Dalrymple Award for Chilean hydrographer
Rear Admiral Patricio Carrasco, Director of the Chilean Navy’s Hydrographic & Oceanographic Service (SHOA) in Valparaiso, is this year’s recipient of the UK Hydrographic Office’s annual Alexander Dalrymple Award for outstanding contributions to world hydrography.
Presenting the Award at a ceremony in London last month, Julian Brazier, the UK government Reserves Minister responsible for the UKHO, said it was in recognition of Admiral Carrasco’s leading role for the development of hydrography in South American regions which included the particularly challenging task of developing a modern Tsunami warning centre serving Chile’s lengthy Pacific coastline. Close involvement with wider inter-state International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) working groups including the Hydrographic Commission in Antarctica (HCA) were among other notable contributions.
Dedicated to the memory of Alexander Dalrymple, founder of what is now the UKHO in 1795, the prestigious Award was instituted in 2006. Previous recipients include leading hydrographic figures from France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, UK and the US.
By David Goodfellow
