The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey

William J. Emery

1 Origin of the Meteor and the German Atlantic Expedition

As a consequence of the Versailles Treaty the German Navy was not permitted
to send her vessels to foreign ports. In 1919, a member of the German Admiral-
ty, Captain Nippe, proposed that a German Naval vessel be outfitted and sent
out on a major oceanographic expedition. In this way a Gennan naval ship
would be allowed to visit and "show the flag" in foreign ports, bringing a touch
of home to Germans living abroad. Calling upon the proud tradition set by
earlier German research expeditions, the plan found favor with the chief of the
Admiralty. An unfinished Class C gunboat named Meteor (Fig. la) was selected
for this purpose. With a displacement of 1300 tons, a length of 75 m and a keel
depth of 4 m she was considered ideal for the task. The name had been inherited
from an earlier gunboat which had distinguished itself in 1870 by defeating the
French ship Bouvet.
From the start efforts to outfit the unfinished Meteor were fraught with diffi-
culty. A report that the hull had been sold proved to be false but changes at the
shipyard, where the ship had been left, required that the ship be quickly trans-
ferred to Kiel and put on the rolls of the German Marine Control Commission
as a replacement for an older survey vessel. During this time Captain F. Spiess
took over the German Naval Hydrographic Department and in this position be-
came responsible for the future of the Meteor. Many years of service as a ship's
officer in the hydrographic service had convinced Captain Spiess of the impor-
tance of oceanographic research. He regarded it as the "most interesting and
pleasant" (Spiess 1928) duty in the navy. To this personal commitment of its
future captain, the Meteor and her scientists owe much of their success.
The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 691
Earlier contact with Dr. Alfred Merz, from the Berlin Institut fUr Meeres-
kunde, had convinced Captain Spiess that he was the man to plan, organize and
lead a future oceanographic expedition. Before Merz was consulted, however,
the Gennan Naval Observatory proposed a two year, around the world expedition.
A series of physical, biological and meteorological measurements were planned
by the observatory, which would be carried out in an east-to-west global circum-
navigation. On the basis of this plan it was decided that the Meteor would not be
annored as a typical gunboat and that the deck would be built up with labora-
tory and living space for the scientists. These modifications were fmally approved
in 1920.
Financial conditions in post-war Gennany caused the project to be repeatedly
postponed until 1923. During this time a plan, drafted by Dr. Merz, was pre-
sented to the Naval Observatory by the director of the Berlin Institut fUr Meeres-
kunde. This proposal was for a three-year expedition to study the relatively un-
known circulation of the Pacific Ocean. Due to its location far from the centers
of European science, the Pacific had been studied very little and Dr. Merz was
anxious to carry out a basic series of physical, geological, biological and meteoro-
logical observations. The plan was strongly endorsed by Admiral Behnke, the Ad-
miralty Chief and plans were made to gather a scientific staff for the expedition.
The size of the Pacific required that the Meteor have a range of 12,000 nm.
This meant that more expensive diesel engines would need to be installed and
the ship's hull sealed to carry diesel fuel. This change alone added 3.5 million
marks to the cost of outfitting the ship. At the same time runaway inflation more
than doubled this cost which persuaded the Admiralty to no longer regard the
Pacific Expedition as an important project. Efforts to secure private financing
for the expedition, although supported in principle by both scientists and indus-
trial leaders, were frustrated by the continued devaluation of the Gennan mark.
Although modifications of the Meteor were completed in 1923, when the mark
stabilized, plans for the Pacific expedition were dropped.
A new opportunity for an oceanographic expedition arose when the Secretary
of State, Mr. Schmidt-Ott, in an address to the Berlin Oceanographic Society,
stated that he was anxious to support a research cruise which would again estab-
lish respect for the name of German Science. Dr. Merz was quick to take advan-
tage of this statement and, having learned from his earlier experience, proposed
a two year expedition in the Atlantic. Minister Schmidt-Ott realized the value of
such an expedition and as president of the Emergency Council for Science, agreed
to support the scientific costs of the expedition. The Navy agreed to provide the
ship, the Meteor, and her crew.

