SOVIET BLOC INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR INFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00141R000200240001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 15, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 18, 1958
• Content Type: REPORT

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P(3 131632-23
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SOVIET BLOC INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL. YEAR INFORMATION
July 18, 1958
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Office of Technical Services
Washington 25, D. C.
Published Weekly from February 14, 1958, to January 2, 1959
Subscription Price $10.00 for the Series
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PLEASE NOTE
This report presents unevaluated information on Soviet Bloc
International Geophysical Year activities selected from foreign-
language publications as indicated in parentheses. It is pub-
lished as an aid to United States Government research.
SOVIET BLOC INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR INFORMATION
Table of Contents
Page
I.
General
1
II.
Rockets and Artificial Earth Satellites
7
III.
IV.
V.
Upper Atmosphere
Longitude and Latitude
Arctic and Antarctic
14
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Fifth Assembly of Special Commmittee on IGY
CPYRGHT
An article by V. V. Belousov, Corresponding Member of the Academy
of Science USSR, says that the Fifth Assembly of the Special Committee
on the IGY will be held toward the end of July 1958 in Moscow. This is
the first meeting of the committee to be held during the period of the
IGY. The past four assemblies were held in Brussels in 1953, in Rome in
19511., in Brussels in 1955, and in Barcelona in 1956. These assemblies
were concerned with the working out of programs of research and methodology.
The forthcoming Moscow Assembly will. be able to present certain
results concerning the :IGY. The main theme will be the discussion of
future scientific utilization of IGY results. The evaluation of the
results of the IGY demands concerted coordination, new agreements on
plans, determination of their role in the various international scientific
unions, etc.
Belousov points out that it is important to solve the problems con-
nected with the future work of world centers in the collection and dis-
semination of IGY data and to jointly publish the principal results of
their research. It is likewise necessary to discuss problems concerning
the future organization of the central organs, which will coordinate the
work on the utilization of the material accumulated.
Each working group engaged in the program of the IGY will conduct
in Moscow one or more scientific sessions in discussing the reports
given. All national committees of the Moscow assembly will be required
to present their preliminary results. Some 300 foreign scholars will be
present in Moscow during this assembly.
At the same time there will be a session of the Bureau of the Inter-
national Geodetic and Geophysics Union, a conference of the Special Com-
mittee on Antarctic Research, and a series of other scientific-organizational
meetings. Immediately after the conclusion of the assembly in Moscow,
the International Congress of the Astronomical Union will begin its work.
(Vestnik Akademii Nauk SSSR, No 5, May 58, p 121I.)
Soviet IGY World Center B
A universal center which must collect the whole series of IGY data
was created in the Soviet Union. World Data Center B is divided into
two subcenters for simplification of its organization from the viewpoint
of the states, the location, and methods of obtaining World Data Center
materials.
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Subr.enter B1 under the Scientific Research Institute of Aeroc.lima-
toloLy (NIIAK)collects materials on glaciology, gravimetry, meteorology,
oceanography, latitude and longitude, and seismology.
Subcenter B2 under the Scientific Research Institute of Terrestrial
Magnetism, the Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propogation (NIIz aR) must amass
data on geomagnetism and earth currents, auroras and night sky illumina-
tion, the ionosphere, cosmic rays, solar activity, and meteors.
Both centers are independent units, the activities of which are co-
ordinated by the Interdepartmental Committee for the Conduct of the IGY
under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences USSR.
With the Interdepartmental Committee also rests the control of the
subcenter's activities. For direct operative supervision of the sub-
center's activity, a council of Center B, consisting of representatives
of the leading institutes, subcenters, and the Interdepartmental Committee
of the IGY, was created.
The collection, storage, and reproduction and dissemination of the
data according to appropriate departments enters into the function of
both centers. For this the subcenters carry on direct communications
with the National Committee, World Data Centers A and C, and all the
institutions and investigators interested in obtaining observational
materials from Center B. Subcenters B1 and B2 conduct their activities
in close contact and give mutual aid in the solution of all problems
connected with their activity. As the organizational system of the sub-
centers is approximately identical, only the activities of Center B1
(USSR), organized under the Scientific Research Institute of Aeroclimatology
(NIIAK) were described.
The functions of Center B1 are performed by a specially created
division of NIIAK, consisting of two departments: (1) calculation,
storage, and dissemination and (2) duplication.
As already indicated, the responsibility for the processing and
+imely dispatching to the World Data Center according to division lies
with the main institutions. For Center Bl, these institutions are as
follows (according to division):
1. Latitude and Longitude
a. A11-Union Scientific Research Institute of Physicotechnical
and Radio Engineering Measurements, Committee on Standards Measures, and
Measuring Instruments, Council of Ministers USSR (time and longitude).
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b. Poltava - Gravimetric Observatory of the Academy of Sciences
Ukrainian SSR (latitude fluctuations and motion of the poles).
c. Main Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences
USSR (irregularities in the Earth's rotation).
2. Glaciology
Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences USSR.
3. Oceanology
a. Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences USSR
(region of work, Pacific Ocean).
b. All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Fish Economy and
Oceanography (Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents seas).
c. State Oceanographic Institute (North Atlantic).
d. Marine Hydrophysics Institute of the Academy of Sciences
USSR (Middle Atlantic).
4. Seismology
a. Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Academy of Sciences
USSR (seismicity of the Earth).
vations).
b. Central Institute of Forecasts (tripartite microseismic obser-
c. Moscow State University imeni Iiomonosov (standard microseismic
observations).
