Preliminary Note on the Oceanographic Program 
of the Hawaii Marine Laboratory 
Dr. Harald U. Sverdrup, director of the 
Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the Uni¬ 
versity of California, was invited to come to the 
University of Hawaii for the period November 
14 to 22 to advise upon a program of ocean¬ 
ographic investigation to be undertaken at the 
new Hawaii Marine Laboratory. Plans for the 
erection of the laboratory building are now com¬ 
pleted and the physical plant should be ready 
for use during the latter part of 1948. Details 
on the laboratory and its attendant docks, ma¬ 
rine railway, outdoor tidal ponds, and aquarium 
tanks together with the operating policies will 
appear later. The entire physical plant and the 
endowment for its operation have been donated 
to the University of Hawaii by Edwin W. 
Pauley and four associates, Harold Pauley, Allen 
Chase, Poncet Davis, and Samuel B. Mosher, 
co-owners of the small island, Moku-O-Loe, in 
Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, on which the laboratory 
will be situated. The University of California 
will cooperate with the University of Hawaii in 
many of the activities of the laboratory, which 
will be equipped for biological as well as ocean¬ 
ographic research. 
Plans outlined for oceanographic research at 
the laboratory emphasize those aspects of ocean¬ 
ography peculiar to this sub-tropical region of 
the central Pacific. Broadly speaking, the ocean¬ 
ographic program may be called a study of the 
ecology of the near-shore and off-shore waters 
around the islands of Hawaii, and the study is 
readily divided into three phases: (1) Ecology 
of the near-shore waters, i.e., primarily the 
waters inside the reefs; (2) ecology of the 
transition region beyond the reef; (3) ecology 
of the oceanic waters. 
These subdivisions are established for the 
following reasons: The very near-shore waters 
67 
have their endemic faunal and floral populations 
but these waters are also the nursery grounds for 
much of the food of pelagic fishes. Within many 
of the near-shore areas there is a rapid exchange 
of water with the outside, and it appears pos¬ 
sible that a considerable amount of the organic 
matter present off the reef area is produced on 
and inside the reef. The region directly beyond 
the reef is another ecological subdivision, dis¬ 
tinct in character from the oceanic water at 
greater distances from the shore. How far the 
near-shore effects reach is unknown. Similarly, 
it is not known if the off-shore waters are uni¬ 
form or if variable conditions related to external 
influences such as variable winds or upwelling 
are commonly encountered. 
Kaneohe Bay is well suited for an intensive 
study of near-shore waters. The bay inside the 
reef has an area of about 15 square miles, and 
is connected with the outside waters by several 
channels. This study will involve (1) a pro¬ 
gram of sounding for the purpose of construct¬ 
ing a chart of the bottom topography, (2) the; 
collection of bottom samples for the preparation, 
of a chart showing the character of the bottom 
with particular reference to its biological sig¬ 
nificance, (3) the recording of tidal observa¬ 
tions in order to reduce observed depths to a 
common level and possibly to give some indica¬ 
tion of the transport of water across the reef,, 
(4) a study of the exchange of water between 
the bay and the open sea, (5) a study of the 
temperature distribution for the purpose of re¬ 
lating possible variations to the pattern of cir¬ 
culation and to the effect of radiation, (6) a 
study of transparency by regular observations, 
(7) a chemical investigation of salinity, oxygen, 
phosphates, nitrates, and, intermittently, calcium, 
alkalinity, pH, and other characteristics, all of' 
