PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SUSPENDED MATTER AND PLANKTON IN THE SEA

Abstract

During the exploring cruise for undersea observations by the Undersea Observation Chamber, KUROSmO-GO (Inoue et aZ., 1953), the authors have succeeded in taking many photographs of th~ suspended matter and plankton in situ under the sea surface off Otaru, Hokkaido." !\ianyparticles" of suspended matter, usua~ly yellowish-white in the reflection of the search-light outside the Chamber, were always observable by naked eye through the window glass of the Chamber, though they were not apparent in the upper layer, shallower than about 10 m depth, probably due to the light background."Several investigations have" been: made on these suspended matter in the sea, e. g., -chemical analysis (Armstrong, 1950); microscopic observation (Tsujita, 1953;Suzuki & Kato, 1953) and optical characterization (lerlov, 1952,-1953), these having all dealt with the materials sampled from the depth by means" of ordinary oceano, graphic water bottles.According to the direct undersea observation, -however, some of the suspended matter has a considerable size as can be easily observed by naked eye, and those particles are apparently verY fragile, so it may be supposed to be disintegrated .-,-.