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mullusks. Data on the marine mammal collections in NMNH as well as those at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas were recorded for computer storage as a first step in providing a comprehensive computer-based catalogue of all collections of living marine mammals.

Instrumentation

NOAA's National Oceanographic Instrumentation Center (NOIC) in Washington, D.C., provides the marine sciences community with. the means of testing and evaluating new instruments and calibrating operational instruments, both under laboratory conditions and conditions which simulate the harsh environment of the sea. Between January 1970 and September 1972, the Center evaluated and reported on 30 new oceanographic instruments, and calibrated thousands of thermometers and other pieces of test equipment. To become more responsive to the need for calibration of oceanographic instruments, it has established regional centers in Seattle, Washington, San Diego, California, and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. These regional facilities provide test and evaluation capabilities where they are. most needed, and at the same time reduce the expense and hazard of shipping delicate equipment.

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Chapter V

TECHNOLOGY FOR UNDERSEA
OPERATIONS

The rapidly developing ability to observe the ocean and its life from the surface, the atmosphere, and space is being matched by important advances in man's ability to observe the undersea world from within. No instrument or automated system can match the performance of a trained human observer, and it is natural that, as the Federal Ocean Program matured technologically, a strong effort would begin to extend man's ability to explore, inhabit, and work in the difficult underwater environment. The thrust of the projects conducted toward these ends has been to provide materiel and tools that can get men safely into the sea, sustain them there, and remove them safely, armed with the instruments they need to achieve their undersea objectives. The transfer of technology in these areas from military to civil efforts has been quite effective, and today the Navy, NOAA, other Federal and academic institutions, and industry share an active research and development program in this area.

New Materials and Equipment

Before man can extend his time and depth limits in the sea, he must design improved materials and equipment that can function successfully and safely under the new stresses to which they will be subjected. The development and use of such materials is one of the objectives of the Navy's ocean engineering program. This program, in addition to satisfying Navy requirements, is perhaps the major source of technical development for civil ocean requirements.

One Navy project to advance the depth limit of undersea exploration was the construction of a titanium-alloy hull for installation on the deep submersible, Alvin. Not only will this material double Alvin's working depth to 12,000 feet, but it will also reduce its weight and increase the payload carried by the vehicle. In March 1972, the Naval Ship Research and Development Center,

Artist's conception of Navy-sponsored catamaran Lulu serving as support ship for the under sea habitat EDALHAB in 1972 Florida Aquanaut Research Expedition (FLARE).

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This new titanium sphere will extend the Alvin's working depth to 12,000 feet.

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SEACON I concrete structure after 11 months exposure at a depth of 600 feet.

Carderock, Maryland, successfully tested the hull in a pressurized oil bath to the equivalent of 13,000 feet in depth. Alvin's new hull will be tested at sea in mid-1973.

A continuing program to improve methods of providing buoyancy for submerged systems has resulted in the use of solid, lightweight syntactic foams. The foams are long-lived and neither flammable nor subject to permeation by seawater. Currently, a great deal of effort is being made to improve the foams by reducing their density and by developing techniques by which large quantities can be produced relatively inexpensively.

The Sea Construction (SEACON I) experiment, conducted off Santa Barbara, California, is designed to evaluate concrete for seafloor construction and to provide a facility for testing hatch and viewport designs as well as antifouling techniques. One cylinder and 18 spheres of precast concrete are used in the experiment. In January 1972, after eleven months' submergence, the experimental cylinder was raised from a depth of 600 feet. Monitoring sensors within the cylinder provided information on stress, strain, seawater permeability, and internal atmosphere (dust, humidity, oxygen, etc.). The concrete spheres are still anchored near the bottom at graduated depths from 2,000 to 5,000 feet. SEACON II, an eighteenmonth sea-construction demonstration, will begin in October 1973 with the installation of a seafloor platform, cable structures, and other equipment, much of which is in the final stages of development. A new type of deep-ocean corer is being fabricated to take 50-foot bottom cores at depths of 6,000 feet. Unlike other corers, this device. will not disturb or rearrange the bottom sample. Engineering analysis of the samples will be correlated with less direct electronic analysis of the seafloor to determine its weight-supporting ability and other engineering properties, knowledge of which is necessary for the installation of bottom structures.

Anchors and cables are being developed to hold subsurface and bottom structures in place. A vibratory embedment anchor, which uses an electric motor to drive the anchor into the sea floor, has been demonstrated. The anchor can hold 50 times its own weight at 6,000 foot depths. An explosive embedment anchor, which is driven into the sea floor by an explosive charge, is also under development. At a 20,000 foot depth, it will hold against a 20,000 pound pull.

Cables are being developed to moor platforms to these anchors and to control unmanned underwater work systems. New resin materials are being investigated for use in durable, light-weight cables that are neutrally buoyant and of high strength. These cables will be used to support the Remote Unmanned Work System, RUWS-20, at 20,000 foot depths. The vehicle and other system components have been completed and will be assembled next year. Four miles of cable will be used in RUWS operations. Because of the cable's neutral buoyancy, the RUWS vehicle will be able to move without the use of additional power or flotation.

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