Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1914 — DEVICE TO DETECT ICEBERGS AT SEA [ARTICLE]

DEVICE TO DETECT ICEBERGS AT SEA

Canadian Scientist Says Microthermometer Will Always Show Temperature Changes. REVEALS BER6S MILES AWAY Accidents Like That Which Was Cause of Tltantlc Horror May be Aver*, ted In the Future, Never Falling and Accurate. Washington, D. C. —Prof. Howard T. Barnes of McGill University (Montreal) has contributed to the literature of the Smithsonian Institution a paper on “Icebergs and their Location in Navigation.” "I wish to Impress the people the importance of the fact that the actual temperature of the water in the Ice track is no guide to the proximity of even the largest icebergs," says Prof. Barnes. "The experience of North Atlantic sea captains alone testifies to the uselessness of individual observations. It Is to the small variations of the temperturee we must look for the infallible guide, and by means of the character of these varieties we can determine the presence of ice, land or currents. “The exact position of an iceberg ahead of a ship in a fog is of the greatest Importance to determine. In general it may be said that an iceberg will make itself felt in the first place by the rapid rise of temperature as it is approached. In the immediate vicinity of the berg the temperature falls quickly. The first warning will be when the temperature begins to mount up the scale above the surrouning sea temperature. In regiosnns where icebergs are in close proximity, safe navigation will be found possible" (by the use of the microthermomtter) since no isothermal line can lead to an iceberg.

"The Icebergs met with in the North Atlantic each year are almost entirely derived from Western Greenland. Huge ice sheets are forced into the sea, broken off and set adrift as bergs. The ‘calving* of the bergs, as the breaking up is called, may take place in a number of ways. "Only a small percentage of the icebergs ever reach the Grand Bank and the routes of the transatlantic liners, so many delays and mishaps attend their journey. It is well known that many bergs seen in one season may have been produced several seasons before. Taking the Labrador current as ten mile per day, a berg, once formed and drifting freely, would make the journey southward in four to five months. "No part of the oceans of the world is of so much interest to mankind as the cold Arctic current—the Labrador current. It brings down the cold of the North to temper the heat of the tropics, and thus tends to equalize the temperature of the world. It is the home and feeding ground of the world’s greatest supply of fish, and supports more marine life than any other part of the world. It conveys each year southward the greatest menace to the navigator in the form of huge icebergs, and it influences the entire eastern coast of Canada. ,In spite of this, there has been little' study of this current “The result of experiments brings out several points of importance. The iceberg effect was clearly obtained when passing early In the afternoon in the ice track. The sudden change of temperature on passing out of the Arctic current into the Gulf Stream was clearly marked. The tests have shown that large variations of sea temperature are caused only by seme abnormal condition. Thus, land affects it, icebergs produce characteristic disturbances and current boundaries are clearly shown. “The icebergs all produced an effect on the instrument, even those passed at distances ranging from eight to twelve miles. The variation of the temperature as ice is approached is unmistakable, and this the mferethermometer has invariably indicated. Should the ice be found in a locality where variations due to other causes are found the iceberg effect is so characteristic and sharp that it will be superimposed in such a way as to be unmistakable." Mr. Barnes says that the microthermometer is never-failing and accurate; it detects the slighest change and indicates it.