2 The Atlantic Expedition

In contrast to the Pacific, the Atlantic had been fairly well sampled by earlier
oceanographic expeditions. Earlier Atlantic expeditions, many of which had been
Gennan (Spiess 1928), had established the general structure of the Atlantic
Ocean, and thus an Atlantic Expedition had to be more than a cruise for explo-
692 W. J. Emery

Figure la

Figure Ib
Figure 1. Figure 1 (a) The research vessel Meteor. (b) Captain Spiess with the
scientific staff. From left to right: Mener, Wattenberg, Wiist, Pratje, Spiess, Kuhl-
brodt, Schumacher, Hentschel, Reger, Boehnecke. (c) Meteor in the hurricane.
(d) Dr. Wiist and assistant titrating on the afterdeck in the tropics.
The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 693

Figure Ie

Figure Id

ration. Observations taken during these earlier expeditions had been brought
together by Merz into a card me and studied as vertical temperature and salinity
sections to provide a picture of the mean vertical circulation (Merz and Wust
1922) in the Atlantic. From these studies Merz and his student, GeorgWust, con-
cluded that the meridional circulation, in the Atlantic, should be separated into
four layers rather than two as previously believed. With such questions in mind,
Merz designed a program of systematic sampling in the Atlantic, that would
focus on a description of the ocean's circulation, both surface and subsurface.
694 W. J. Emery
Thus the Meteor Expedition became the first major oceanographic program to
concentrate on physical oceanography.
The achievement of Merz's goal, to understand the circulation of the Atlantic,
was made easier by the development of the dynamic method. As discussed by
Bjerknes (1901) this method allowed the computation of relative geostrophic
currents from careful measurements of temperature and salinity. Hence some
knowledge of the current field could be inferred from a series of hydrographic
stations rather than direct current observations. Merz (1925) planned to take full
advantage of this method of current computation and laid greatest emphasis on a
series of hydrographic stations to be taken along zonal sections, called proftles
(Fig. 2). Due to the number of observations available in the North Atlantic, Merz

Figure 2. Cruise plan of the Meteor Expedition.

The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 695

limited sampling to south of 20 0 N and planned short "zig-zag" portions of the

cruise track to sample adequately the strong, coastal currents. As a reference for
relative dynamic current calculations, Merz planned a number of deep ocean
moored stations, where direct current measurements using a new "repeating"
current meter, provided by V. W. Ekman, would be used to calibrate the geo-
strophic currents.
Fully aware of the need for systematic measurements in all disciplines of
oceanography and meteorology, Merz included in his research program biologi-
cal, geological, chemical and meteorological observations. In addition two new
echo-sounders were to be installed and evaluated during the cruise. All of these
many programs put a demand on the limited space available on the Meteor.

3 Alfred Merz

A discussion of the Meteor Expedition would be incomplete without some in-

sight into the life of Alfred Merz, the "spiritual father of the expedition" (Spiess
1928). Born on January 24, 1880 he grew up as the son of a school director in
Perchtolsdorf, near Vienna. He showed early promise as a student, graduating
with honors from Vienna University with a degree in geography. Even as a
student he displayed talent for independent research in oceanography (then a
part of geography) carrying out measurement programs in the Adriatic Sea and
the Gulf of Trieste. Work on the latter led to his appointment as a lecturer at the
Berlin Institut fUr Meereskunde. Here he stimulated a group of young students
to take data from coastal light vessels and inland seas. The program was inter-
rupted by the outbreak of the First World War and Merz became an oceanogra-
phic advisor to the German Navy. During this time a new group of students
gathered around Merz and contributed to his research. Although not terribly pro-
lific in his publications, Merz concentrated on his students and classes. He inte-
grated his research studies with his lectures and his students were involved in all
the latest developments. Soon after becoming professor in 1921 he developed
his plan, at the urging of the Navy, to carry out a major oceanographic research
expedition. As has been discussed, circumstances prevailed and what Merz had
hoped to be a three-year cruise to the Pacific became a two-year systematic
survey of the Atlantic.

