An Inertial Ocean Current Profiler

A free-falling current meter for ocean use has been designed, based upon the inertial guidance platform used in the obsolete Atlas missile. An Atlas ground-based count-down system was rebuilt for monitoring the performance of the modified inertial platform. A temperature control system was built into the Arma lot D vibrating string accelerometer of the Atlas platform. Temperature drift was thereby reduced by nearly two orders of magnitude. This permitted the observations of accelerations as low as plus or minus three tenths of one microgee, which is equivalent to a resolution of horizontal currents of as little as one tenth of one centimeter per second. This potential resolution is exceeded by other inaccuracies in the proposed system. (Author)