What came of the findings of the Heard Island Feasibility Test? Did the team get the informationthey were looking for and how would this technique be used by future generations of scientists?In this episode, hear about the experiment’s immediate aftermath as well as its long-termlegacy.
Oct 28, 2025
55 min
The use of sound waves to detect a “whole ocean” temperature required finding a remotelocation, where Munk's team could deploy their signal without interference. Heard Island,located 2,500 miles off the west coast of Australia, was suitably secluded. In this episode, hearabout the lead up to and execution of the Heard Island Feasibility Test in 1991. And, as word ofthe experiment grew, the team was met with unexpected controversy that threatened to halt theexperiment before it even started.
Oct 21, 2025
38 min
In the early 1990s, Walter Munk (APS 1965) and his colleagues organized a global experimentthat they hoped might solve a major problem facing the planet—how to measure global warmingof the oceans. In this episode, learn about how Walter Munk came to be known as the “Einsteinof the oceans” and how he built a team of scientists to try to answer a simple but surprisinglydifficult question—what was the temperature of the oceans across the globe?
Oct 14, 2025
44 min