UH ocean Talks, lectures and news that a University of Hawaii research vessel will bear his name were among honors bestowed upon retired UH oceanographer Klaus Wyrtki at an international science meeting here this week.
pioneer is honored
International scientists praise
the work and words
of Klaus WyrtkiUH outfits donated trawler
for near-shore researchBy Helen Altonn
Star-BulletinOceanographers, geophysicists and representatives of international agencies associated with global sea-level observations paid tribute to Wyrtki.
Also, in recognition of his pioneering research, the Shaman II, a 57-foot longline fishing vessel recently donated to UH, will be renamed for Wyrtki and used by faculty and students for coastal investigations.
Wyrtki, 76, did the first studies of circulation in the Hawaiian archipelago more than 30 years ago. He was co-founder of the Global Sea Level Observing System and conducted research on a wide range of topics, including some of the first work on the El Nino phenomenon.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO sponsored this week's five-day meeting, held every two years.
The UH Sea Level Center, which Wyrtki formerly directed, hosted the sessions at the East-West Center.
Mark Merrifield, UH oceanographer who now heads the center, said the international group devoted one workshop to presentations honoring Wyrtki -- the first to use sea-level measurements for an ocean-observing system.
Merrifield said the theme was "Observations and Integrations," taken from an extensive interview of "the grand old man" of physical oceanography in 1999. It was conducted by Lorenz Magaard, UH oceanographer and associate dean of the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology, Hans von Storch of the GKSS Research Center Geesthacht, and Jurgen Sundermann, University of Hamburg.
Wyrtki was quoted as saying: "If you give a child a toy, the first action is to take it apart, and scientists do the same. They see a problem, and immediately they take the problem apart, into pieces. Very few scientists integrate, that means, put things together."
"This captures his approach to science -- collecting observations and information and putting the pieces together to describe and understand the ocean," Merrifield said.
Speakers said as they look back into literature on a topic, they find Wyrtki said something about it more than 20 years ago, but with much less data. He would logically deduct what might be happening, and it usually held up.
Among speakers were four distinguished scientists who were Wyrtki's students when they earned doctorate degrees: Roger Lukas, UH oceanographer; Gary Meyers, who runs Australia's physical oceanography program; Bill Emery, University of Colorado; and Bill Patzert, in charge of some ocean satellite programs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
About 50 or 60 scientists attended the workshop.
"They gave very interesting talks on sea level, reflecting often on my work," Wyrtki said. "They have fantastic new research results from ocean topography observed from space.
"This is what the young people are doing. They are building on the old stuff, and they are doing very well. I must say I am very, very proud of our students."
When he started in oceanography 40 or 50 years ago, Wyrtki said, "You could count the oceanographers on your hands. Now there are more than thousands."
They are finally beginning to understand climate changes, Wyrtki said, "and the ocean is the one that makes climate change. The atmosphere reacts to all that. It's what the ocean does, and we see a lot more variability in the ocean than we ever expected."
Lukas said, "Professor Wyrtki has been a teacher and a friend, not just to his students, but to his colleagues, and among the things that he's taught us is the high value of careful observations of the ocean."
Lukas said Wyrtki's "synthetical approach relies on basic understanding of the physics of the ocean rather than reliance on mathematics and computers."
Wyrtki also taught his students to enjoy what they are doing, he said, adding: "None of us are really terribly well compensated for what we do.
"He really emphasizes the human connections. The sea-level network he built could not have succeeded with just money and technicians but really relied on a human network of people cooperating around the Pacific."
Although Wyrtki is world-renowned for his work on sea-level observations and El Nino, the symposium underlined his many other substantial contributions, Lukas said, "from the surface of the ocean to studies near the sea floor, and at many other places around the world besides the Pacific.
"He has just been a tremendous inspiration to students and to many of his colleagues. He really kind of showed us how you can do it," Lukas added.
A 57-foot longline fishing boat donated to the University of Hawaii will fill a major gap in UH seagoing capabilities, says Bryan Taylor, in the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology. UH outfits donated
trawler for near-shore
researchBy Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin"It's in great shape; it's a wonderful vessel," he said. "It's got new engines, but we've got to turn it from a fishing vessel into a science research vessel."
The Shaman II was given to UH by Charles Wells, who had a bigger fishing vessel, Shaman I, in Alaska, said Stan Winslow, port operations manager at the University Marine Center, Snug Harbor, Sand Island.
He said Wells came to Hawaii in about 1993, bought Shaman II and tried various types of fishing until he decided to retire. He then gave the vessel to UH.
The vessel, to be renamed for retired UH oceanographer Klaus Wyrtki, will be used by faculty and students for coastal research.
"It could be used for day cruises, or even overnight cruises, very happily," Taylor said.
"We will be able to get between islands and work around the islands and in shallow water, for a lot less than big ships."
A 2,500-ton research ship that will be based in Hawaii is being built for the Navy in Jacksonville, Fla.
UH will take delivery of it next February, and after dockside outfitting and trials, it will head for Hawaii, arriving about next May, said Taylor, who is overseeing the project.
It will be called Kilo Moana, which is short for "oceanographer" but means "one who is looking for understanding of the deep sea," Taylor said.
The Kilo Moana will be used for big science programs requiring a lot of people and equipment, while the converted longliner will be good for small projects close to land, he said.
Rather than pay up to $15,000 a day to use a big ship, coastal investigations hopefully could be done in the realm of $1,000 to $2,000 a day with the smaller boat, Taylor said.
The workhorse of the UH fleet, the Moana Wave, retired from the Navy's University National Oceanographic Laboratory Systems fleet in 1999.
Since then UH scientists have been using other ships in the university fleet when available, or the Ka'imikai-O-Kanaloa, mother ship for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory.
Taylor said a proposal has been submitted to the National Science Foundation for major equipment purchases to refit and outfit the longliner with scientific gear.
Winslow said it just came out of the yard where extensive work was done on it, primarily the hull.
He said the crew at the UH marine yard has been working on it, trying to turn it into a research vessel.
"Just because of the whole economics of the university, we're trying to keep costs down," he said. "We're doing everything that has to be done to make sure we meet university safety requirements and provide a good platform for researchers that's safe for them to do work around the Hawaiian Islands."
Ka Leo O Hawaii
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