Codispoti, Louis

Cutter, Gregory

English

Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons OES Faculty Publications Ocean & Earth Sciences 2021 Larry Philip Atkinson 1941-2020 Gregory Cutter Old Dominion University, gcutter@odu.edu Louis Codispoti Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs  Part of the Oceanography Commons, and the Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Original Publication Citation Cutter, G., & Codispoti, L. (2021). Larry Philip Atkinson 1941-2020. Oceanography, 34(1), 10-11. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.106 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ocean & Earth Sciences at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in OES Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@odu.edu. Oceanography |  Vol.34, No.110While it is popular to say that “life is a journey, not a destination”1 when remem-bering a colleague, we tend to list the des-tinations or accomplishments—the great-est hits, if you will—and not the path and history that made them possible. Larry Atkinson began his journey through oceanography in 1941 in Iowa and com-pleted it in December 2020 in Virginia. Along the way, he traveled, lived, and worked all over the world, transforming his own research emphases, helping col-leagues, starting research programs, and having a great time wherever he was.Larry’s outstanding career in oceanog-raphy could, without too much exagger-ation, be said to have extended from the age of wooden ships to today’s era of sat-ellites, autonomous platforms, and steel research vessels jam-packed with elec-tronic and acoustics gear. As an under-graduate and master’s degree student at the University of Washington in the 1960s, Larry was exposed to an inter-disciplinary approach to oceanography, but his early focus was on chemi-cal oceanography under the tutelage of F.A. Richards. Richards’ cadre of student researchers concentrated on suboxic and anoxic conditions found in basins and fjords, and the suboxic waters of the east-ern tropical Pacific Ocean. Data from two of British Columbia’s anoxic fjords, Saanich Inlet and Lake Nitinat, were col-lected from R/V Hoh, a surplus army tug-boat with a wooden hull. Getting into Lake Nitinat was an adventure because of this fjord’s shallow sill. Hoh had to “catch a wave” to reduce the chance of ground-ing. Hoh had a captain/boat operator, but everything else was done by the scien-tists. Thus, Larry was involved in oper-ating the winches and cooking meals, among other diverse activities. The gal-ley was dual-purpose, serving as the ship-board lab between meals. During the mid-1960s, the University of Washington was transitioning its ocean-going ship capability from the wooden-hulled Brown Bear to the first Thomas G. Thompson (since replaced by the present Thompson, a much larger and easier-riding ship). Larry participated in Thompson’s maiden voyage, a several month adventure that included sampling the anoxic Cariaco Trench and suboxic water in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Larry obtained his MS degree in 1967. His thesis focused on methane and resulted in two peer-reviewed papers.Subsequently, Larry took a position as a research associate at the Duke University Marine Lab. During this period (1966–1968), he worked closely with Professor Unnsteinn Stefánsson, whom he had first met while Unnsteinn was visiting and working with F.A. Richards at the University of Washington. He also collab-orated with several other researchers to produce five peer-reviewed papers focus-ing on the physical and chemical proper-ties of the waters off the North Carolina coast. Larry decided to pursue a PhD, and 1969 enrolled in the graduate program in oceanography at Canada’s Dalhousie University, where he joined a diverse mul-tinational group of graduate students in Pete Wangersky’s chemical oceanography laboratory. Pete always encouraged inde-pendence and creativity, and Larry pur-sued a combined chemical and physical oceanographic research effort to look at bubbles in the mixed layer and the result-ing air-sea gas exchange. Dalhousie’s Department of Oceanography, under Gordon Riley, was a vibrant, exciting place enhanced by graduate students who brought interesting prior experi-ences. Larry earned his PhD in 1972 and then moved on to other adventures at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Georgia, which was only four years old at the time. At Skidaway, Larry began to focus on nutrient biogeochemisty in coastal waters, perhaps a reflection of his earlier work at Duke, but his journey in chem-ical processes started to turn to physi-cal oceanographic aspects. The driver of this change was likely the Department of Energy project on the South Atlantic Bight that Skidaway’s director, Dave Menzel, organized in the late 1970s. Larry’s part of that study focused on nutri-ent sources, transport, and fate, and the results of his studies provided the frame-work for our understanding that upwell-ing along the shelf break dominates the nutrient budget of the shelf. He wanted to understand the timing and mecha-nisms that controlled this upwelling, and this subject pretty much consumed his research in his later years at Skidaway. It followed that he would develop col-laborations with physical oceanogra-phers like Tom Lee (University Miami), Len Pietrafesa (North Carolina State Larry Philip Atkinson1941–20201 Lynn H. Hough, The Christian Advocate, 