International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE)

The International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) was born from a cascade of effects. The International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 had shown the value of coordinated multinational efforts in ocean science. This realization resulted in the International Council of Scientific Unions (now the International Council for Science) creating the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) to continue to stimulate international cooperation in ocean sciences. From its first annual meeting at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1957, SCOR identified the Indian Ocean as the greatest unknown in the global ocean and an area that could benefit from an intensive campaign of ocean observations. SCOR envisioned exploration of the Indian Ocean as its first task. The first four SCOR working groups were established to work on methodological issues to prepare for the IIOE, then were combined into SCOR WG 5. SCOR hired a Coordinator for the IIOE, Robert G. Snider, in 1959, and he continued in this post until the end of 1962, when management of the expedition was transferred to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Snider's papers related to IIOE were donated to SCOR and have now been scanned and are linked below. Also included below are references to other documents that give information about the IIOE, including some documents from beyond SCOR's management.

1959

1960

Prospectus
Snider, R.G. 1960. The Indian Ocean (A Preliminary Prospectus). Proceedings of the Fourth Pan Indian Ocean Science Congress, Section F, Oceanography, Geography, and Geophysics. Pan Indian Ocean Science Association, Karachi, Pakistan.
Snider, R.G. 1960. Report to SCOR Annual Meeting in Helsinki, 23 July 1960
Deacon, G.E.R. 1960. Report of Meeting of the Indian Ocean Working Group at Copenhagen, July 16-17, 1960
Oct. 24 Letters from Robert Snider

1961

Knauss, J.A. 1961. The International Indian Ocean Expedition. Science 134:1674-1676.
Snider, R.G. 1961.The International Indian Ocean Expedition. Discovery (March 1961):114-117.
Snider, R.G. 1961. Current Status of Planning in the International Indian Ocean Expedition - 6 January 1961
- Meteorology
- Tide Gauges
Snider, R.G. 1961. Planning Progress for the Indian Ocean Expedition - 15 March 1961
Snider, R.G. 1961. Part I - General Comments on Current Status - 31 March 1961
- Part II - Tide Gauges
- Part III - Meteorology
Meteorology Planning Meeting (Plenary Session I) - 18 July 1961
Meteorological Planning Meeting (Plenary Session II) - 19 July 1961
Meteorological Planning Meeting (Plenary Session III) - 20 July 1961
Ramanathan, K.R. n.d. Meteorological Planning Meeting and Summary of Memorandum of Request to UN Special Fund for Assistance Towards the Meteorological Research Programme for the Indian Ocean Area
Meteorological Planning Committee. List of Resolutions and Recommendations. no date
General Summary of the Met. Telecommunications Requirements of the IMC Bombay. no date
Snider, R.G. 1961. Coordinator's Report. 24 October 1961 - Note: there is no page 2 in the original; it is not clear whether there is a page missing or page 3 is misnumbered.

1962

1962 Cover Letter
Brief Summary: Status of Participation in IIOE as of 4 April 1962
Summary of Ship's Programs (Alphabetically by Country) - 1 April 1962
Summary of Southwest Indian Ocean Coordinating Meeting, 30 April to 2 May 1962 - 12 September 1962
Brief Summary of Developments as of 15 September 1962
Work Charts - This document includes the legends for a series of charts that are not present in the files. Also included are cover letters and a distribution list that shows who the charts were sent to.

1963

IOC Bureau and Consultative Committee, Second Meeting - 6-8 May 1963
- Letter from G.F. Humphrey to Warren Wooster - 21 May 1963

1964

Report of SCOR WG 11 on Atlases

Indian Ocean Biological Centre

Final Report of Vagn Hansen, Curator - 3 April 1965

General Documents

Aleem, A.A., and S.A. Morcos. 1984. John Murray/MABAHISS expedition versus the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) in retrospect. Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers 31:583-588.
Behrman, D. 1981. Assault on the Largest Unknown. UNESCO Press, Paris.

Currie, R. 1966. Some reflections on the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 4:69-78.

Dietrich, G. 1965. Die Internationale Indische Ozean-Expedition und die deutsche Beteiligung mit dem neuen Forschungsschiff „Meteor“. Erde 96:5-20.

Dietrich, G., G. Krause, E. Seibold, und K. Vollbrecht. 1966. Reisebericht der Indischen Ozean-Expedition mit dem Forschungsschiff „Meteor“ 1964/65. „Meteor“ Forsch.-Ergebn. A, No. 1, 1-51, Borntraeger, Berlin.

Humphrey, G.F. 1972. The biology of the Indian Ocean. Pp. 7-22 in Bruun Memorial Lectures presented at the Seventh Session of the IOC . IOC Technical Series 10.

National Research Council. Undated. Press release about appointment of Robert Snider to coordinate International Indian Ocean Expedition

Pisharoty, P.R. (ed.). 1967. Proceedings Symposium Meteorological Results International Indian Ocean Expedition. India Meteorological Department, New Delhi

Ramage, C.S. 1972. Recent meteorological results from the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Pp. 23-37 in Bruun Memorial Lectures presented at the Seventh Session of the IOC . IOC Technical Series 10.

Snider, R.G. 1962. Development of the International Indian Ocean Expedition. ICSU Review 4:134-144.

Swallow J.C. 1972. A review of recent physical oceanographic work in the Indian Ocean. Pp. 39-43 in Bruun Memorial Lectures presented at the Seventh Session of the IOC . IOC Technical Series 10.

Wolff, T. 2010. The Birth and First Years of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). Published by SCOR, Newark, Delaware, USA

Wooster, W.S. 1984. International studies of the Indian Ocean 1959-65. Deep-Sea Research 31:589-598.

Wüst, G. 1959. Proposed International Indian Ocean Expedition. Deep-Sea Research 6:245-249.

Zeitzchel, B. 1971. The Biology of the Indian Ocean. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

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