Depth records and ocean volumes: ocean profiling by sounding technology, 1850-1930

Author: Höhler S.

Source: History and Technology, Volume 18, Number 2, 1 January 2002 , pp. 119-154(36)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $50.43 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Oceanographic research commencing in the mid-19th century could not rely on the direct observation of its object, but had to create its images of ocean depth through remote investigation. Depth became a matter of scientific definitions, systematic measurements, and graphic representations. In the course of a century, the opaque ocean of the 1850s was densely depicted in physical terms and transformed into a technically and scientifically sound oceanic volume. Tracing the history of deep-sea sounding technology from wire sounding around 1850 to acoustic sounding in the early 1920s, the paper investigates the relation and interplay between conceptual, pictorial, and technological depth performance. Addressing the conditions and limitations oceanographers encountered in producing single measurements and arranging them into profiles and contour line charts, the paper takes on a narrative approach to spatial representation: resembling a narrated or written story, the texture of depth depended on the richness and coherence of its plots.

Keywords: Depth; Ocean volume; Ocean profiling; Sounding technology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07341510220150306

Publication date: 2002-01-01

More about this publication?