1920Photo credit: Audun TjomslandTRIBUTE> Oceanography  |  March 2021 11University), and Skidaway’s Jack Blanton.In 1985 it was time for a new journey. Encouraged by former Skidaway faculty William Dunstan and George Oertel, Larry became Professor and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University’s (ODU’s) Department of Oceanography in Norfolk, Virginia. At ODU he contin-ued his studies of coastal physical pro-cesses that drive chemical and biologi-cal ones, but he also perfected his talent for developing new programs and lead-ing others. Indeed, he coordinated the founding of ODU’s Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography in 1991 and was its director until 2003. During the same time, he was the Department of Oceanography’s Chair from 1992 to 1997. And, if this wasn’t enough, from 1988 to 1992 he was an editor and then the senior editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, and from 1993 to1997 the editor for The Oceanography Society’s Oceanography magazine. In addition to his work on Oceanography, Larry was a stalwart supporter of The Oceanography Society. He joined as a charter member in 1987, served a term as the Applied Technology Councilor, then as Meetings Chair. He could always be counted on to provide advice and encouragement for TOS initiatives.For more than 40 years, Larry’s research journeys took place aboard research ves-sels of all types, so he logically served on the University- National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) Council from 1989 to 1991, then on the UNOLS Fleet Improvement Committee from 1995 to 1997 and as its chair from 1997 to 2003. While Larry may have started his oceanographic journey on wooden ships, his later years were filled with the newest technology (e.g.,  high-frequency radar to measure surface currents), and in his usual fashion, he helped everyone make the best use of these new types of data, and he facilitated early career investigators’ contributions and participation. In terms of new technology, the Ocean Obser-vatories Initiative (OOI) was spending many millions of dollars to set up these systems, and the National Science Foun-dation (NSF) asked UNOLS to form a committee to represent the science com-munity. When the Ocean Observatories Science Committee (OOSC) was orga-nized, Larry was called on to be its chair. He served in that position from 2010 until about 2016, overseeing the commit-tee through OOI’s installation and com-missioning. He worked hard during these years to engage the community and pro-mote OOI. Larry had a particular focus on early career scientists and promot-ing their use of OOI data. After OOI was fully installed, NSF formed the OOI Facility Board (OOIFB), and Larry was again asked to be the chair. He served in this position from the board’s inaugura-tion in 2017 until 2019 (and then transi-tioned into a past-chair position). Just as with the previous OOSC, Larry focused on inclusion, diversity, and new partic-ipants. As a result of his dedication, in May 2020 the OOIFB and NSF honored Larry with the establishment of the Larry P. Atkinson Travel Fellowship for Stu-dents and Early Career Scientists. Larry projected a calm and affa-ble aura, but because he was so well respected, he could make good things happen with a quiet word—likely because there was a lot going on inside his head before he suggested a course of action. When discussing a new idea, how to implement some program, or where to go to dinner or what wine to choose, Larry would lean back, smile slightly or give a small chuckle, and say, “Well, have you considered…” He was a great colleague, a man who always took a no-nonsense approach to finding solutions, a resource for our science, and an advocate for all— particularly early career scientists. CONTRIBUTED BY Gregory Cutter, Old Dominion University, and Louis Codispoti, University of Maryland (UMCES)AUTHORS NOTEWhen compiling the story of colleague, no one per-son can accurately tell the tale. The authors thank many for their contributions, particularly Annette De Silva. Jonathan Sharp, and Herb Windom.Oceanography  |  March 2021 11OCEANOGRAPHYIn this Oceanography section, contribut-ing authors share all of the relevant infor-mation on a homemade sensor or instru-ment so that others can build, or build upon, it. The short articles also show-case how this technology was used suc-cessfully in the field.CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONSOceanography guest editors Melissa Omand and Emmanuel Boss are seek-ing contributions to DIY Oceanography. Contributions should include a list of the materials and costs, instructions on how to build, and any blueprints and codes (those could be deposited elsewhere). See Oceanography’s Author Guidelines page for detailed information on submis-sion requirements.https://tos.org/oceanography/guidelinesSEE THE COLLECTIONGo to the DIY Oceanography web page to view the complete compilation of DIY Oceanography articles.• The Pressure of In Situ Gases Instrument (PIGI) for Autonomous Shipboard Measurement of Dissolved O2 and N2 in Surface Ocean Waters• Inlinino: A Modular Software Data Logger for Oceanography• A Simple and Inexpensive Method for Manipulating Dissolved Oxygen in the Labhttps://tos.org/diy-oceanography

Larry Philip Atkinson 1941-2020

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Larry Philip Atkinson 1941-2020

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