RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 808, 21 January 1955, Page 6

RECONNAISSANCE IN FORCE

O one, least of all her own company, would call the U.S.S. Atka a graceful ship. She looks as muscle-bound as an Olympic weight-lifter. Above the waterline, her bows are bluff and bull-nosed; below, her stem curves back sharply to allow her to ride up on packice and "break through by sheer weight. Her broad beam encloses great trimmingtanks to port and starboard, by which she can be rolled sharply from side to side to break through enclosing flows. Her sides curve and bulge so that-at a pinch-she will rise on to the ice, like Nansen’s Fram, if the lateral pressure becomes too severe, and this curve produces an inboard sheer in the sides (a "tumblehome". seamen would call it) which accentuates her general air of tubbiness. But, of course, it wasn’t her homely silhouette that brought the press, the photographers, the newsreel men, the NZBS tape-recorders (and The out bright and early on New Year’s morning to watch her» amble up a phenomenally placid Wellington Harbour

to her berth at Clyde Quay. The Atka might lack beauty, but she had other attractions. She had brains-as heavy a concentration of them as one would be likely to encounter hereabouts outside a plenary session of the Association for the Advancement of Science. The advancement of science was, in fact, the prime reason for her voyagewould be the sole concern of, a substantial number of her company for some months ahead-and was, in part at least, the reason why reporters found it expedient to be on the job early on the morning after New Year’s Eve. Science, as every newspaperman now knows, is news, and even with Statham and Tyson in full cry. at-Melbourne, science was still worth a headline. On that. first morning, however, the wardroom press conference was only a preliminary canter-a gathering of first impressions. Its main purpose was to enable reporters to meet Service and civilian scientists on board and to arrange for further meetings. So Fhe Listener paid a second visit to the Atka and with the help of Paul A. Humphrey, who represents the U.S.

National Academy of Sciences on board, learned something more specific of the ship’s mission and met some of the scientific specialists. Besides representing the Academy of Sciences, Mr. Humphrey is also the Expedition representative for the International Geophysical Year-a projected period of more than usually close collaboration between scientists and scientific bodies in many countries throughout the world. It was to prepare tor the major United States contribution to that unternational exchange of knowledge that ithe Atka was travelling south to Antarctica. She was, in fact, the advance guard of an advance guard--a reconnaissance in force. Beyond the usual observation of the heavens and the earth and the waters under the earth, which would be carried out by the physicists and meteorologists, the geologists and’ map-makers and oceanographers, the Atka would also made the preliminary surveys of the area in which the main expedition would later be established. Mr. Humphrey, who is from the U.S. Weather Bureau, will, for example, be studying surface and upper air conditions. but he will also

explore sites for large-scale research bases. When the Atka’s preliminary reconnaissance is completed, a second group will travel south (towards the end of this year) to establish the bases, and the expedition pro-

per will leave the United States in 1956 so that the main body of scientists can be installed in good time for the opening of the World Geophysical Year on July 1, 1957. Obsérvations in a multiplicity of scientific fields will go on continuously for 12 months thereafter. Cryologically Speaking .. . Even on the Atka there are specialists of a type not encountered here before. To those New Zealanders who have had (continued on next page)

