Next message: George Huxtable: "Re: Navigating Around Hills and Dips in the Ocean"
On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 11:11:42 -0300, Trevor J. Kenchington wrote:
>While I agree with George that there would be no virtue in routing ships
>around the hills and valleys created by gravity anomalies, in order to
>save the energy cost of climbing the hill,
... there should be no energy expended following the equipotential
surface at all ...
>there _might_ be some benefit
>in avoiding these other types of hills.
<
... and the hull would sink deeper into the fresher water, which would
change the flow characteristics even if the displaced water is of the
same mass ...
>I would suspect that it is at
>most a minor consideration in vessel routing (avoiding of benefiting
>from the Gulf Stream current would be of far greater concern than its
>effect on elevation) but perhaps somebody takes it into account.
>
I think you hit on an important factor there, with the Gulf Stream
current; and perhaps the expected wind patterns. But again, except
for the displacement of a plumb line (or rather, a theodolite level
vial bubble) near a mountain range, this is all theory to me.
--
Richard ...
