Cruise Plan >Corner Tow [Cor(tes/Tan)ner] expedition will be making a fine scale survey >of the sea floor in the vicinity of Cortes and Tanner Banks, in the outer >part of the Southern California borderland. Our primary goal is to provide >information to assist the Navy in deciding how to install a tracking range >in this area. A secondary objective, supporting the primary goal, is to >improve our understanding of the geology of the area. > >The primary tool will be the Fish 6 Deep Tow system, including side >looking sonar, narrow beam sounder, low frequency bottom penetration >sonar, obstacle avoidance sonar, photo system (strobe and cameras), >magnetometer, and CTD. Water depth in most of the area is between 100 amd >500 m, thus navigation will be primarily by GPS, augmented with short >baseline acoustics as available. > >We will sail from Nimitz Marine Facility in New Horizon at 0800, 21 June >and return by 1600 on 10 July. The scientific party will be 16 for the >first four days, after which two will be dropped off, the afternoon of 4 >June, at San Clemente Island, with 14 continuing on. Watch plan will be 4 >on 8 off with primary duties being navigation, fish flying (winch >control), and data processing. > >Fred Spiess.