Wyrtki Research Articles

KLAUS WYRTKI AND THE MODERN ERA OF THE MARITIME CONTINENT OCEANOGRAPHY

The December 2019 issue of Marine Research in Indonesia on "Oceanography of the Indonesian Seas" is dedicated to Klaus Wyrtki. In many ways, Klaus Wyrtki's contribution to the study of the Indonesian seas served as a smooth transition from the era of the great expeditions such as the Dutch Willebrord Snellius Expedition (1929-1930; see Wüst, 1964; van Aken, 2005) of the early and mid-20th century to the modern era.
 In the NAGA Report (Wyrtki, 1961; also see Wyrtki, 2005), Klaus used existing ocean observations, supplemented with data he helped collect on the Indonesian research ship Samudera during his sojourn in Indonesia (1954-1957) as Head of the Institute of Marine Research in Jakarta to map out a broad view of the Southeast Asian waters (the waters of the Maritime Continent including the Indonesian seas). He presented the geography, the configuration of the seas and basins of the Southeast Asian waters, the surface circulation, and governing dynamics, including the tides and monsoonal driven seasonality, and the temperature/salinity surface layer patterns, as well as aspects of the subsurface stratification. The Plates 1-44 beautifully reveal the oceanographic condition of the Southeast Asian waters as resolved by the pre-1960 observations.
 As Klaus Wyrtki says in the NAGA Report Preface: "It is hoped that workers in the region, whether in oceanography or other branches of science may find it a source of information and a stimulus to undertake further research in these waters" and "The scientific publications dealing with this region show not so much a lack of observations as a lack of an adequate attempt to synthesize these results to give a comprehensive description of the region." "I soon decided to devote most of my time during my three years’ stay in Indonesia to the preparation of a general description of the oceanography of these waters." He succeeded.

Preface to the special issue “Unified perspective of climate variability and change”

Forty years ago,Klaus Wyrtki(1975)of University of Hawaii discovered that El Nino warming off South America is not a result of local wind change but a response to the relaxed equatorial trade winds some 10 000 km away near the international dateline.The Kelvin wave mechanism was quickly verified from wind-forced ocean model simulations.Consequent

The Curious Case of the EL Niño That Never Happened: A Perspective from 40 Years of Progress in Climate Research and Forecasting

Abstract Forty years ago, Klaus Wyrtki of the University of Hawaii launched an “El Niño Watch” expedition to the eastern equatorial Pacific to document oceanographic changes that were expected to develop during the onset of an El Niño event in early 1975. He and his colleagues used a very simple atmospheric pressure index to predict the event and convinced the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research to support an expedition to the eastern Pacific on relatively short notice. An anomalous warming was detected during the first half of the expedition, but it quickly dissipated. Given the state of the art in El Niño research at the time, Wyrtki and colleagues could offer no explanation for why the initial warming failed to amplify, nor could they connect what they observed to what was happening in other parts of the basin prior to and during the expedition. With the benefit of hindsight, the authors provide a basin-scale context for what the expedition observed, elucidate the dynamical processes that gave rise to the abbreviated warming that was detected, and present retrospective forecasts of the event using modern coupled ocean–atmosphere dynamical model prediction systems. Reviewing this history highlights how early pioneers in El Niño research, despite the obstacles they faced, were able to make significant progress through bold initiatives that advanced the frontiers of our knowledge. It is also evident that, even though the scientific community today has a much deeper understanding of climate variability, more advanced observational capabilities, and sophisticated seasonal forecasting tools, skillful predictions of El Niño and its cold counterpart La Niña remain a major challenge.

Mark A. Cane Receives 2013 Maurice Ewing Medal: Response

I must first pay tribute to Klaus Wyrtki, a hero of mine who passed away earlier this year. At a time when ideas about El Niño pointed all over the place, he told me that Bjerknes's hypothesis was the way forward. He was right, of course, but Bjerknes stopped short of explaining the oscillatory nature of ENSO, and it took Klaus's tide gauge data to show that ocean dynamics is the answer. His analysis was masterful, but there would have been nothing much to analyze without his incredible effort to deploy those tide gauges in atolls and islands throughout the tropical Pacific. My magnum opus may fairly be described as translating Bjerknes‐Wyrtki into a numerical model.

Klaus Wyrtki (1925–2013)

We bid a fond aloha to Klaus Wyrtki, a great scientist and a true friend and mentor to his many students and colleagues throughout the world. Wyrtki passed away peacefully on 5 February 2013, 2 days before his 88th birthday. Klaus, as he was known to most, was a longtime member of AGU and was elected a Fellow in 1982. In 1989, he received AGU's Maurice Ewing Medal.

1989 Maurice Ewing Medal to Klaus Wyrtki

I am very honored to present the citation for the 1989 Ewing Medal to Klaus Wyrtki, Professor of Oceanography, University of Hawaii. Klaus has marvelous scientific insight. He has made numerous contributions to geophysics and, particularly, to large scale physical oceanography. He has published over 100 papers and an atlas during his scientific career.

Klaus Wyrtki's Forty Years of Contributions to Oceanography: His Students' Perspective

Klaus Wyrtki's Forty Years of Contributions to Oceanography: His Students' Perspective

Norpax winter experiment nears completion

Norpax, the North Pacific Experiment, is finishing a pilot experiment to determine the optimal observational strategy to be used for a large oceanographic research effort during the FGGE (First Garp Global Experiment.)In the current effort a transequatorial shuttle experiment is being conducted between Hawaii and Tahiti to study the low‐frequency dynamics of the equatorial circulation system. The relations between flow, thermal structure, and sea surface topography are of particular interest in designing a suitable system to monitor the changes of the equatorial current system over long periods. The project is directed by Klaus Wyrtki of the University of Hawaii and includes several individual but closely coordinated programs.

Comments on paper by Klaus Wyrtki, ‘The average annual heat balance of the North Pacific Ocean and its relation to ocean circulation’

Comments on paper by Klaus Wyrtki, ‘The average annual heat balance of the North Pacific Ocean and its relation to ocean circulation’

Reply [to “Comment on ‘The average annual heat balance of the North Pacific Ocean and its relation to ocean circulation” by Klaus Wyrtki

Reply [to “Comment on ‘The average annual heat balance of the North Pacific Ocean and its relation to ocean circulation” by Klaus Wyrtki

Physical Oceanography of the Southeast Asian Waters By Klaus Wyrtki NAGA Report Volume 2. Scientific Results of Marine Investigations of the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, 1959–1961. S.I.O., La Jolla, Calif., 1961.

Physical Oceanography of the Southeast Asian Waters By Klaus Wyrtki NAGA Report Volume 2. Scientific Results of Marine Investigations of the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, 1959–1961. S.I.O., La Jolla, Calif., 1961.