Doing Field Science in Hawaii

Forrest M. Mims III

There are many fascinating places to do field science around the world. But few offer the amazing variety of opportunities found on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Back in 1990 when I was writing "The Amateur Scientist" for Scientific American, I dreamed of visiting Hawaii to calibrate my homemade instruments that measure the ozone layer, the water vapor layer and haze (aerosol optical depth). When my column editor at Scientific American was married, he and his bride honeymooned in Hawaii. I was fascinated by his description of the sites they planned to visit.

Only months later, Scientific American ended my column assignment, and there followed a media event over the ensuing controversy. This resulted in an invitation to Hawaii to tell my story to the American Scientific Affiliation. The meeting was held at the University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, and after the lecture my wife Minnie said that the university's provost, the late Dr. Howard Malmstadt, wanted me to meet with him and two of his senior staff, Dr. Derek Chignell, an English chemist who was chairman of the chemistry department at Wheaton College for many years, and Dr. John Kuhne, a veterinarian from South Africa.

The name Malmstadt had a familiar ring to it. But I didn't realize who Dr. Malmstadt was until the meeting. Then I suddenly realized he was the famous chemist who had developed many Heathkit laboratory products widely used in university laboratories. He had also written university textbooks on spectroscopy and laboratory electronics. I was surprised to learn that Malmstadt had given up his busy professorship at the University of Illinois to move to Hawaii and help found the University of the Nations, a non-denominational Christian school with students from more than 80 countries.

I had no idea why Dr. Malmstadt and his colleagues asked so many questions during the meeting. Only later did I learn they were interviewing me for a prospective teaching position. When the invitation was extended, I was elated. Not only would I be able to work with students from around the world, I would also be able to calibrate instruments at the Mauna Loa Observatory.

Each year since that meting I have visited Hawaii at least once to teach and to calibrate instruments. Last week I returned from the 16th trip with 5 gigabytes of digital photographs and data from Microtops II sun photometers and other instruments.

Microtops II is a highly specialized instrument that can measure the ozone layer, the water vapor layer or the aerosol optical depth (haze) of the atmosphere. The instrument is a commercial version of instruments I developed originally for "The Amateur Scientist," but which were never published after my column assignment was terminated. I named one of the those instruments TOPS (Total Ozone Portable Spectrometer).

Two TOPS instruments found a calibration drift in NASA's Nimbus-7 ozone measurements, a finding that resulted in my first paper in the journal Nature (F. M. Mims III, Satellite Monitoring Error, Nature, 361, 505, 1993). TOPS was also responsible for a 1993 Rolex Award, which provided the funds to hire my friend Scott Hagerup to design and build a microprocessor-controlled version of my basic instrument, which we called Microtops. The Solar Light Company liked Microtops and the science results I was getting, and Scott and I struck a business arrangement with the company that allowed them to develop an even more sophisticated instrument known as Microtops II.

The Microtops II calibrations this year were excellent, and a special ozone monitoring Microtops II in use since 1997 yielded ozone amounts within one percent of the much more expensive ozone instruments at Mauna Loa Observatory. A pair of sun photometer Microtops II instruments also yielded excellent results.

I also calibrated nine instruments for the GLOBE program. Three of these instruments are sun photometers that measure haze. My colleague at GLOBE, Dr. David Brooks of Drexel University, has just processed the first calibrations and sent notice of their quality. The correlation coefficients (r^2) exceeded 0.999 and the day-to-day variability of the calibrations was within about 1.5 percent. Not bad for a student-quality instrument. I also calibrated three instruments that measure the water vapor layer (or precipitable water) and three that measure full-sky ultraviolet-A.

The Mauna Loa Observatory is 3,397 meters (about 11,140 feet) above sea level. Working at this elevation can be tiring, and occasional trips down through the clouds to sea level for a swim, shower and real food were very helpful. These trips also provided opportunities to see Hawaii's remarkable scenery.

If ever you are able, a trip to the Big Island is a wonderful science destination. Bring your best camera and be prepared to capture images of the steam cloud caused by lava entering the Pacific Ocean, beautiful clouds, rainbows, waterfalls and roadside orchids. If you can afford to rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle or buy a seat on a tour, visit Mauna Kea to see its world-class astronomical observatories. The trip is rigorous, and the altitude change means children under about 16, pregnant women and overweight people should stay behind. Those who make the ascent should bring warm clothing and be sure to spend at least an hour at the visitor center midway up the mountain to acclimate to the altitude change.

The web has many sites about Hawaii, so you can easily ask Mr. Google or another search engine about Hawaiian destinations.

Forrest M. Mims III