4 The Meteor Commission

In early May 1924, the president of the German Emergency Society for Science
called a meeting of a small group of interested people to discuss the Atlantic
Expedition. Dr. Merz, who had become its director, represented the Berlin Insti-
tut fUr Meereskunde; the Naval Observatory was represented by its director,
Captain Capelle, and the Aeronautical Observatory sent its director, Professor
Hergesell. The director of the Zoological Museum in Hamburg, Dr. Lohmann,
attended as did the director of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute for Physics, Dr.
696 W. J. Emery
Haber. Three people led by Captain Spiess attended from the German Hydrogra-
phic Office and the government was represented by the Minister of the Interior
and the Culture Minister. The responsibility of this group was to plan the expe-
dition in every detail and select those scientists who should participate. Once the
ship was at sea this group was to ensure that the expedition continued to receive
support in the form of supplies and material.
Even at their first meeting the commission had to wrestle with divergent
opinions. Some members wanted the expedition separated into two halves with
a three month break in between. Captain Capelle suggested that the first half
concern itself with meteorology only while the second half would collect ocean-
ographic data. Both of these suggestions were in conflict with the comprehensive
plan developed by Merz. The capable leadership of Minister Schmidt-Ott was
demonstrated by his ability to lead the discussion until all had arrived at a com-
mon solution. Fortunately all fmally agreed that Merz's plan held the most
promise for both oceanography and meteorology and that only through such a
systematic plan could the expedition contribute badly needed observations.
The commission decided that the selection of the scientific staff (Fig. 1b)
should be made according to scientific ability rather than position at their insti-
tution. The commission members agreed that the expedition should be led by
Dr. Merz. His first assistant was Dr. Schumacher, from the Naval Observatory,
who specialized in stereo-photography of surface waves and studies of the marine
boundary layer. From the Berlin Institut fUr Meereskunde came Dr. Boehnecke,
a technical expert, and Dr. Loewe who, like Boehnecke, was interested in sea
water chemistry from hydrographic samples. The latter participated only in the
trial expedition whence he decided that his salinity method was not sufficiently
accurate. For the main expedition his place was taken by Dr. G. Wiist, an earlier
assistant and student of Merz's. After Merz's death, in June of 1925, Wiist took
over the leadership of the oceanographic data collection and study. He also played
a crucial role as scientific consultant to Captain Spiess, who, following Merz's
death, assumed full responsibility for the expedition.
The most senior scientist on the staff was a biologist, Dr. Hentschel, from the
Zoological Museum in Hamburg. The geologist for the first half of the expedition
was Dr. Pratje who was replaced later by Dr. Correns. One of the few existing
marine chemists, Dr. Wattenberg, was also part of the Meteor's staff. He special-
ized in the study of nutrients and inert gases. Two meteorologists, Dr. Reger from
Lindenberg and Dr. Kuhlbrodt from Hamburg, completed the scientific staff.
Professor Defant, who became the director of the Berlin Institut following Merz,
joined the expedition for the last three sections. Since the analysis and publi-
cation of the Meteor data had become his responsibility he wished to partici-
pate in some of the data collection.
The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 697

5 The Ship's Crew

As early as 1920 a training program had been started for future Meteor crew
members. Many candidates were men who had served on other German survey
vessels and thus already had experience in the collection of hydrographic data.
Once the plans for the expedition were set these crewmen were also taught about
the scientific treatment of the data they were to collect. In order to complete
all the work planned it would be necessary for some of the ship's crew to also
serve as scientific assistants. Thus certain individuals were sent to various insti-
tutes to receive additional training in the field of oceanography and meteorology.
One important scientific component, the acoustic depth (echo) sounder, was
the complete responsibility of the Navy and thus the ship's crew. Acoustic sound-
ing devices were being newly developed and hence the Meteor was equipped with
two systems from different manufacturers. One, similar to the American "Fath-
ometer" 010yage of the Meteor 1930) was made by Atlaswerke and the other by
the Signal Gesellschaft of Kiel. The "Atlas" sounder could record graphically
down to 815 m while the "Signal" sounder required the operator to listen for
the return signal and thus was best suited for deep soundings. Simultaneous shal-
low soundings agreed to within 10 and 20 meters. Continually manned by mem-
bers of the ship's crew soundings were made every 2 to 3 nautical miles which
provided new resolution to the picture of the ocean's floor. Many of the new
speculations regarding the movements of deep water masses were aided by the
improved knowledge of the bottom topography.

