摘要:

Geodesy is generally defined as the science that treats of the shape and size of the Earth. This definition was given in the early stages of the development of the science and embraces only the activity with which it originated.In the past 100 years, geodesy has been highly developed and its results have been of great value in the solution of certain problems connected with the Earth and, in addition, the data secured have a practical value in many lines of human activity.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00109

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

I do not approach the subject of the utility of seismology in a defensive mood, since this is entirely unnecessary. In the past the loss of life and property, due to earthquakes has been great and the increase has been in ageometric ratio as the size and complexity of cities have increased, so that even moderate savings resulting from seismological investigations would be distinctly worth while. At first thought the problem would appear to be a purely engineering one, and while this is in the main correct the engineer must have fundamental data and methods of attack of the problems which it is the function of the seismologist to supply. I will illustrate by a recent example from the Panama Canal. It was decided that, in the design of the proposed Madden Dam which is to hold back the flood‐waters of the Chagres River so that the level of Gatun Lake can be raised during the dry season, earthquake‐effects should be considered. The advice of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey was asked. It was realized that the engineering principles have not yet been developed in a satisfactory manner but it was found that in a still greater degree the required information regarding earthquakes in the region was not satisfactory even though the record is probably longer than that for any other place on the American contine

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00111

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The greatest poet of all scientists, and the ablest scientist of all poets, summed up a large part of the philosophy of life in a single one of his famous quatrains:“A book of verses underneath the bough,A jug of wine, a loaf of bread—and thouBeside me singing in the wilderness—Oh, wilderness were paradise

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00114

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The importance of pure science as a complement to its practical applications is becoming more generally recognized every day. Additional examples of the use of the results of research in an unexpected direction are steadily accumulating so that it is not safe to assume that any abstract bit of knowledge may not sooner or later be put to some concrete practical use. It will not be out of place, therefore, to pause for a few moments at this time and see along what lines these uses have developed, partly as a possible guide to future progress, but more particularly as a stimulus to the student of pure science, who frequently finds difficulty in securing support for investigations which do not. appear to lead directly to practical results.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00118

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Oceanography, as a branch of science, has direct utilitarian sides, for (inter alia) it embraces all studies of the biology of animals that are the object of the commercial fisheries, and of the various events in the sea that affect navigation. The question whether a rational basis for forecasting the weather can be found in the variations that take place in the temperature of the sea is also much to the fore at present.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00121

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This address was presented informally and no manuscript was prepared.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00124

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In order to complete the information needed to construct a plan for comprehensive meteorological investigation in the polar regions and encouraged by experience and knowledge gained in serving for four winters and seven summers in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Sea and with enough experience with submarines to realise their limitations, I propose to carry out an expedition to be known as The International Arctic Submarine Expedition Incorporated for the purpose of geophysical investigation on a route between Spitsbergen and the Bering Sea. In view of the forthcoming International Polar Jubilee 1932–33 I believe it is particularly desirable to carry out investigation with a submarine at an earlier date in order to know whether submarines might be used to economically enable various sections of investigators to reach the most favorable and otherwise inaccessible point

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00125

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In the surveying and mapping of Canada, it is of prime importance that the surveys and the resultant maps should measure up to modern standards of accuracy. At the same time the cost of the surveys should be kept at a minimum. Where organisation is efficient and skilled personnel using modern instruments and methods are employed, the expense involved in conducting a survey of high accuracy need not greatly exceed the cost of less exacting operations. Moreover, the compensating advantages of an accurate survey more than offset the extra expense involved. Where suitable geodetic control‐points are used as a basis for the location of the topographical features and artificial developments throughout the country, the resultant map or chart may be made to comply with every requirement of accuracy and detail; and where suitable monuments are established in the field to perpetuate the control‐points of the survey it is a simple matter to return at any future time to locate or survey local improvements or developments. Where the original surveys of a large area are not based on accurately located points forming part of a nation‐wide scheme of geodetic control, the map of the district cannot be constructed within the limits of accuracy usually required, and as the needs of the country become more exacting in this respect it would be necessary, in all probability, to repeat the original surveys with the attendant expense and

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00127

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The most important event which has occurred in the field of geodesy during the past year was the announcement by President Hoover of his program which calls for the completion of the topographic mapping of the United States in the next eighteen years. The topographic mapping necessarily requires geodetic surveys in the form of triangulation and leveling which furnish the geographic positions and elevations, respectively, on which topographic surveying is based. In order that the geodetic work might be executed in greater amounts than in the past, the President recently authorized an increase in the budget for the geodetic work of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The appropriation bill, covering the funds made available to the Department of Commerce and.its bureaus for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1930, which passed during the present session of Congress, carries $316,624 for geodetic operations. This is a substantial increase over the present appropriation of $88,600.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00129

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

For the absolute determination of gravity there is today no better method than that of the reversible pendulum, the theory of which goes back to Huygens, and the technique of its use to Capt. Kater, over a century ago. The two determinations involved are those of length and time, and it is the determination of length that limits the accuracy of the measurement. Time can be measured to almost any desired precision if one takes time enough about it, but the measurement of length under the best conditions can not be pushed farther than about 0.1μ in a meter, or one part in 107. With such conditions as prevail in pendulum‐Work it is not likely that the precision can be pushed farther than one part in 1

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/TR010i001p00135-2

年代:1930

数据来源: WILEY