REMEMBRANCE ROGER REVELLE, OCEANOGRAPHER 1909-1991

By D. James Baker and Walter H. Munk

ROGER RANDALL DOUGAN understanding of plate tectonics and were the first of a long series of expedi- REVELLE died on July 15th of this year, global warming, and played a leading tions, extending farther and farther from still active and very much involved in role in raising US support for oceanog- until Scripps' ships literally the great global change issues of our day. raphy by an order of magnitude. During operated in all oceans throughout the He will be remembered with fondness this period, the California Cooperative world." and respect by all of us in earth sciences Oceanic Fishery Investigation planned Among the discoveries of MIDPAC for his deep interest in fundamental sci- by Harald Sverdrup was getting under- and Capricorn were the demonstrations ence and for his strong desire to apply way. This work is still continuing and by Russell Raitt that only a thin layer of scientific knowledge toward human constitutes an unequaled record of the sediments overlies the solid rock and by good. He was a major figure in fostering physical environment and its biological Edwin Hamilton that the flat-topped international cooperation in ocean sci- consequences in a large ocean area. seamounts at a depth of 2,000 meters had ence, having founded the Scientific It has long been suggested, beginning been volcanic islands < 100 million years Committee on Oceanic Research with in 1889, that the ago. This spoke for great mobility of the (SCOR) and the lntergovernmental activity of mankind must be leading to "solid" Earth. On MIDPAC Arthur Oceanographic Commission (IOC). an increase in CO2. Since the oceans Maxwell found the heat flow through the One of his last lectures was a keynote contain ~60 times as much CO2 as the sea floor to be "normal," suggesting to talk to the Second Scientific Meeting of atmosphere, there was a general belief him, Roger, and Sir Edward Bullard that the Society on the fun- that CO2 from fossil fuels would be par- slow convective movements were occur- damental importance of technology to titioned in this ratio. Computat;ons by ring in the Earth's mantle. When Roger the advancement of science. Typically, Revelle and Suess in 1956 showed that and his associates tried to core and Roger had brought along several tangible about half the fossil CO2 would remain dredge the Tonga Trench, the instru- examples of those things that had ad- in the air. This led to the measurements ments came up battered, bent, and vanced ocean science, including several (started by Keeling in 1957) showing the empty. If any sediments were present, strands of wire rope and a diver's regu- increase, one of the few basic facts about they were sparse and thin. The obser- lator valve. He wanted those present to global warming. Again in 1957, Roger vations could best be explained if the understand how science advanced, and was among a group that promoted an rocky sea floor were disappearing into he was successful in making his point. attempt to drill through the ocean floor the Earth along the axis of the trench (this Roger was born in on March to the mantle. This MOHOLE project is now called subduction). On Capricorn, 7, 1909, and had his early education at was ill-fated, but led to the successful Ronaid Mason towed a magnetometer in California. He earned Deep-Sea Drilling Project and today's behind the vessel and recorded a com- his PhD at Scripps Institution of Ocean- Ocean Drilling Program. plicated set of wiggles that no one could ography (SIO), his thesis on "Marine With a clarion call that "the Pacific is understand. Later Mason produced a Bottom Samples Collected in the Pacific our oyster!" Roger led a timid faculty map of the magnetic field under the sea Ocean by the Carnegie on Its Seventh into the blue water of the deep Pacific. floor, showing stripes of normal and re- Cruise," and stayed on as an instructor The era opened in 1950 with the Mid- verse magnetization. On hindsight, the and assistant professor. After a tour in Pacific expedition (MIDPAC) into the evidence was all there for proclaiming the Navy, where he was in charge of the equatorial waters and to the Marshall Is- the doctrine of plate tectonics, but it was Oceanographic Section and then head of lands in the Central Pacific. This was fol- to be left to others a decade later to fit the Geophysics Branch of the newly lowed in 1952-1953 by an extended together the pieces of the puzzle. founded Office of Naval Research, he voyage to the South Pacific, which was In Roger's words, "In those heady came back to SIO, first as Acting Director called the Capricorn expedition. Both days of the 1950s, one could hardly go and then as Director. expeditions were personally led by to sea without making an important, un- During the decade 1948-1958, Roger Roger. In his words, "they resulted in a anticipated discovery. Our small ships transformed SIO into a global seagoing set of remarkable discoveries about the didn't cost very much to operate and enterprise, helped set the stage for the ocean floor and what lies beneath it, and many SIO expeditions were led by grad-

D.J. Baker, Joint Oceanographic Institutions Inc., 1755 Massachusetts Ave NW, , DC 20036 USA. W.H. Munk, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, , San Diego, , CA 92093 USA.

