Ocean Thermometer

An airborne thermometer that can take the temperature of the sea was described last week by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of Woods Hole, Mass. Originally developed by Henry Stommel and Donald Parson, the thermometer measures the long-wave radiation from the sea and from it shows whether the water is warm or cold. The gadget has been used successfully to track the inner edge of the Gulf Stream, distinguishing it from colder inshore water all the way from Florida up to George's Bank, off Cape Cod.

The instrument will soon be tested on another project: detecting icebergs under the fogs of the North Atlantic. This job is now done chiefly by Coast Guard airplanes equipped with radar. Unfortunately, the iceberg danger area is often thickly populated with fishing boats, and the radar's eye has a hard time telling bergs from boats.

Dr. William S. Richardson of the Oceanographic Institution will fly the new instrument over the iceberg infested Grand Banks in a Navy amphibian. When the radar looks down through the fog and picks up a blip that might be either ice or a boat, he will take its temperature. If it is too cold for a boat, he will report it to the Coast Guard.

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