(continued from ‘previous page) to clear their paths or eaves, snow has only three properties of any importance -it is too heavy, too cold and too wet. But to students on board the Atka of the quite new science of cryology-from the Greek word kruos, meaning frostsnow is a much more interesting and complex commodity. True, the main instruments used by cryologists are big shovels for digging holes in the snow and 20-foot ladders for climbing out of them, but the main aim of this activity is to find the snow’s temperature at different levels, its density, hardness, grain size and distribution, stratification, viscosity, and permeability, and to determine the presence or otherwise, in the pits, of ice and its size and distribution in the form of lenses, glands or layers. "This is a field where pure science goes hand-in-hand with applied science and the so-called cold weather engineering; that is, the adaptation of engineering principles to Polar regions," said E. H. Moser, of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, U.S. Navy. "Thus, the data collected will not only be of interest for its own sake, but will also be valuable information in finding the best methods of using snow for building material, in plane runways, and so on. In particular, it will be our job to select a suitable site for the main expedition in 1957." The general methods of the party, as explained by G. R. Toney, Arctic Operations Project, U.S. Weather Bureau, Captain Paul Nefstead, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, and M/Sgt. H. H. Staltenburg, Transportation Corps, U.S, Army, are simple. They dig a pit in the snow, stopping every four inches to record the necessary data. First, a thin, six-inch staple with a dial at the end is driven into the wall of the pit. The cold contracts the metal which affects the dial pointer and enables the scientists to take the temperature. Secondly, a sample of snow in a metal container is taken at each stop, capped, weighed, and the density of the snow calculated, In the northern hemisphere it has been found that the density of the winter snow is greater than .that fallen in the summer, and hence the age of each layer can be calculated in the same manner as the age of a tree can be found from the number of rings. Thirdly, an ingenious device designed by the Nationa! Research Council of Canada measures the degree of impaction of the snow by the amount of pressure it will take from a flat surface of given size before collapsing, Other less delicate instruments can also be forced from the. surface down to 25 feet from where they draw snow samples. " As an example of the practical application of cryology, Mr. Moser mentioned that when he was in Greenland recently, his party had tested an area of snow for hardness and density, treated it in a certain way, then tested it again, and found it was nearly double the density and eight to 12 times as hard-an increase sufficient to allow a 30,000-Ib. Dakota-type p!ane to land, not on skis but on wheels. The Atka scientists will select a site for similar treatment. This means the camp will be accessible right through the year, whereas without the

airstrip, it could have been reached by ship only during the short summer or by ski-planes which have a light carrying capacity. The cryologists will also visit Little America, where Admiral Byrd had his base camp. There they will study the effects of buildings on snow drifts and the way snow lies, and the effect of snow on buildings-important knowledge when 30 much activity is going on in both Arctic and Antarctic regions. Pure, But Not Simple If pure and applied science go hand in hand for the cryologists, Dr. Keith B, Fenton knows of no practical application so far for knowle’ge gained in his special field. Dr. Fenton, who is a cosmic ray physicist, is an Australian whose home is now in Ottawa. Aboard the Atka he represents the University of Chicago and the National Research Council of Canada, and installed with him on the ship is an imposing array of equipment-not unlike an electronic "brain,’ and in fact employing similar circuits--~ which was built by the National Research Council of Canada and has already travelled inside the north Polar Circle on board the Canadian naval icebreaker Labrador. This equipment (part of which ig seen in the accompanying photograph) will make a continuous record of the intensity of cosmic rays throughout the present voyage and with the measurements made on the Labrador will constitute the most extensive survey of this kind ever made. Cosmic rays-which are in fact particles of matter, atomic nuclei, travelling at speeds close to that of light-are being studied in many countries (including New Zealand), but not very much is known about them yet. It is not known where they. come from-though the sun is apparently the source of some -or how they attain such tremendous velocities, but it will help to answer these questions if the present survey can determine whether they have a minimum as well as a maximum speed. And it may be possible to discover this. Being electrically charged, the particles which cross the earth’s magnetic field and reach the earth near the Equator must have very high velocities. Towards’ the poles, however, they come in roughly in the direction of the field-an earlier route from which slower particles are not deflected. All ray particles reach the poles. In fact, on the icebreaker Labrador a constant intensity was recorded from 55 to 56 degrees North into the higher latitudes. Dr. Fenton anticipates that a similar levelling off will occur from about 55 degrees South. From these observations, too, a good deal may be learned about the shape of the terrestrial magnetic field itself. Though Dr. Fenton’s rays represent probably the purest science on the Atka, The Listener got him to agree that their study might have practical application within the present century. He agrees with the opinion of the physicist Enrico Fermi that cosmic radiation may well be the greatest hazard for space travellers, Cosmic rays recorded at sea-level are all innocuous secondary particlesthat is, nuclei robbed of some of their

electrons by passage through the atmosphere, or mesons (unstable particles produced by high-speed collisions. between nuclei). Space travellers, however, would encounter the lethal primary nuclei, "There would, of course, be no sudden death," he said. "In fact, one could be exposed to primaries for a week without any permanent ill effects. One could get to the moon, perhaps, with no danger, but a journey to Mars would be hazardous." On the other hand, it was quite possible that adequate insulation could be devised. A few centimetres thickness of aluminium in the skin of a spaceship might be enough to cause the breakdown of primaries into the harmless secondary particles. |