYAGE OF THE
CHALLENGER THE ATLANTIC BY WYVILLE THOMSON,
1877. NOTE LINE UP SPINE OF MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
IN SOUTH ATLANTIC. AMONG MOST SIGNIFICANT
SOUNDING LINES EVER RUN.
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1st Bathymetric Map of Pacific 1877
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FIRST TO USE PIANO-WIRE SOUNDING GEAR FROM SIR
WILLIAM THOMSON - 1873
GEORGE BELKNAP AND THE TUSCARORA
PIANO-WIRE SOUNDING 1872-1925
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(No Transcript)
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CHARLES SIGSBEE AND THE BLAKE - MODIFIED
THOMSON MACHINE 1875
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COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY SHIP BLAKE MOST
INNOVATIVE OCEANOGRAPHIC SHIP OF 19TH CENTURY
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SIGSBEE SOUNDING MACHINE IN USE
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BATHYMETRIC MAP OF GULF OF MEXICO 1884
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FIRST 3-D MAP OF THE SEAFLOOR. 1884.
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SIR JOHN MURRAYSMAP OF ATLANTIC - 1895
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Alexander Supan World Map of 1899. Note
differing nomenclature from Murray.
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COMPARISON OF MURRAY 1899 NOMENCLATURE WITH SUPAN
1899 NOMENCLATURE
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Some controversy was aroused by the decision to
abandon the personal names given by the
Challenger and other voyages to features of deep
sea topography they had located. Alexander
Agassiz wrote I will not adopt in anything I may
publish names which are substituted by the German
Committee for the names given to features by
pioneers of anglo-saxon race.
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REGINALD FESSENDEN INVENTS SUBMARINE OSCILLATOR
TESTS ON USCGC MIAMI APRIL 27, 1914 GETS
RETURN FROM ICEBERG AND BOTTOM
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THE END OF LINE AND SINKER SOUNDING
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The Acoustic Line Heard Round the World USS
STEWART 1922 Hayes Sonic Depth Finder 900
Soundings across the Atlantic Ocean
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First Bathymetric Map Produced From Acoustic
Soundings 1923
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SOUNDING CONCEPT AND FATHOMETER SYSTEM 1920S
1924 IHB
1925
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FRENCH ECHOMETRE RECORD 1927 AMONG EARLIEST
MACHINE RECORDED BOTTOM PROFILES
IN IUGG SECTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY BULLETIN NO. 11
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CGS SHIP CA. 1939 HERBERT GROVE DORSEY
INVENTOR OF FATHOMETER CA. 1930
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SHALLOW-WATER 808 FATHOMETER 1941
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SYSTEMATIC SEAFLOOR MAPPING
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Results of Systematic Mapping
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Model of South Atlantic Ocean 1932
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The METEOR cruise had been primarily a
water-catching cruise and they did not recognize
the topography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge or the
Rift Valley which showed up on their profiles.
Marie Tharp, 2001.
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THE AXIS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE AS TRACED BY
GERMAN SCIENTISTS IN THE 1930S
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THE RIFT VALLEY OF THE MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE AS
OBSERVED BY GERMAN SCIENTISTS IN 1930S
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THEORIZING THAT MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE IS SERIES
OF PARALLEL RIDGES MARCHING OFF FROM THE RIDGE
AXIS WHAT ARE TODAY TERMED THE ABYSSAL HILLS
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RESULTS OF SYSTEMATIC MAPPING II
1933
1932
1938
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(No Transcript)
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MAP PRODUCED BY FRANCIS SHEPARD, FATHER OF
MARINE GEOLOGY, IN 1936, SHOWING KNOWN CANYONS
OF THE CONTINENTAL SLOPES. MOST WERE IN US
WATERS AS RESULT OF SYTEMATIC SURVEYS OF US
COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. NOTE PHILIPPINES
ALSO SURVEYED BY CGS.
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Astoria Canyon as contoured by Francis Shepard,
The Father of Marine Geology from Coast and
Geodetic Survey soundings in 1933
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Wayland Vaughan on the more minute features of
relief. 1937 National Academy of Sciences Report
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Bathymetric coverage- North Atlantic. As of 1937.
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DETAIL OF NORTH PACIFIC CHART 1939
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Navy Hydro 3-D image of North Pacific
based primarily on soundings of USS RAMAPO which
made approximately 60 crossings of the North
Pacific in the 1930s while sounding.
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1941
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Veatch and Smith 1939
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1957 Heezen/Tharp prototype
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Heezen, Tharp, Ewing Mapping of the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge Rift Valley 1959
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Was the concept of a rift originalwith Heezen,
Tharp, and Ewing?
The mid-Atlantic ridge, marks the original place
of the great fracture which "remained unmoved,
whilst the two continents on opposite sides have
crept away in nearly parallel and opposite
directions". Frank Bursley Taylor in discussing
continental drift in 1908.
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MENARD 1964 PHYSIOGRAPHIC MAP OF NORTH EAST
PACIFIC
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1964 FIRST DEVELOPMENT OF MULTI-BEAM SOUNDING
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SCRIPPS DEEP TOW 1960 TO PRESENT- FIRST ROV
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Monterey Canyon - First Multi-beam Map of
NOAAEEZ Mapping Program 1987
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PLAN VIEW OF PIONEER SEAMOUNT AND CANYON NOAA
EEZ SURVEYS CA. 1989 NOTE SMALL BANK ON NORTH
SIDE OF CANYON
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Shepard Meander I
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DAVIDSON SEAMOUNT
1933 1989
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(No Transcript)
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MICKEY MOUSE DOMES 1987
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Heezen-Tharp World View 1977
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(No Transcript)
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Canyon Views I
1853
1770
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Canyon Views II
1892
1897
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Canyon Views IV
1990
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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INCREDIBLE DETAIL WITHNEAR-BOTTOM AUV MAPPING
SYSTEM
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Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 29 North. Note central
rift valley and parallel trains of abyssal
hills. Image courtesy of CCOM
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Magnificent vista of basins and mountains off New
Zealand. 2200 Meters relief in image. Courtesy
NOAA OER, NOAA VENTS, New Zealand American
Submarine Ring of Fire 2007 Exploration
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NW San Francisco Bay
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Seamounts in the Marianas Back-arc
Basin Courtesy of CCOM
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Walter Smith NOAA/NESDIS 2007 Satellite
Altimetry Derived View of World Seafloor I
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Walter Smith NOAA/NESDIS 2007 Satellite
Altimetry Derived View of World Seafloor II
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A Production of The NOAA Central Library
http//www.lib.noaa.gov
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