Backus Richard H.

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Backus
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Richard H.
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  • Technical Report
    Data report for Atlantic pelagic zoogeography
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1977-01) Backus, Richard H. ; Craddock, James E.
    This data report fulfils two functions. It (1) gives station data for 1022 midwater trawl collections made in the Atlantic Ocean between 1961 and 1974 by the writers and their colleagues (Table 1, Figure 1, and Appendix 1) and for 531 Atlantic neuston collections made between 1964 and 1974 (Table 2 and Appendix 2), and (2) gives the geographic coordinates for a set of boundaries that divides the Atlantic Ocean between the arctic-subarctic boundary and the subtropical convergence at 40°S into a system of faunal regions and provinces (Figure 2 and Appendix 3). The derivation of these boundaries is explained briefly.
  • Technical Report
    Underwater camera positioning by sonar
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1960-03) Edgerton, Harold E. ; Cousteau, Jacques Y. ; Hersey, J. B. ; Backus, Richard H.
    A pulse sonar system is described for measuring the height above the bottom of an underwater camera and other equipment in the deep oceans. Using this method, cameras have been positioned for photography at depths to about 2,500 fathoms with a precision of about half a fathom. The measurement is achieved by a sonar "pinger" on the equipment, which sends precise 1 pulse-per- second signals to the surface both directly and by reflection from the bottom.
  • Working Paper
    The vascular flora of Falmouth (Barnstable County) Massachusetts
    ( 2012-07) Backus, Richard H. ; Polloni, Pamela T.
    With a few exceptions, the species on this list of Falmouth vascular plants are substantiated by herbarium sheets, most of which are in the MBLWHOI Library Herbarium (SPWH). We invite improvements to the list by the elimination of errors and by the collection of Falmouth species not yet found. About 880 taxa are listed here, which is about 60% of Barnstable County’s 1440 or so as shown by the County Checklist (Cullina et al. 2011). Barnstable County is a geographically diverse place and not all of its vascular plants are to be expected for any one of its towns, but it seems likely that some dozens of the County’s 560 taxa not yet recorded for Falmouth are to be found in that place. We hope interested field botanists will endeavor to find these “missing” plants, collecting material so that herbarium sheets can be made for deposit in SPWH and their names added to this list. There are also many plants that have not been collected in Falmouth for many years. Material for herbarium sheets is desired for these taxa as well.
  • Working Paper
    Interdisciplinary study of warm core ring physics, chemistry, and biology
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1981-03) Kester, Dana R. ; Flierl, Glenn R. ; McCarthy, James J. ; Schink, David R. ; Wiebe, Peter H. ; Joyce, Terrence M. ; Backus, Richard H. ; Cowles, Timothy J.
    We are conducting an interdisciplinary study of the structure and dynamics of Gulf Stream \Warm Core Rings by a time series investigation of selected rings. This program consists of highly integrated components which include physical, chemical, and biological investigation and modeling studies. These components are designed to provide information on the structure of rings and exchange mechanisms at ring boundaries, on their marine chemistry, and on the environmental controls of biological activity of selected constituents associated with Warm Core Rings. This research is being conducted by approximately two dozen investigators from thirteen marine institutions. An interdisciplinary program of the scope proposed is required in order to understand the interdependence among biological, chemical, and physical processes in the ocean. This study of the structure and evolution of Warm Core Rings will enhance the understanding of fundamental oceanic processes and the role of rings in the region where they occur.
  • Working Paper
  • Technical Report
    The geographic variation of midwater sound-scattering(u)
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1966-03) Backus, Richard H. ; Hersey, J. B.
    It is suggested in this report that the intensity of midwater sound-scattering in the ocean varies from point to point as the abundance of marine life varies. Several charts depicting variations in the abundance of marine life are given, from which estimates of the intensity of sound-scattering can be made.
