Robert Simpson Honored as a NOAA Environmental Hero for 2008
April 22, 2008
Sixty years ago, Robert Simpson told a newspaper reporter in Hawaii that the Mauna Loa volcano was an “incomparable natural laboratory” for studying atmospheric processes. Simpson then became a driving force in establishing an observatory at Mauna Loa. For that, coupled with decades of groundbreaking hurricane research and other significant scientific contributions, Simpson was selected to receive NOAA’s 2008 Environmental Hero – Longtime Achievement Award.
NOAA’s Environmental Hero Awards were established in 1995 to commemorate Earth Day by honoring volunteers who help NOAA carry out its mission — to understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social, and environmental needs. The Longtime Achievement Award is given periodically to individuals who have made major contributions to NOAA’s missions throughout their professional careers and/or lifetimes.
“Last year we celebrated 50 years of science and service at Mauna Loa, so it is appropriate that we now honor the person who came up with the idea for an observatory at that site,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
Simpson, who lives in Washington, D.C., is known for establishing the Saffir-Simpson scale in 1969 with Herbert Saffir. But it was his idea when he was an employee of the U.S. Weather Bureau that established the start of what is now the Mauna Loa Observatory, which caused him to be nominated for NOAA’s Environmental Hero Longtime Achievement Award. Measurements of carbon dioxide taken at Mauna Loa are now in their 52nd year, and the site is part of NOAA’s global baseline observatory network.
At the 1951 dedication ceremony, an official from the Department of Interior stated “It is seldom that a group of men have gathered together in awesome surroundings such as on this barren summit of Mauna Loa for a more significant purpose… for understanding the earth and its atmosphere.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Contact: Jana Goldman, 301-734-1123