Aykut A. Barka (1952-2002) EOS, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union, vol. 83 (44), pp. 499-500 (2002).
Aykut
Barka, a scientist respected throughout the world for the quality and depth
of his research, died on 1 February 2002 from injuries suffered in a car accident
five weeks earlier. Barka embodied the highest calling of science in service
to the public. He was known for his unstinting integrity; his humor, openness,
and selflessness; his plain talk to the Turkish public; and his tireless efforts
to convince the Turkish government to confront the potential for an earthquake
disaster in one of the most vulnerable countries in the world.
An identical twin, Barka was born in Istanbul on 7 January 1952. He received
a Ph.D. in 1981 from Bristol University in England, studying under the late
Paul Hancock. Barka was a senior geologist for the Turkish Geological Survey
(MTA) until 1985, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
from 1986 to 1990, professor at the Kandilli Observatory of Bosphorus University
from 1990 to 1991, and later, professor at Istanbul Technical University. From
1983 to 1984 he was a visiting scientist at the Geological Survey of Japan.
In 1985, he was a visiting professor at the University of Bristol, and in 1998
he was a visiting professor at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. He
also was a frequent visitor to the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.
Barka made deep and lasting contributions to the study of active faulting,
drawing upon the tools of geomorphology, paleoseismology, and space geodesy.
In a series of papers with R. Armijo, E. Altunel, S. Wesnousky, K. Kadinsky-Cade,
and N. Toksoz, Barka studied the neotectonics and paleoseismology of the north
and east Anatolian fault systems, focusing on the complexities of this great
transform fault at its eastern and western extremities. He showed how basins
could be used to understand the interaction of branching fault strands. This
work not only extended the precious record of large earthquakes back several
thousand years, but also offered a comprehensive model of the fault-driven evolution
of the Marmara Sea that, since his death, is being tested with side-scan sonar
and high-resolution bathymetric surveys and ocean bottom seismometer networks.
In a long and fruitful collaboration with R. Reilinger, C. Straub, H. Kahle,
R. McCluskey, and O. Lenk, Barka carried out the first comprehensive global
positioning system (GPS) surveys of the North Anatolian fault system, determining
its contemporary slip rate and the partitioning of slip on the strands that
lace the Marmara Sea. This knowledge is critical to an assessment of the likelihood
and size of earthquakes that threaten this heavily industrialized part of Turkey.
With C. Finkel and T. Rockwell, Barka re-appraised the record of earthquakes
that occurred over the past 500 years by tracing Roman canals offset by the
fault and trenching into its prehistoric ruptures. With H. Eyidogan, he investigated
the large 1992 Erzincan and 1995 Dinar earthquakes to learn how the ruptures
were controlled by fault geometry. When Barka realized that many of the villagers
who had experienced the great 1939-1944 earthquakes along the North Anatolian
fault would soon be gone, he went from village to village along 700 km of the
fault, sipping tea with the elders and letting them lead him to sites where
evidence of the earthquakes was uniquely preserved. His 1996 study of the slip
distribution for the 12 great earthquakes increased the number of observations
by an order of magnitude, opening the door to a new way to evaluate earthquake
interaction.
A 1997 study that Barka co-authored identified Izmit as the second-most likely
site for the next large North Anatolian fault event, and a M=7.4 event struck
there on 17 August 1999, catapulting him into the public eye. In a prescient
17 September 1999 article in Science, Barka argued that two faults were made
more vulnerable by the August 1999 Izmit shock: the Yalova to the west, and
the Duzce to the east. Two months later, the 12 November, M=7.1 Duzce earthquake
struck. This accurate and timely warning is simply without peer in the literature.
As a result of this warning, Duzce buildings partially damaged in August were
not reoccupied, and many of these collapsed in November. In papers that appeared
in Nature and Science in 2000, Barka and colleagues T. Parsons, S. Nalbant,
A. Hubert-Ferrari, G. King, and R. Stein studied how the 1999 Izmit and Duzce
shocks increased the seismic risk to Istanbul.
Barka felt that the public deserved to know the truth--both what is known
and what isn’t. He worried that reporters were unwilling or unable to
distinguish authoritative scientific counsel from the pronouncements of those
who seek only to soothe or scare the public. He urged the press corps to demand
to see publications in refereed journals on the topics in which scientists claimed
to have expertise.
Barka was relentless in his efforts to encourage the Turkish government to
take action to reduce the losses in future earthquakes, and he was rarely satisfied
with the response. He felt that as a citizen of Turkey and an inhabitant of
his beloved Istanbul, he could not face himself if he had not adequately warned
the public of the risks they confront. He neither sought nor enjoyed the limelight
of media attention, and the time away from his family and work came at a huge
cost. I know of few other scientists who sacrificed so much research time to
make such a public gift. Since his death, the city of Istanbul has acknowledged
this debt by naming a high school, a park, and a Bosphorus ferry in his honor.
A daily stream of scientists from all over the world traipsed through Barka's
cramped office at Istanbul Technical University and modest field camps to share
in research with him. Scientific collaboration can often be prickly, with struggles
for lead authorship sapping the pleasure of working together. With Barka, these
issues never arose. His generosity and humility made collaboration a joy and
an adventure. His scientific prestige sometimes made him a target for public
attacks in the press and at international meetings. Although this deeply upset
him, he argued cogently for his views and never lost his temper or took it personally.
At the time of his death, Barka had five papers in press and was supervising
10 graduate students. His students adored him, took care of him, and flourished
because of him. They are a precious resource for their nation and will carry
his torch far into this century. Emre Evren, one of Barka's PhD students, is
the recipient of the privately-funded 'Aykut A. Barka Memorial Scholarship.'
Evren will study under Philip England and Barry Parsons at Oxford University
during 2003, and will continue his GPS and stress-triggering studies of the
North Anatolian and Marmara faults.
Barka ran about 2 hours late for every appointment. He slept for just several
hours a night. His phones rang every 30 seconds. He rarely answered his hundreds
of daily e-mail messages, so one never knew where and when he would show up
next; every encounter came as a surprise. His travel schedule was impossible
and constantly in flux. He lovingly maintained his 1972 Peugeot, doing valve
jobs at the university parking lot before racing to the airport to fly down
the fault, or walking for hours in the middle of the night, carrying his radiator,
in search of an insomniac welder. He loved fresh seafood simply prepared, Turkish
carpets, and sailing down the Bosphorus on the yacht he restored with his brothers.
Most of all, he loved to laugh with family and friends. He is survived by his
wife, Sheree, and his children, Dagcan and Isabel.
Barka's death is a great loss to both his nation and Earth science. But the
message of his life's work is clear: Strive to understand the mystery and hazards
of the Earth on which we live and communicate that insight--both the joy of
discovery and the risk of disaster--to those most affected.
Author: R.S. Stein, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA.
Aykut
Barka, a scientist respected throughout the world for the quality and depth
of his research, died on 1 February 2002 from injuries suffered in a car accident
five weeks earlier. Barka embodied the highest calling of science in service
to the public. He was known for his unstinting integrity; his humor, openness,
and selflessness; his plain talk to the Turkish public; and his tireless efforts
to convince the Turkish government to confront the potential for an earthquake
disaster in one of the most vulnerable countries in the world.