Geography Achievements in 1929
GEOGRAPHY ADVANCEMENTS 1929
by WILLIAM BOWIE
Chief, Division of Geodesy,
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
Source: POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY – January 1930
EXPLORATIONS have been in progress or initiated during the year along a number of different lines. Commander Richard Evelyn Byrd has been in the Antarctic, exploring the edges of the ice fields and, by air-plane, the interior of Antarctica. Plans are under way for an exploration in the Arctic by the Graf Zeppelin, and it is expected that this expedition will be undertaken in 1930.
There has been greater activity in oceanography, an important branch of geography, than ever before. The National Academy of Science of the United States plans a report setting forth what has been accomplished and what are the outstanding problems to be solved. The Secretary of the Navy plans to have naval vessels of the United States, traveling between ports, determine the depth along the route by the sonic sounding method. Various oceanographic expeditions include the voyage of the nonmag-netic ship Carnegie, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the gravity measurements by Dr. Vening Meinesz on the Dutch submarine in the East Indies.
President Hoover has announced his decision to initiate a program to complete the topographic mapping of the United States within a period of eighteen years.
There has been greater use of the airplane during the year in making preliminary surveys and maps over many inaccessible areas such as northern Canada, portions of Alaska, South America, and Africa. The airplane was used by Colonel Lindbergh in cooperation with the officials of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in searching for ruins of Mayan settlements in Yucatan and certain portions of Central America.
Related posts:
- Frequency of Droughts 1930
- Anthropological Achievements 1929
- Engineering Achievements of 1929
- Archaeology Achievements 1929
- Medical Achievements 1929
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