6 The Trial Expedition and Refit

Merz and Spiess decided that to test both men and equipment, a four-week trial
expedition should take place. Any and all problems encountered on this test-
cruise could be corrected before the main two-year expedition left home. Since
it was winter, plans were to take the ship south towards the Canary Islands. After
a short "shakedown" cruise for the ship's crew, the Meteor left on the trial expe-
dition January 20, 1925. Participants on this pre-expedition were the same as
later with a few exceptions. As was discussed above, Wust did not go, while a
famous visitor, Dr. V. W. Ekman, brought along his new repeating or serial cur-
rent meter for testing. As part of the ship's equipment a new anchor system had
been developed that would make it possible to anchor in the deep ocean. The
system depended on a new strong, 7,500 m anchor cable which was wound
around a large supply roll, giving the ship the appearance of a cable vessel. At-
tempts to use this system during the trial expedition revealed its many weak-
nesses and changes were made upon return. Improvements were also suggested
for the acoustic profiler along with a change in the sails. The existing sails added
2 knots to the ship's speed and Captain Spiess felt that refitting to a series of
square sails would improve the angle of attack and hence the ship's speed. Efforts
to again try for diesel engines were soon dropped.
698 W. J. Emery
A major improvement was in extending the smoke stack and changing the dis-
tribution of heat. More efficient use of the available heat would hopefully save
fuel and thus increase mileage. Also to improve fuel efficiency a new propellor
was installed. Even with these changes the Meteor remained a "coal eater" and
additional coal storage had to be created.

7 The Atlantic Expedition

On April 16, 1925 the Meteor left for Buenos Aires to start work on the planned
sections in the South Atlantic. After re-fueling and re-provisioning the ship left
Buenos Aires, June 3rd, and proceeded to the first hydrographic station at the
start of a section along 42S. Dr. Merz was in charge at this time in spite of an
old illness which had started bothering him in Buenos Aires. By the fifth station
along this line his condition had worsened so that Captain Spiess decided to re-
turn to Buenos Aires. Here Dr. Merz turned the leadership of the expedition over
to 'Captain Spiess. An additional 50 tons of coal were loaded and the Meteor
returned to take up the series of stations where she had left off. Bad weather
along this section, in the Roaring Forties, made work difficult. Winds of 12 mls
and a strong sea added challenge to the careful collection of hydrographic
samples. As work along the profile progressed the weather worsened and snow
was common. Thick cloud cover made accurate navigation extremely difficult.
The weather finally degenerated into a hurricane (Fig. 1c), during which the
Meteor proved herself a seaworthy vessel. Following the hurricane the Meteor
made a brief stop at Robben Island where she got a new coat of paint prior to
her arrival in Capetown.
In reviewing the work along the first section, Captain Spiess (1926) reports
that in spite of the continual bad weather almost all of the 20 intended stations
had been taken. Measurements at these stations had yielded 240 pairs of temper-
ature and salinity values, 65 biological centrifuge samples, 26 plankton net
samples, 14 geological cores and 4 sediment grabs. Chemical analyses produced
360 measurements of ion concentrations, 340 values of oxygen content and 110
values of phosphate content. Seven evaporation measurements were made along
with many stereo-photographs of surface waves. The acoustic depth sounders
had revealed that much of the bottom had been incorrectly charted.
After a brief rest in Capetown, the Meteor started out on July 27, 1925 to
begin work on profile 2 (Fig. 2), westward along 29S. Here the weather was
more favorable and only four days of storm were encountered. As a result the
work at the hydrographic stations proceeded faster than planned and each was
completed in 8 rather than 12 hours. At the end of the hydrographic stations the
Meteor was anchored and currents were measured for 43 hours at three depths
with Ekman's serial current meters. Along this profile a total of 29 stations were
made resulting in 630 pairs of temperature-salinity measurements.
Shortly before the end of the second section news arrived of the death of
Dr. Merz in Buenos Aires. After returning to Buenos Aires, the crew and scientific
The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 699
