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He candidature citation read: "Doctor J.C. Swallow is internationally known both for his distinguished geophysical work on the voyages of His Majesty’s Ship "Challenger", and for his measurements of deep ocean currents.
He candidature citation read: "Doctor J.C. Swallow is internationally known both for his distinguished geophysical work on the voyages of His Majesty’s Ship "Challenger", and for his measurements of deep ocean currents.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1968. He is the inventor of the "Swallow float", a hydrostatically stable, freely drifting source of sound underwater, which can be followed by a ship at the surface. By numerous observations with this ingenious device, he and others have completely changed our picture of the deep circulation of the ocean, showing the presence of strong deep currents in the western North Atlantic, and a reverse flow beneath the Gulf Stream.
He has recently contributed to our knowledge of the equatorial undercurrent and of other currents in the Indian Ocean.
Doctor Swallow combines a devotion to his work and a careful attention to detail with a mastery of the practical handling of a research ship at sea. The quality and originality of his contributions has already been recognized in the United States.A. by the award of the and of the Albatross Award of the American Miscellaneous Society." Swallow"s float was invented so that it would go underwater but keep afloat at a particular depth.
The people on board the ship that follows the bottle should be able to know its location at all times. The Swallow float was also created with the ability to make sound signals into the water.
Such sound signals would be heard and located by scientists aboard the ship, including the location of the bottle itself.
Because of this apparatus, scientists were able to learn how water flows in the deep ocean. Many surface currents, the Gulf Stream for example, have countercurrents or currents that flow under the surface currents. Countercurrents flow by going to the opposite direction but within the same path flow of the surface current.
Because of Swallow"s float, scientists were also able learn to that there is no steady water circulation within the deep ocean.
This is because, sometimes, the water keeps going round and round in a huge whirling action – creating an eddy – which drifts along slowly.
Royal Society.