Fred N. Spiess | |
|---|---|
 Fred Spiess in lab of R/V Melville, RISE Project, 1979 | |
| Born | 1919 |
| Died | 2006 |
| Alma mater | B.S.; Ph.D.UC Berkeley M.S.Harvard |
| Known for | Ocean engineering |
| Awards | Maurice Ewing Medal National Academy of Engineering |
Dr. Fred Noel Spiess (December 25, 1919 – September 8, 2006) was a naval officer,oceanographer and marine explorer. His work created new advances in marine technology including theFLIP Floating Instrument Platform, the Deep Tow vehicle for study of theseafloor, and the use ofacoustics for underwater navigation and geodetic positioning.[1]
Spiess (pronounced SPEES) was born inOakland, California. He received an undergraduate degree from theUniversity of California, Berkeley and a master's degree fromHarvard University. He received his doctorate inphysics from UC Berkeley in 1951.
After graduating in 1941 from Berkeley, he received a commission from theUS Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. During World War II, he made a record 13 war patrols on submarines in thePacific Ocean and was awardedSilver andBronze Stars for gallantry in combat. He continued in the Naval Reserve from 1946–56 and retired with the rank of captain, serving as the Deputy Oceanographer of the Navy from 1969 to 1974. Spiess' method for reckoning the position of an object from successive sonar contacts is still a standard for training of US Naval Officers.
Spiess joined the Marine Physical Laboratory at theScripps Institution of Oceanography in 1952 and served as director of the laboratory from 1958 to 1980. He served as director of the Scripps Institution from 1964 to 1965.
Spiess was awarded theJohn Price Wetherill Medal in 1965 and theMaurice Ewing Medal in 1983. He was elected to theNational Academy of Engineering in 1985. He was a fellow of theAcoustical Society of America, and was awarded theirPioneers of Underwater Acoustics Medal in 1985 for "his leadership and insight in applying acoustics to study the ocean and the sea floor, for his many ingenious scientific and engineering contributions; for his introduction of students, scientists, and many others tounderwater acoustics."
Spiess is worked on the creation ofR/P FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform), a unique 355-foot-long (108 m) research platform that is towed to the work area and then rotated to a vertical position to form a stable observation post in deep water. Spiess collaborated with Fred Fisher and Phillip Rudnick in development of the vessel.[2]
FLIP has been used to study the acoustics ofwhales and other marine mammals, heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, and the effects ofseismic waves on water.[3]
The development of theecho sounder for seafloor mapping was refined duringWorld War II. Soon research ships crossing the oceans outlined themid-ocean ridges,fracture zones, anddeep-sea trenches. Because these devices sent out broad-beam sound waves from the sea surface, details of the seafloor shape remained obscured by fuzzy smeared-out echoes. Ship navigation was so inaccurate that features smaller than a few kilometers across could not be mapped with any certainty. Spiess’ solution to the resolution and mapping problem was twofold; bring the echo sounder close to the seafloor and locate the device within a seabed survey navigation network.
During the 1960s, Spiess and his engineers at the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps developed the Deep Tow instrument[4] for mapping the deep seafloor from an altitude of tens of meters. The deep-tow instrument used a narrow-beam downward-looking echosounder,side-scan sonars, and subbottom profiling system to map features in unprecedented detail, e.g., geologic observations that approached that of outcrop mapping for land geologists. Evolution of the Deep Tow to improve seafloor mapping saw the addition of amagnetometer, cameras, video, water samplers,plankton nets, and other instruments as more varied seafloor environments were examined.
The Deep Tow instrument was notably used inProject FAMOUS, the first-ever geologic mapping of the medianrift valley of theMid-Atlantic Ridge.[5]
Spiess recognized that obtaining detailed images of the seafloor was only one component that is necessary for making geologic maps of the deep-sea floor. The position of the Deep Tow vehicle must be known to within a few meters, thus leading to the development of the first seafloor acoustictransponder positioning system for working in deep water. The acoustic transponder capability eventually evolved into instruments for acousticgeodetic measurements by combining the technologies of seafloor acoustic beacons with shipboardGPS positioning. This geodetic system has been successfully deployed for directly measuring the direction of movement and speed of the oceanicJuan de Fuca lithospheric plate and for documenting movement on submarine landslides.[6]
During the mid 1970s, several Deep Tow cruises to the mouth of theGulf of California at 21o N resulted in production of a geologic map of theEast Pacific Rise (EPR)spreading ridge axis. The map was then used as the base for conducting diving programs using both French and US crewed submersibles. These were the CYAMEX[7] andRISE expeditions;[8] the latter led by Spiess andKen Macdonald. One of Spiess' projects during the RISE expedition (withBruce Luyendyk) was to use the crewed submersibleALVIN for seafloorgravity measurements across the axis of spreading.[9] The diving expedition ultimately resulted in the discovery ofhigh temperature black-smoker vents for which Spiess and his coauthors received theNewcomb Cleveland Prize for the best paper published inScience magazine in 1980.[10]
Spiess died September 8, 2006, inSan Diego, California, ofcancer.[1]
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