The longtime University of Hawaii researcher, who moved to Kona after retirement, achieved one of the first advances in a tsunami warning system with development of ocean gauges to measure tides and waves in the 1960s.   He headed a UH research outpost on Fanning Island, 1,200 miles from Hawaii, and was field chief of the Line Island scientific program during the International Geophysical Year.   He commuted there for the Northern Pacific Experiment, part of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration.  He directed magnetic, seismological and oceanographic studies and developed weather and ocean recording equipment to forecast climate changes.  Vitousek used his 72-foot schooner, Fiesta, the “Wackiest Ship” in the film, to carry supplies and replacements to stations on Palmyra, Jarvis and Fanning islands.  “Because of his presence in the Line Islands, haoles got to be known as 'Martys,'” recalled Tom Schroeder, UH meteorologist and Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research director.  Schroeder said Vitousek, associated with the JIMAR for many years, “was a legend for flying solo from here to Fanning Island” in the 1960s and 1970s.  “We always tried to figure out how he did it in that little airplane.”

George Curtis, UH-Hilo professor formerly at Manoa, worked on many projects with Vitousek.  “The best one and the longest was adapting an infrared scanning system from a U-2 (spy plane) to look for fresh water sources on the Kona-Kohala coastline.”  Vitousek, who started at UH as a mathematics professor, also used his plane for search missions.  He circled Palmyra Island in 1974 looking for LaVerne and Malcolm Graham after their ketch, the Seawind, was stolen and they were reported missing.  “He was also famous for trying to land with his dad in the middle of the Pearl Harbor bombing,” Schroeder said.  Vitousek and his father, Honolulu attorney Roy L. Vitousek Sr., were flying in a light plane near Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombers and torpedo planes arrived.  Then a Punahou senior, Vitousek spotted what he thought was the first bomb dropped.

Lorenz Magaard, associate dean of the UH School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology, said Vitousek was “an extremely versatile colleague who was master of many aspects of our sciences.”  “Marty's principal interest was the tsunami problem, and he was very accomplished at designing and building instruments,” said Dennis Moore, former JIMAR director.

Survivors include Vitousek's wife, Tokantai; sons Clinton, Terii and Kimo; daughters Georgina and Taouea Vitousek, Bibiana Strickland and Marieta Prudholm; stepdaughter Catherine Wiggins; and grandchild. Memorial services will be at 5 p.m. Friday at the Keauhou Canoe Club, Kona.  Call after 4 p.m. Ashes will be scattered at sea at sundown. A potluck gathering will follow.  Aloha attire.  Loose flowers and leis welcome.