Chapter 1
An Overview of Oceanographic
Exploration
Abstract Earth’s scientists have been interested in the ocean as well as the
continents for at least the last 150 years. However, ‘‘modern oceanography’’
started after World War II in 1946, when the world’s politicians and scientists
realized that in order to have supremacy over other countries and acquire
knowledge of our planet it would be necessary to increase the capability of sea
floor exploration. Private and government funds were provided to enhance
underwater technology. Ocean-going ships began to carry out regular and more
extensive expeditions on all the major oceans and seas. Also, we now know that
the modern oceans and seas are relatively young (150–170 million years old) when
compared to the continental landmasses. Geological records found on the continents indicate that the ocean must have existed since our planet’s creation 4.6
billion years ago, and it seems probable that the Earth has undergone several
cycles of ocean formation and retrieval during the past 4 billion years.
Introduction
Most of the time, marine geologists work on the surface of the sea, at several
kilometers distance from the sea floor, which allows their imagination to flourish
with what might be happening beneath the sea’s surface. It is only recently, during
the late 1960s and 1970s, that specially organized deep-diving scientific expeditions with manned and unmanned vehicles were undertaken to directly observe and
sample the sea floor.
Seawater covers an unknown world, which is difficult for man to access. Because
of its physical state, seawater forms a screen and the darkness of the abysses creates
a serious handicap for investigations by human eyes. Sunlight does not penetrate
deeper than 100–200 m after which it diminishes in intensity and breaks down into
different wavelengths so that the red rays (infra-rouge) are absorbed while the blue
and the green rays penetrate more deeply. Nevertheless, most components of the
sun’s rays do not penetrate deeper than 150 m except for blue rays that could reach
R. Hekinian, Sea Floor Exploration, Springer Oceanography,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03203-0_1,
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
1
An Overview of Oceanographic
Exploration
Abstract Earth’s scientists have been interested in the ocean as well as the
continents for at least the last 150 years. However, ‘‘modern oceanography’’
started after World War II in 1946, when the world’s politicians and scientists
realized that in order to have supremacy over other countries and acquire
knowledge of our planet it would be necessary to increase the capability of sea
floor exploration. Private and government funds were provided to enhance
underwater technology. Ocean-going ships began to carry out regular and more
extensive expeditions on all the major oceans and seas. Also, we now know that
the modern oceans and seas are relatively young (150–170 million years old) when
compared to the continental landmasses. Geological records found on the continents indicate that the ocean must have existed since our planet’s creation 4.6
billion years ago, and it seems probable that the Earth has undergone several
cycles of ocean formation and retrieval during the past 4 billion years.
Introduction
Most of the time, marine geologists work on the surface of the sea, at several
kilometers distance from the sea floor, which allows their imagination to flourish
with what might be happening beneath the sea’s surface. It is only recently, during
the late 1960s and 1970s, that specially organized deep-diving scientific expeditions with manned and unmanned vehicles were undertaken to directly observe and
sample the sea floor.
Seawater covers an unknown world, which is difficult for man to access. Because
of its physical state, seawater forms a screen and the darkness of the abysses creates
a serious handicap for investigations by human eyes. Sunlight does not penetrate
deeper than 100–200 m after which it diminishes in intensity and breaks down into
different wavelengths so that the red rays (infra-rouge) are absorbed while the blue
and the green rays penetrate more deeply. Nevertheless, most components of the
sun’s rays do not penetrate deeper than 150 m except for blue rays that could reach
R. Hekinian, Sea Floor Exploration, Springer Oceanography,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03203-0_1,
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
1