staff of the Meteor held a service in memory of Dr. Merz at his graveside. Captain
Spiess spoke about the life of Dr. Merz and acknowledged that the Meteor Expe-
dition had lost its "father." Now it was up to those who remained to carry out
the plan laid down by Merz to its fullest.
After 10 days in Buenos Aires work began on the third profile eastward along
49S. Other than thick fog, which, with the possibility of icebergs required a
careful deck watch, the weather was favorable. The coming of spring had resulted
in better conditions than had been found along the first section at 42S and all
20 stations were completed as planned.
A second stop in Capetown lasted 14 days after which the Meteor returned to
work westward along 35S, completing section 4. The weather was again stormy
and constant west winds greatly increased the already rapid rate of coal consump-
tion. Captain Spiess decided to shift the profile northward to 32~oS in hopes of
avoiding the westerlies. Here easterly winds were found and the use of the sails
reduced the drain on the coal supply. The weather improved in general and all
19 deep hydrographic casts were completed.
The fifth cross section was the farthest south and thus was an experience in
ice infested waters. Few careful hydrographic casts had been taken in this region
where Merz believed many of the deeper water masses were formed. The Meteor
travelled southward along the coast of Argentina (Fig. 2) and sailed through the
inland waterway to Punta Arenas, Chile. From there the ship went south to
Deception Island, taking closely-spaced stations across the Drake Passage. Merz's
plan then took them back north to 55S where the section continued eastward
to South Georgia Island. Thence the section stretched eastward to Bouvet Island
and then south to the edge of the ice at 63 50'S. During this southward excur-
sion the weather was very good with temperatures above freeZing and weak west
winds. Turning north a series of stations was taken on the way to Capetown.
In strong contrast to profile 5 in the Antarctic, the sections in the equatorial
Atlantic (6-10) were made in the heat of the tropics. A total of 97 hydrographic
stations were completed in temperatures as high as 30C. On this coal burning
ship the heat became a serious problem and tents were set up on the main deck
for sample analysis (Fig. Id). There was no similar escape for those in the engine
room who labored in 50-60C heat.
The calm weather did have a scientific advantage, however, as it made pos-
sible the execution of a number of anchor stations. Here, as before, the Ekman
current meter was used to make direct current observations. At the same time a
series of hydrographic casts was made to study the temporal changes of water
mass structure at a specific point. Serial measurements were carried out over
more than a tidal cycle to determine the importance of the residual mean flow.
It was hoped that these simultaneous data sets would permit calibration of all
geostrophic current calculations.
In these waters the Meteor also had an opportunity to act as a rescue vessel.
Receiving an SOS from an English freighter, the Cawdor Castle, the Meteor went
to give aid. Finding the vessel hard aground, Captain Spiess sent the navigation
officer to confer with the English captain about an effort to free the ship. On
700 W. J. Emery
the first attempt the tow line broke and a second effort met with no success.
Noticing that the Meteor was being drawn toward shore herself, Captain Spiess
broke off the rescue and turned the task over to the whaling ships now arriving
in response to the SOS. Low on coal the Meteor left for port where they learned
via radio that the British freighter had been abandoned.
Between sections 11 and 12 (Fig. 2) the Meteor resupplied in Recife (then
Pernambuco), Brazil, where Dr. Merz's successor at the Berlin Institut, Dr.
Defant, joined the expedition. Although he did not assume the role of chief
scientist he played an important part in advising and consulting with Captain
Spiess regarding various scientific questions.
After three more sections the Meteor turned for home, arriving on May 29,
1927. In two years and two months the ship had travelled more than 67,500 nm;
had collected data at 310 hydrographic stations (Table 1), had anchored 10 times
in the deep ocean and consumed 8,800 tons of coal. Following the plan estab-
lished by Dr. Merz the Meteor had carried out the first systematic hydrographic
survey of an entire ocean basin. The careful analysis of these data, in concert
with existing data from the North Atlantic, would establish a clear picture of the
steady-state conditions in the Atlantic.

