The German Hydrographic Institute in the year 1968 
131 
structure of the ridge. The Geological Department of the University of 
Durham (England) contributed sediment investigations. 
On the cruise No.15, from the end of August until the end of November, 
an area to the west of the Iberian Peninsula was investigated as to its 
suitability for the disposal of radioactive waste, in co-operation with 
a Spanish and a Portuguese research vessel and with Portuguese, Spanish, 
and Drench scientists participating on board the.rv "Meteor". On the 
voyage home, radio-activity'measuring instruments were intercompared with 
the respective British scientists in the Irish Sea. following a suggestion 
of the.German Embassy, rv "Meteor" called at the Port of london where the 
President presented her to the representatives of British science. 
As the ship is designed for a multiplicity of tasks, additional 
observations were carried out simultaneously with the main programmes. 
During the cruises Nos.14 and 15 the new'ship-borne computer PBP 8 was 
taken into use. 
Ihe data of 25 research cruises collected by the Deutsches Oseano- 
grapbisches Batenzentrum -BOD- (German Oceanographic Date Center) were 
communicated to the World Data Centers Moscow and Washington. According 
to a resolution of the Board of Trustees of the DOD, a special service is 
to be set up for providing information regarding the German oceanographic 
research cruises. 
' In a co-operative study carried out by the GH1 together with German 
and foreign institutes, surface waves were observed on a straight profile 
of 12 stations extending to the west of the Isle of Sylt in order to 
study their excitation by the wind as dependant on the depths and coastal 
distances. Contributions to the study of sand movement in the German 
Bight were made by long-term current measurements, by compiling bottom 
charts, and by measuring the thickness of sand-cover.through digging and 
flushing. 
At Kiel lighthouse, an automatic recorder measuring temperature and 
salinity in 3 depths was installed. This is the first station of a modern 
oceanographic measuring network to be set up off the German coasts. 
In spring 1968, several Eranco-Russian rockets were launched from 
one of the. Kergul Islands in the Indian Ocean for the purpose of studying 
atmospheric luminous phenomena that arise with high geomagnetic activity. 
The Geomagnetic Observatory Wingst acted as a pre-warning station for the 
aurora borealis zone. In 1968, eight East European observatories joined 
in the permanent comparison of the 2 a.m, values of the geomagnetic com 
ponent that was begun in 1955.