INFORMATION ON SOVIET BLOC INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL COOPERATION-1959

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00141R000200940001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 22
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 11, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 20, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

S~o rS~~'R M A T 101 .O N S d I E T
A'W !ROOD
~,1~~0C INTERNATIONAL - GEOPHYS I CAL; 'C0OPERA'~ I ON
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Pd 131632-93
INF~ION ON SOVILT SLOG INTl;HNA'1'IONAL GEOPHYSICAL OOQYI ATION - 1959
November 20, 199
r
U. S. D PiUiIT1NNT OF 001.1:aGH
Business and Defense Services Administration
Office of Technical Services
Washington 2j, D. C.
Published Weekly
Subscription Price $12..00 for the Series
Use of funds for printing this publication has been
approved by the Director of the Bureau of the budget, Octoaer 28, 1959
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP82-00141 R000200940001-9
 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP82-00141 R000200940001-9
INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL COOFERATION PROGRAM --
SOVIET-BLOC ACTIVITIES_.._..__ _..
Table of Contents
1
II.
Rockets and Artificial Earth Satellites,
5
III.
IV.
Upper Atmosphere
Meteorology
14
V.
Gravimetry
15
VI.
Oceanography
16
VII.
Arctic and Antarctic
18
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 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP82-00141 R000200940001-9
Pecny Geodetic Observatory Described
The surveying service in Czechoslovakia today employs thousands of
workers. The institutes of' the Central Adrninistration of Geodesy and
Cartography (Ustredni sprava geodezie a kartografie) did not have adequate
buildings and equipment until recently. There had, been no permanent
center for laboratory work and instrument testing. International cooper-
ation in solving various problems in astronomy and gravimetry provided
the stimulus for establishing a permanent geodetic work center. One
such problem was to determine the exact difference in longitude between
some of the basic triangulation points and key points of neighboring
countries.
Of the three triangulation points considered for the center, namely,
Brdo, Ladvi, and Pecny, the Pecny point at an altitude of 546 meters was
selected as the one best fulfilling conditions for the construction of a
permanent geodetic observatory. The point is about 35 kilometers south-
east of the center of Prague. A bus line through Ondrejov, which is about
a 20-minute walk from Pecny peak, provides communication with Prague at
about 2-hour intervals during the day. The astronomical observatory of
the Institute of Astronomy of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences at
Zelov is about 650 meters southwest of the Pecny site, on a hill 526 meters
high.
The initial views of individual specialists on the size of a perma-
nent _geodetic field station were gradually clarified by consultation,
and the building program was expanded and supplemented from 1955 tO 1957,
un'cil it became as described below.
The area of the fenced-in plot is about 4.14+ hectares. The top of
the hill is covered with tall coniferous and deciduous trees, while the
lower part has a younger and more sparse deciduous growth with son, tall
pines. The plot is divided into two parts. In the upper part, there is
a brick measuring tower, built in 1936, containing a central geodetic
point, three observation sheds where valuable instruments will be installed,
a shed for recording instruments, and an auxiliary office. Plans for the
lower part, or administrative area, include a two-story main building, two
brick huts for temporary quarters, a ;yell, a garage for two motor vehicles,
and a septic tank., Approach roods will be built in from the west. The
basement of the building contains a pendulum vault, laboratory space, a
photography room, and a machine and carpentry shop. The ground floor
contains the manager's apartment, several small rooms, and the employee's
work area. The second floor contains a room for the observatory director,
a kitchen, and some small rooms and work areas.
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 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP82-00141 R000200940001-9
pnr I, uJ' n .fast t cr~dc:n lx.Ltrn( .L .t:ton
The Pecny tri.l;c~nomet, Lc It t; 1`1
not mn-te by the .l.'ortriur Auc;trlan Military Geo;,ra.tplrical In:; titute r;aut w.;.s
ulc,o :;clc:crted t u; point of the l.,u. i.r. Czechoclovalc t.r :conc>.,,:rt rie rut with
bane lines: to Sttdi;ku, V,y;:;oktt, Melechot', Mezi Vr:Lty, Stud n', Vi-Ch, I. mid
Liidvi . A t;u.r'vey of Lhe''e points wfr.c; made durint 1',hu 19th Century in a
!:'irt; t order triungu:l.rtt;ion . A tall, concrete pillar stu.nd on the Ckadc{1:u
trit:onornetric point. Brick tuitevu -vure built on other pcin?'rc, ui' the basic
tr1;,oncrictr. is not, and b,t;3ee 'Line,; were run to Pccny by 19.1.3 . Th were
built on a r o;newhat d i.i'ferent plan than the Pcc:n,;r tower, and the :i.m.;,er-
fect;iraa; of the Pecny tower trerc corrected in the:;,i. A. tote. of 12 ira;." e
l roue were run to the Peeuy Lr,i oncnuctric point. In end 1933,
rneasurements of .Latitude, LonL;i.tude, and azimuth were ;;;ride at the Ladvi
t;rit_ronometric point, and so the Pecny trigonometric point Is
also a Laplace point. The first astrononiictr.'. meacurerrterrts pit:
latit;ule and azimuth at tyre Vysoka trigonometric point wove
made in 1689. In that year, Ster'11c;ck rnetr.uttrerl at ;80-9`18 gals,
usin;:, a ncndttlutn in ine Vienna system and 980.922 tr,als in the 1:'t.,tc