Table 1. Summary of Oceanographic Observations

Hydrographic Observations Current Observations
Number of Temperature- Number of Duration (hr)
Profile Stations Salinity Anchor of Current
Pairs Stations Measurements
Crossing to (I) (30) (I)
Buenos Aires
I 20 420
II 29 630 42
III 22 540
IV 19 420
V 49 770
VI 24 693 48
VII 21 564 26
VIII 22 1041 28
IX 13 559 42
X 17 673 28
XI 17 768 36
XII 16 660 42
XIII 21 950 38
XIV 20 695
Sum 310(311) 9383 (9413) 9 (10)
The Meteor Expedition, an Ocean Survey 701

8 The Results and Their Relevance Today

As was the custom, set by the Challenger, the results of scientific investigations
using the Meteor data were to appear as a series of report volumes. Various
members of the scientific staff worked on different sections giving weight to
those aspects considered most important by the individual. Wust (1935), follow-
ing ideas shared earlier by Merz, undertook a study of the deep and bottom
water masses, their distributions and spreading patterns. He referred to these
collectively as the "stratosphere" of the ocean, by analogy to the atmosphere,
and thus titled one of his sections the "Stratosphere of the Atlantic Ocean."
In it he introduced the core-layer method of tracing water mass distributions
and established the four-layer structure of the deep and bottom-water masses
that we use today. His ideas and section diagrams were the basis for the dis-
cussions of Atlantic water masses found in Sverdrup et al. (1942) which reflects
how well Wust's ideas were accepted. Even today investigators, such as Reid
(1978), still base much of their studies on the data and descriptions resulting
from the Meteor Expedition.
The energy and capacity for work embodied in Dr. Defant were expressed
by the many volumes he produced from Meteor data. To complement Wust's
deep and bottom water study, Defant (1936) wrote a companion section titled
"Die Troposphaere" covering the data collected in the upper 800 m. Again some
of the fundamental concepts of the upper ocean were introduced, and although
the text itself is seldom read the ideas are carried forth in the textbooks authored
by Defant and his contemporaries. His two-volume text (Defant 1961) on
physical oceanography is based largely on studies of data collected during the
Meteor Expedition. His interest in waves, tides and other short period phenomena
found exercise in working with the data collected at the anchor stations. From
his analysis came many of the early discussions of internal waves and tides.
Unfortunately, time and another world war succeeded in submerging many of
these important results. Many of the Meteor volumes lay untouched and unread
in various libraries while modern oceanographers struggle to rediscover some of
their fmdings. Often we do not realize how much of our present understanding
of the Atlantic and its circulation is due to the work of those aboard the Meteor.
Recognized in its time as an accomplishment in careful ocean surveying its results
were quickly accepted and incorporated into the literature of the Atlantic. Thus
the results live on in the work of others. It is possible, however, that if we return
to the original reports, we will be able to gain added insight into the structure
and circulation of the Atlantic.

Acknowledgments

My interest in the Meteor Expedition stems from my recent efforts to edit

translations of some of the scientific volumes of the Meteor Reports. The
"Stratosphere" by Wiist has already appeared and work is progressing on Defant's
"Troposphere." All of the publication costs involved in these translations have
702 W. J. Emery
been borne by the Office for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration of
the U.S. National Science Foundation, as part of their program of scientific
translations. Most of the information in this chapter comes from the 1928
volume by Spiess (see references) which describes the expedition in every detail.
This volume is also being translated. The interest and concern of Dr. Curt Collins
.of the National Science Foundation is greatly appreciated. The assistance of
Mrs. Tina Miller of the U.S. National Technical Information Service is also grate-
fully acknowledged. All figures and tables are reproduced with the permission
of the publishers Verlag von Dietrich Reimer and Walter de Gruyter & Co.

References

Bjerknes, V. 1901. Circulation Relativ zur Erde. Ofers. K. Vetensk. Akad.

Forhandl. No.1 0, Stockholm.
Defant, A. 1936. Schichtung und Zirkulation des Atlantischen Ozeans, Die
Troposphaere. Wiss. Ergebn. Deutsch. Atlant. Expedit. auf dem Forschung
und Vermessungschif Meteor 1925-27,6(1). Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin
and Leipzig.
Defant, A. 1961. Physical Oceanography, Vols. I & II. Pergamon Press, New
York, Oxford, London, Paris.
Merz, A. 1925. Die Deutsche Atlantische Expedition auf dem Vermessungs und
Forschungsschiff Meteor. Vorbericht, Sitzungsberichten der Physikalish-
Mathematischen Klasse der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
No. XXXI.
Merz, A. and Wiist, G. 1923. Die Atlantische Vertikal Zirkulation. 3 Beitrag.
Zeitschr. d.G.f.E., Berlin.
Reid, J. 1978. On the mid-depth circulation and salinity field in the North At-
lantic Ocean. J. Geophys. Res., 83, 5063-5067.
Spiess, F. 1926. Die Deutsche Atlantische Expedition auf dem Vermessungs und
Forschungsschiff Meteor, Bericht des Expeditionsleiters. Zeitschr. d.G.f.E.,
Berlin.
Spiess, F. 1928. Die Meteor Fahrt, Forschungen und Erlebnisse der Deutschen
Atlantischen Expedition, 1925-27. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin.
Sverdrup, H. U., Johnson, M. W. and Fleming, R. H. 1942. The Oceans, their
physics, chemistry and general biology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs,
N.J. 1087 pp.
"The Voyage of the Meteor" (book review). 1930. Geogr. J., 75,174-176.
Wiist, G. 1935. The Stratosphere of the Atlantic Ocean. Scientific Results of
the German Atlantic Expedition of the Research Vessel Meteor, 1925-27,
Vol. VI, Section 1, English translation, W. J. Emery (ed.). Amerind Pub.
Co., New Delhi, 1978.