A seismic hydrophone array in a tube

During the summer of 1968, the USNS Kane, a 285-foot oceanographic research vessel, conducted its maiden scientific voyage in the Atlantic Ocean. Along on the voyage were scientists, technicians, crew members, students, and a variety of tools and equipment used to gather data to “unravel the history of the Atlantic Ocean floor.” Among the equipment was a seismic hydrophone array tube built by the photographer, and then student, William Woodward and his adviser Donald Blomquist. The hydrophone array, shown here coiled in a figure 8 on deck, ready to be deployed, was towed behind the Kane to observe the sediment layers below the seafloor in the region surrounding the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Acoustic pulses transmitted from a towed sound source and reflected from the sediment layer boundaries were received by the hydrophone array and recorded aboard the ship.

This image and more than 200 others Woodward took aboard the Kane were recently donated to the AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives and will be available soon on the photographic database at https://photos.aip.org . (AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, gift of Bill Woodward, USNS Kane Collection.)

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