Oceanographic activities of the Hydrographic Office and the United States Navy during 1939

Once again I have the pleasure of reporting to this body on the oceanographic activities conducted by the Hydrographic Office. Investigations and surveys conducted by various United States Naval vessels during the past 12 months have been fruitful in results. Over 115,000 sonic soundings, mostly over previously unsounded areas, have been obtained by Naval vessels during the past year. I expecto to announce at the 1941 meeting of the American Geophysical Union that all the accumulated sonic‐sounding data received in the Hydrographic Office during the past few years, which amount to approximately 300,000 soundings, have been plotted and correlated and that their incorporation on affected charts is well under way. That work in itself will be a great contribution to oceanography and will permit the revision of the bathymetric charts of the oceans by utilizing more authentic and adequate data than have been available in the past. Both the bathymetric charts of the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean respectively have received favorable comment from scientific institutions in this country and abroad. Without the full‐hearted cooperation of Naval vessels that, in compliance with plans and instructions furnished by the Hydrographic Office, have striven to utilize every available opportunity to sound in previously.unsounded areas, it would have been impossible to undertake the preparation of these bathymetric charts.