  • Technical Report
    Midwater fish data report for warm-core Gulf Stream rings cruises 1981-1982
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1987-10) Craddock, James E. ; Backus, Richard H. ; Daher, Mary Ann
    This data report is for midwater fishes collected during the multidisciplinary Warm-Core Rings Program in 1981 and 1982. Stations were made in and near three warm-core rings on five cruises within a period of 14 months. On Atlantis II cruise 110 (September-October 1981) six stations were made in and around ring 81-D (age two months). Stations were made in the vicinity of ring 82-B on three cruises in 1982--twelve stations during Oceanus 118 (April) when the ring was two months old, 15 stations during Oceanus 121 (June) at age four months, and 19 stations during Oceanus 125 (August) at age 5.5 months. Finally, twelve stations were made in and near meander/ring 82-H (age 0) during Knorr 98 in September/October 1982 (Tables 1-10). The collections were made with a new midwater trawl - the MOCNESS-20 (MOC-20) (Wiebe et al., 1985), a scaled-up version of the MOCNESS-1 (an apparatus for collecting zooplankton; Wiebe et al., 1976) and successor to the MOCNESS-10 (like the MOC-20, a midwater trawl). (The number forming the distinctive part of the name of these nets is equal to the area of the projected mouth in square meters when the apparatus is in a common fishing attitude.) The MOC-20 consists of a set of 3-mm mesh rectangular nets that can be opened and closed by command from the surface via a signal-conducting towing warp. Apparatus attached to the net frame measures and transmits depth, temperature, conductivity, flow, and net-frame angle to the towing ship's laboratory. Flow (net speed), vertical velocity, and net-frame angle allow computation of the water volume filtered . On the WCR cruises a set of five or six nets was used. One net (not used for quantitative analyses) was fished down to 1000 m, then closed and a second net opened. The second and successive nets were closed and opened sequentially at intervals as the apparatus was brought back to the surface. A surface-to-surface cycle with the gear is referred to as a station, the contents of a single net as a collection. In addition to be1ng described by latitude and longitude, stat1ons are located in the same radial coordinate system used to composite the warm-core rings physical data, that is, by distance and bearing from the moving ring center.
  • Technical Report
    Mortality of fish subjected to explosive shock as applied to oil well severance on Georges Bank
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1982-12) Baxter, Lincoln ; Hays, Earl E. ; Hampson, George R. ; Backus, Richard H.
    A very extensive bibliography of papers on underwater explosions and their effects on marine life has been collected and summarized. When exposed to blast effects, vertebrates with swim bladders or lungs that contain gas are at least an order of magnitude more sensitive than other life. Regression analysis of several different experiments on explosive damage to fish has been combined with reports of fish concentrations and explosives used in oil well severance in order to estimate the probable extent of damage to fish populations from a limited number of severance explosions. Damage per explosion should not be significant and is probably considerably less than that caused by a one hour tow of a bottom trawl net.
  • Technical Report
    Midwater fish data report : cold core rings time series cruises, Knorr 62, 65, and 71 and Endeavor 11
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1980-03) Backus, Richard H. ; Craddock, James E.
    This data report is for midwater fishes taken on the time-series cruises in and around cold-core Gulf Stream rings in 1976 and 1977 - KNORR cruises 62, 65, and 71 and ENDEAVOR cruise 11. The MOCNESS-10 system was used for sampling on the three KNORR cruises. Most often, five nets were fished at each station; one (Net 0) generally sampled down to near 1000 m where the second net (Net 1) was opened and retrieval of the gear begun; successive closure-openings were done at 250-m intervals on the way up. On ENDEAVOR cruise 11, for want of a suitable winch, a single net was fished down to and up from 1000 m.
  • Technical Report
    Ceratoscopelus maderensis : pecular sound-scattering layer identified with this myctophid fish
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1968-10) Backus, Richard H. ; Craddock, James E. ; Haedrich, Richard L. ; Shores, D. L. ; Teal, John M. ; Wing, A. S. ; Mead, Giles W. ; Clarke, William D.
    A sound- scattering layer, composed of discrete hyperbolic echo-sequences and apparently restricted to the Slope Water region of the western North Atlantic, has been identified from the Deep Submergence Research Vehicle ALVIN with schools of the myctophid fish Ceratoscopelus maderensis. By diving into the layer and using ALVIN's echo-ranging sonar, we approached and visually identified the sound scatterers. The number of echo sequences observed with the surface echo-sounder (1 /23. 76 x 105 cubic meters of water) checked roughly with the number of sonar targets observed from the submarine (1/7. 45 x 105 cubic meters) . The fish schools appeared to be 5 to 10 meters thick, 10 to 100 meters in diameter, and on centers 100 to 200 meters apart. Density within schools was estimated at 10 to 15 fish per cubic meter.
  • Book
    Georges Bank
    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987) Backus, Richard H.
    Georges Bank provides a basic and indispensable reference tool for anyone involved in studying the bank or in making decisions about its use. Until now debates about alternative uses of the bank have been hampered by the fact that much of the basic research has been available only to specialists and has been scattered among many publications. In bringing the available information on this complex region together for the first time, Georges Bank provides a basic and indispensable reference tool for anyone involved in studying the bank or in making decisions about its use. Moreover, the depth and clarity of the book's 57 articles and 8 nontechnical introductions will make it useful for anyone involved in oceanographic or ocean policy studies.Sections cover all aspects of this huge marine ecosystem - geology, weather and climate, physical oceanography, chemistry, phytoplankton, primary production, zoology and secondary production, the fisheries, and conflicting uses. Georges Bank is the first major project of the Coastal Research Center of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The editor-in-chief, Richard H. Backus, is chairman of the Institutions's biology department. Includes 176 six-color maps, 54 four-color illustrations - 392 charts, graphs, and drawings.