SFOS Newsletter
Spring 2008
FEATURED ALUMNUS
Steven Worley, M.S. Oceanography, 1977
Steven Worley received his master’s degree in oceanography at UAF in 1977. His advisor was former faculty member Tom Royer, and he studied alongside current UAF professors Tom Weingartner and Mark Johnson. Worley is a data manager at the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Steven Worley.
What do you do now?
I have a small staff of eight people and we develop something called the Research Data Archives. These data archives include more than 600 different collections of data that are relevant for oceanographic and atmospheric research. It was started over 40 years ago and we continue to build upon it today. It’s a very valuable asset, a valuable collection of data used by many different scientists and projects all over the world.
How are the Research Data Archives used?
They are extensively used for climate studies, in analyses of climate change for example, because of its long history and long-term data records. They are also used for many small independent regional studies, by one or two scientists, or by large groups. We are one of the main providers of in situ observations for global atmospheric re-analysis projects. These are very large important projects where the entire atmosphere and ocean is evaluated for long periods of record, say 50 years or longer. We work at both ends of the spectrum there, providing data for climate studies and distributing products that come out of bigger scale projects as well.
I see that you have one set of data that dates back to 1794. Can you tell me more about this data archive?
The International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set is one of many projects we work on, but it is a real highlight of our collection. It is particularly interesting because it is one of the longest term collections of in-situ data in the world. This project is basically a marine surface data archive that I have been working on, as a co-PI, for more than twenty years. The archive has been built by collecting observations from many different sources and many different international communities. At the beginning the information comes from mariners’ logs on sailing ships with minimal instrumentation, possibly with a barometer on board, or maybe a thermometer with which sailors measure the sea surface temperature. All the wind estimates, for example, were made by the mariners using their eyes, by looking at the ocean and creating a scale of how rough it was or how windy it was. We have that data all the way through the most modern ship data available, and we’ve merged it together in a consistent format. It is a long term record of our best estimate of the marine surface climate.
What brought you to Alaska to study oceanography in 1974?
While studying for my bachelor’s degree in Wisconsin I got really excited about oceanography. Whenever I had an opportunity for an elective, I took an oceanography class. I always had an interest in oceanography, and I knew I wanted to go to graduate school. I had the great fortune to be accepted by the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska. And they offered stipend support, which I needed, so I came to Alaska.
I’ve always had a love for the outdoors. Coming to Alaska was just too good to be true, I’d be in another big, wild open exciting place and that intrigued me very much as well.
What did you study for your master’s degree?
I studied ocean currents/circulation in the Gulf of Alaska at the mouth of Prince William Sound. I did many ocean cruises and sampling trips to the Gulf of Alaska and got to experience all the wonderful, wild weather they have out there. We had the R/V Acona, which I think was only about 80 feet long. We got tossed around pretty well out there. One benefit of the smaller ship, though, was that we would go out to do our work and a storm would come up and it would get rougher and rougher and pretty soon we wouldn’t be able to do any more work because it was way too rough to even think about putting instruments over the side. So we would run and hide-- by going into the fjords of Prince William Sound. We would just drop anchor and wait for the storm to pass. I saw the most fabulous places in Alaska, unseen, untouched by man, fjords filled with sea otters and birds. We would get off the ship and walk the beaches and the tide pools. I really had a fabulous time.
What else did you like about studying at UAF?
IMS was a great place to go to school. The faculty and students there at IMS really had, and I think probably still have, this great community spirit. They seem to really get along well together. I was given a lot of responsibility as a graduate student. I would be allowed to be chief scientist on a cruise. One of my most memorable trips was when Tom Royer realized that a research vessel from the University of Hawaii was working in the GOA and was going to be in Kodiak and then deadhead steam straight back to Hawaii. He made arrangements for me, and some of co-graduate students, to get on board and we did a sampling trip from Kodiak to Hawaii. I had never been to Hawaii, never been to Kodiak, and then I got to do a sample straight across the North Pacific ocean. It took us two and half weeks and we had some wild weather out there. Those are the kinds of great adventures and responsibilities that graduate students at IMS seemed to always get.
I still have many good friends from UAF. In fact, some of the people I went to graduate school with are faculty members now at UAF. I love catching up with them—they’ve never lost the Alaskan spirit.
- Visit the CISL Research Data Archive website
- Back to Spring 2008 Newsletter