University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa professor of Earth Sciences Craig Richard Glenn passed away on September 5, after a four-year battle with severe health problems. Glenn was known worldwide for his pioneering research on submarine groundwater discharge in Hawaiʻi, especially in developing and applying remote sensing techniques.
He was a key instructor in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) for essential and famous courses in sedimentology, stratigraphy and marine geology, and he was heavily engaged in service to the scientific community.
Glenn joined the department (formerly the Department of Geology and Geophysics) at UH Mānoa in the late 1980’s and served for more than 35 years. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Earth Science at University of California Santa Cruz, and his doctoral in marine geology at the University of Rhode Island, and then spent a year as a research fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
During his early career, Glenn’s research focused on modern and ancient paleoproductivity and marine authigenic mineral formation. In the early 2000s he led a National Science Foundation-funded project to use aerial thermal infrared imagery to map submarine groundwater discharge along the Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island. The project produced numerous high-resolution, spatially extensive images illustrating the leaky nature of the coastal zone and abundant groundwater discharge into the ocean.
U.S. Supreme Court cites Lahaina groundwater study
More recently, Glenn led the Department of Health and Army Corps of Engineering-funded landmark study titled the “Lahaina Groundwater Tracer Study,” which became the basis of a U.S. Supreme Court decision about the vital role of groundwater on the health of the nation’s oceans, rivers and lakes. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer is cited in expressing how impressed he was with the science articulated about groundwater pollution, “The scientists really convinced me they’re geniuses and they can trace all kinds of things…”
UH Mānoa’s Department of Earth Sciences story noted, “This is an example of Professor Glenn’s excellence in bringing together scientists and stakeholders to address tough problems in water resources. He has since continued to advance our understanding of submarine groundwater discharge via source tracking of nutrients and recharge, and improved remote sensing techniques.”
