- Email: [email protected]
The Atlantic Meridional Transect programme (1995–2016)
Progress in Oceanography xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Progress in Oceanography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pocean
In Memoriam
We dedicate this AMT special volume to the memory of our friends and colleagues
Dr. Chuck Trees and Dr. Mike Lucas
Charles “Chuck” Trees was involved in ocean colour research for about as long as the field existed and was a key player in many of the major milestones that we look back on now as pivotal in the development of this field. Chuck started his graduate program at Texas A&M in the late 1970’s and rose in prominence to become Program Manager in NASA prior to his positions at the Center for Hydro-Optics & Remote Sensing at the San Diego State University before moving to Italy to work at NATO at the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic within the Science and Technology Organization's Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation. Chuck’s association with UK scientists goes back for over three decades. A long-term collaboration between himself and Jim Aiken which established following their meeting at Ocean Optics 8, in Orlando, 1986 was particularly key to the later development of the AMT programme. This collaboration proved particularly fruitful and involved shared projects during JGOFS cruises to the North Atlantic and Arabian Sea where any number of UK colleagues, including several authors of papers in this edition, were wholly endeared to the charisma and charm of Charles Trees. Chuck never did participate on an AMT cruise, which was a disappointment for him and his many friends and collaborators at PML and NOC as he was motivational in the concepts that led to the Atlantic Meridional Transect. With his expertise in ocean optics, phytoplankton pigments and productivity, he participated in both the planning processes and the post-cruise AMT workshops at Plymouth in 1995 & 1996. Specifically, Chuck wrote the protocols for water sampling, filtering (by pressure) and HPLC analysis of phytoplankton pigments; he analysed pigment samples for some of the early AMT cruises. Through membership of NASA Ocean Color and SeaWiFS science teams, Aiken, Moore, Trees et al., co-authored the SeaWiFS CZCS-Type Pigment Algorithm, 1995, NASA SeaWiFS Technical Report Series, 29. From these multiple collaborations, the Atlantic Meridional Transect was created. Chuck provided great insight in so many things related to ocean color and pigments and what it meant to the lower trophic levels. He worked with satellites, gliders and LIDAR systems and had numerous peer reviewed scientific papers and technical reports. Chuck had numerous friends in and out of science. To us all, Chuck was a lovely man and a great friend, we will never forget. Mike Lucas arrived in South Africa from the UK in 1977 following the award of his PhD from the University of Bangor in North Wales, to begin a new post-doctoral position at the University of Cape Town. Following his initial work on the ecology of the kelp forests, the rise of the Benguela Ecology Programme soon shifted Mike’s focus to the offshore waters of the west coast. Here Mike did some of his most important scientific work, studying the energy and material flows, and particularly bacterial decomposition, at the base of the upwelling ecosystem. Mikes time and interests progressed from the Benguela Ecology Programme to a bigger arena when he joined the South African Antarctic Programme. Over the decades Mikes spirit of adventure led him to temporary posts at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Alfred Wagener Institute and a joint appointment between the UK National Oceanography Centre and the University of Southampton between 1999 and 2007. During this time he http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2017.09.006
0079-6611/
Progress in Oceanography xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
In Memoriam
played a leading role in many of the key biological programmes NOC undertook including studies of the nitrogen cycle in stratified shelf seas, in the subtropical gyres on AMT and in the Southern Ocean on CROZEX. Mike lead the plankton biology elements of CROZEX, sailed on both cruises and then edited the special issue of Deep-Sea Research and the summary manuscript in Nature which described the main results. Mike was a storyteller whose skills in communicating science inspired schoolchildren, people in the townships and undergraduates; his books on Antarctica and climate change provide continued access to his invaluable legacy. During illustrated talks, colleagues and ship’s companies always marvelled at tales of treks around the mountains and deserts of South Africa and on visits to Antarctica with the RSA Antarctic Research programme. Mike was genuinely interested in people and had a great sense of social justice. In the 1980s he taught at the Langa Adult Education Centre, and he lectured frequently at countless schools, primary schools and senior schools and old-age homes, where he brought science to people who might not get the opportunity or be able to afford access to university-level tuition – without recognition from his employer and without remuneration. He could explain complex scientific issues to young children and adults alike. This might be his most important legacy, and the cumulative impact of educating so many across the social spectrum is incalculable. Going to sea with Mike, or joining him in fieldwork, seemed like an uncertain, sometimes slightly chaotic adventure. However his knowledge, dedication, patience, infectious enthusiasm, practical skills and good humour almost always led to more science being achieved than expected. Mike was an absolutely superb field scientist who mentored a whole generation of junior scientists in the practical aspects of delivering world class biological oceanographic programmes at sea He was a shipmate, colleague, mentor, advisor, teacher, helper, examiner – so many things to so many people, old and young. In the words of Sandy Thomalla his long term collaborator and former student ‘He was a giant among Southern Ocean scientists, a teacher extraordinaire and a good friend’. Andy Rees & the AMT family, June 2017