90 OCEANOGRAPHY.Vol. 4, No. 2-t 991 uate students. John Knauss obtained his it came time to appoint the first chan- Throughout his career, when ques- PhD on the basis of expeditions to study cellor, Roger was passed over. He moved tioned about his profession, Roger would the equatorial undercurrent in the Pa- first to become science advisor to Sec- reply, "'I am an oceanographer." But this cific." retary of the Interior Morris Udall in the was hardly restrictive; on more than one But by then Roger was deeply in- Kennedy Administration, then the occasion he was heard to define the volved in the formation of what is now Richard Saltonstall Professor of Popu- profession of oceanography as "whatever the University of California at San Diego. lation Study at . In anyone at Scripps does." He published Henry Charnock quotes Roger that an 1975 he returned to SIO: among his over 200 papers and earned most of the oceanographic institution not linked to many activities was the first chairman- awards and medals relevant to his work. a university would survive only one gen- ship of the SCOR/IOC Committee on Perhaps Henry Charnock said it best: eration. Therefore his continuing activity Climatic Changes and the Ocean, the "For an informed view on Earth science, as SIO director and his efforts on behalf group that fostered the development of and on its repercussion on the human of the new campus were not in conflict. many large coordinated climate studies predicament, he was in a class of his But many conflicts arose during the cre- in place today. own." We will miss him. 121 ation of the new university; and, when

NEWS & INFORMATION

TOMOGRAPHY IN OCEAN MODELS

By Michael S. Foster

THE INSTITUTE FOR NAVAL cussing the problems associated with lation Research and Transition (DART) OCEANOGRAPHY (INO) has con- four-dimensional ocean model data as- program (Naval Oceanographic and At- ducted a workshop to discuss the appli- similation in general. A Steering Com- mospheric Research Laboratory) and the cations of tomographic data in ocean mittee (B. Cornuelle, S. Foster, B. Howe, Optimal Thermal Interpolation System models. The workshop was sponsored by J. Mitchell, R. Passi, P. Rizzoli, D. (OTIS) (Fleet Numerical Oceanography the Office of Naval Research (Applied Thompson, and R. Willems) was estab- Center). It consists of modules as follows: Oceanography and Acoustics Division) lished to coordinate recommendations 1) data assimilation (including tomo- and was held at the University of South- and develop approaches for marshaling graphic data), 2) ocean model, 3) data ern Mississippi Conference Center in scientific talent to achieve an ocean verification, 4) model verification, 5) Long Beach, Mississippi, from October monitoring system, including assimilated system verification, 6) simulation stud- 10-12, 1990. More than 30 experts, tomographic data. ies, and 7) the future ocean monitoring/ mostly oceanographers, from several Several recommendations were de- prediction system. Closed loops between disciplines participated in the three-day veloped by consensus among the atten- the various modules allow the feedback meeting. Significantly, the workshop al- dees. In the near term, tomographic data and interaction necessary to evaluate lowed valuable interaction between from the Applied Tomography Experi- modifications within the system. The ocean modelers and acoustic tomogra- ment (ATE) 90-92, the Synoptic Ocean INO, through its Experimental Center phers. Prediction (SYNOP) program, and other for Mesoscale Ocean Prediction (EC- The principal objective was develop- data-collection efforts should be incor- MOP), expects to make a major contri- ment of a "roadmap" for the advance- porated into verification schemes for bution within the scope of each module ment of acoustic tomography from its ocean prediction systems. As a five-year by offering facilities for testing and eval- current experimental state to a capability goal, tomographic data-assimilation uating existing and future ocean models. for assimilation into ocean models and, schemes should be merged with existing A report on the workshop has been ultimately, into future ocean monitoring schemes. In ten years, a network of published and is available by contacting and prediction systems. In addition, the transceivers should be deployed in the the Institute for Naval Oceanography, workshop evaluated present capabilities, North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic region. Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-5005, highlighted new approaches and tech- The "roadmap" developed by the (601) 688-3525.13 niques, and provided a forum for dis- workshop is based on the Data Assimi-

M.S. Foster, Institute for Naval Oceanography, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 USA.

OCEANOGRAPHY.Vol. 4, No. 2-1991 91