5. Gravimetry
Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Academy of Sciences
The leading institutes had already begun sending data into the perma-
nent services and Centers A, B, and C at the time of this information.
The Main Administration of the Hydrometeorological Service is the leading
institution for meteorology; by its commission, the data of synoptic and
dynamic meteorology are collected and transmitted by the Scientific Re-
search Institute of Aeroclimatology.
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At the time, material for July 1957 was being transmitted to Center
C, and data for August 1957 were being readied for forwarding.
The inflow of the first data from the Soviet Union was somewhat
delayed'by difficulties arising from the newness of the centralized
collection of the large volume of materials. Now the forwarding of data
is done regularly. The Soviet center expects to obtain data from other
centers and the permanent services.
The leading institutions bear full responsibility for the contents
and timely sending of IGY data to the centers. It is desired that all
data be typed on typewriters having black ribbons or written with black
ink. Original samples must be sent to Center Bl. This is necessary for
the high-quality reproduction and long term retention of the text. At
the time 37 countries had expressed their desire to transmit data to
Center B. Of these 37 had already done so.
On the whole, the material received is clear, legible, and easily
reproduced. A complaint is made concerning'the receipt of penciled re-
ports and reports which are folded and wrinkled. More care in transmis-
sion is requested; for example, it is suggested that tables be protected
by placing them between sheets of cardboard.
All data entering into a center are arranged according to a scheme:
the discipline, region, station, type of observation, year, and month.
Registration id done by cards according to a general scheme of filing.
Thus the amount of material received can be calculated accprding to the
time of observations.
Together with the registration cards, an information catalogue is
complied, the form of which was developed jointly by the Institute of
Aeroclimatology and NIZMIR. This Catalogue makes it possible to issue
at any time a manual of the data on hand, and after the end of the IGY,
for materials obtained during the entire period. All the information is
arranged ih the manual according to the accepted scheme of classification:
scientific discipline, region, station, type of observation, year, and
month.
Every 6 months, photocopies ofthe manual will be sent to CSAGI
(Comite Special de L'Anne Geophysique Internationale) Centers A and C
and to all the leading institutes of the Soviet Union. This must be
done not later than 2 months after the end of each such period. A man-
ual for the first 6 months of the IGY (June-December 1957) was prepared
at the time of this information.
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The reproduction and dissemination of the data of IGY observations
are necessary in conducting the study of geophysical phenocriena on a world-
wide scale. is material is of great value and interest to the scieer'
tists of all countries. These services comprise the other part of
subcenter Bl's activity.
The most economical method of reproducing data having small distri-
bution is microfilming. This method is already widely used in Subcenter
B. Other methods of reproduction are used -- analog computers, offset
printing, and the usual photocopying.
Observational data on special forms, submitted from Soviet meteoro-
logical stations, are transferred onto punch cards. This makes it pos-
sible, first, to create a mass of punch cards for the mechanized proces-
sing of IGY data and, secondly, to facilitate transferring the data on
special BMO forms, of which it is proposed the print one copy and after
microfilming to forward it to the meteorology section of Center C. In
the future punch cards will be used mainly for processing.
All the rest of the data will be reproduced on microfilm as it comes
in . Three tipes tf microfilm are produced: (a) negative (not to be
reproduced); (b) double negative (used for filling requests by means of
preparing positive copies); and (c) positive microfilms (for use in
everyday work with data within the center itself).
There are several types of microfilm readers, both portable and
stationary. In the Soviet Union stationary-type readers are produced
by the Moscow Cineelectromechanical Plant. In the GDR, Zeiss-Jena pro-
duces stationary tpes and Falz Werner-Leipzig produces portable types.
Center Bl is amply equipped with readers and it is possible to work
directly from microfilm in the center's reading room.
All the copying work is done directly in the center. A special
copying laboratory was built for this purpose. This laboratory will do
work very important as to value, and very great as to volume, both dur-
ing the IGY and after it ends.
The total data which should arrive in subcenter Bl, are expected to
be 1,200.000 tables or texts (size 210 x 300 millimeters). About 100,000
meters of 35-millimeter film will be processed in microfilming.
The following information is requested by Center B from all intereted
institutions and depart.rents:
1. The IGY data desired, according to division and type of observa-
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2. The territory or region.
3. The quantity and in what form.
This information is necessary to the center not only for planning
its own work but also for the timely circulation of data, not yet obtained
from Center Bl, in other centers and permanent services.
The center can send out any of the data on hand and in any quantity.
In addition, the center is ready, in exchange for data obtained from
national committees, to send free of charge on request an equivalent
quantity of any of the other data received in Center Bl.
All IGY publications published in the Soviet Union are concentrated
in the center. A bibliography of these publications is also compiled.
The leading institute corresponding to each division of the IGY program
must send, one by one, copies of all publications. In addition, the
center expresses the wish that leading institutions also send foreign
publications, and in the absence of any copies to present their own copy
for reproduction. Furthermore, the center considers it expedient to
organize between centers and ermanent services the direct exchange of
bibliographic manuals and blications. Mezhdunarodnyy Geofizicheskiy
God, Informatsionnyy Byulleten', No 4, 1958, pp'17-23)
CPYRGHT
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IUJD ARTIFICIAL 1:A1l' lI C.SA.TELLITE:;
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Ili the 1. i.t-;1e more -i:.han 5 weeks from the launching of Sputnik III on
1. Tin 1;~~ to 25 .1 un:, ar a result of atanosphcrii c bral.:ing, the orbital
Of b0 t,"' the satellite and. its rocket carrier have changed from
The Sputnik III apogee has decreased from 1,880 to
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