2
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Progress in Oceanography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pocean
In Memoriam
We dedicate this AMT special volume to the memory of our friends and colleagues
Dr. Chuck Trees and Dr. Mike Lucas
Charles “Chuck” Trees was involved in ocean colour research for about as long as the field existed and was a key player in many of the major milestones that we look back on now as pivotal in the development of this field. Chuck started his graduate program at Texas A&M in the late 1970’s and rose in prominence to become Program Manager in NASA prior to his positions at the Center for Hydro-Optics & Remote Sensing at the San Diego State University before moving to Italy to work at NATO at the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic within the Science and Technology Organization's Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation. Chuck’s association with UK scientists goes back for over three decades. A long-term collaboration between himself and Jim Aiken which established following their meeting at Ocean Optics 8, in Orlando, 1986 was particularly key to the later development of the AMT programme. This collaboration proved particularly fruitful and involved shared projects during JGOFS cruises to the North Atlantic and Arabian Sea where any number of UK colleagues, including several authors of papers in this edition, were wholly endeared to the charisma and charm of Charles Trees. Chuck never did participate on an AMT cruise, which was a disappointment for him and his many friends and collaborators at PML and NOC as he was motivational in the concepts that led to the Atlantic Meridional Transect. With his expertise in ocean optics, phytoplankton pigments and productivity, he participated in both the planning processes and the post-cruise AMT workshops at Plymouth in 1995 & 1996. Specifically, Chuck wrote the protocols for water sampling, filtering (by pressure) and HPLC analysis of phytoplankton pigments; he analysed pigment samples for some of the early AMT cruises. Through membership of NASA Ocean Color and SeaWiFS science teams, Aiken, Moore, Trees et al., co-authored the SeaWiFS CZCS-Type Pigment Algorithm, 1995, NASA SeaWiFS Technical Report Series, 29. From these multiple collaborations, the Atlantic Meridional Transect was created. Chuck provided great insight in so many things related to ocean color and pigments and what it meant to the lower trophic levels. He worked with satellites, gliders and LIDAR systems and had numerous peer reviewed scientific papers and technical reports. Chuck had numerous friends in and out of science. To us all, Chuck was a lovely man and a great friend, we will never forget. Mike Lucas arrived in South Africa from the UK in 1977 following the award of his PhD from the University of Bangor in North Wales, to begin a new post-doctoral position at the University of Cape Town. Following his initial work on the ecology of the kelp forests, the rise of the Benguela Ecology Programme soon shifted Mike’s focus to the offshore waters of the west coast. Here Mike did some of his most important scientific work, studying the energy and material flows, and particularly bacterial decomposition, at the base of the upwelling ecosystem. Mikes time and interests progressed from the Benguela Ecology Programme to a bigger arena when he joined the South African Antarctic Programme. Over the decades Mikes spirit of adventure led him to temporary posts at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Alfred Wagener Institute and a joint appointment between the UK National Oceanography Centre and the University of Southampton between 1999 and 2007. During this time he http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2017.09.006
0079-6611/
Progress in Oceanography xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
In Memoriam
played a leading role in many of the key biological programmes NOC undertook including studies of the nitrogen cycle in stratified shelf seas, in the subtropical gyres on AMT and in the Southern Ocean on CROZEX. Mike lead the plankton biology elements of CROZEX, sailed on both cruises and then edited the special issue of Deep-Sea Research and the summary manuscript in Nature which described the main results. Mike was a storyteller whose skills in communicating science inspired schoolchildren, people in the townships and undergraduates; his books on Antarctica and climate change provide continued access to his invaluable legacy. During illustrated talks, colleagues and ship’s companies always marvelled at tales of treks around the mountains and deserts of South Africa and on visits to Antarctica with the RSA Antarctic Research programme. Mike was genuinely interested in people and had a great sense of social justice. In the 1980s he taught at the Langa Adult Education Centre, and he lectured frequently at countless schools, primary schools and senior schools and old-age homes, where he brought science to people who might not get the opportunity or be able to afford access to university-level tuition – without recognition from his employer and without remuneration. He could explain complex scientific issues to young children and adults alike. This might be his most important legacy, and the cumulative impact of educating so many across the social spectrum is incalculable. Going to sea with Mike, or joining him in fieldwork, seemed like an uncertain, sometimes slightly chaotic adventure. However his knowledge, dedication, patience, infectious enthusiasm, practical skills and good humour almost always led to more science being achieved than expected. Mike was an absolutely superb field scientist who mentored a whole generation of junior scientists in the practical aspects of delivering world class biological oceanographic programmes at sea He was a shipmate, colleague, mentor, advisor, teacher, helper, examiner – so many things to so many people, old and young. In the words of Sandy Thomalla his long term collaborator and former student ‘He was a giant among Southern Ocean scientists, a teacher extraordinaire and a good friend’. Andy Rees & the AMT family, June 2017
2