I've been waiting to use that title all semester, ever since learning about SOFAR and ATOC. The SOFAR (SOund Fixing And Ranging) channel is a layer in the oceans, about 1 kilometer deep, where sound travels at minimum speed because of the temperature and pressure of that particular depth. It's a little pathway in the ocean where sound can travel a very long way in a very quiet, fairly isolated layer. Submarines avoid it. Did you ever see The Hunt for Red October? Submarine detection in the sound channel is a big suspenseful part of it. Great film, too.
ATOC (Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate) is a program to track ocean temperatures using sound. Sound travels faster in warmer water, slower in cooler water. By measuring the time between when a sound is made and when it's heard, scientists can determine the average water temperature along the sound's path. If the ocean is indeed getting warmer as a result of the "greenhouse effect", we'll know because sound in the reliably stable SOFAR channel will be traveling faster than it used to. Isn't that fascinating?
Well, I think it's fascinating. Man, I can't believe I'm almost done with the semester. I don't want Oceanography to be over. I am, on the other hand, totally ready for Biology to be over. The only chapters that interested me were the first and the last, cell biology and genetics. The rest of it was an exercise in grossing me out, making me mad, or boring the pants off me. I wouldn't complain except you know what? That could have been a truly inspiring class the way Oceanography was. Instead, it was a sleeper.
Oh, well. On to the next semester. I registered for summer term today. I was going to take Philosophy 100 (speaking of snoozers), but at the last moment I was inspired. I need to take Cultural Anthropology, it fulfills two requirements at once. Only it wasn't taught in the evening this term, and I noticed it wasn't taught in the evening in the fall. So I asked my boss to let me take a short lunch and leave 15 minutes early twice a week for summer term and she said yes because she is the nicest, most understanding boss in the world. Voila! The class I need, and as a bonus it's only six weeks long instead of eight.
You guys ready for me to babble about anthropology? Be glad I have a month off between science and social science.
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