Pearn P. Niiler

Pearn "Peter" Niiler (1937, Tartu, Estonia, – 15 October 2010, San Diego) was an American oceanographer known for his scientific contributions to ocean circulation and the Global Drifter Program.

In 1948, Niiler, his six siblings and parents arrived in Pittsburgh from a displaced persons camp in Germany where they had lived after fleeing Estonia during World War II.

His father, Herbert Niiler, coached the Estonia national basketball team at the 1936 Olympic Games and later ran a YMCA camp near Zelienople, Pennsylvania.

His final field project was related to tropical hurricanes influence on ocean mixing in the Western Pacific.

Niiler was particularly interested in typhoon cold wake to study relaxation of the mixed layer temperature after cyclone passage.

[citation needed] His interests included measurements of flow and theory of variability of eastern boundary current systems, relationship of heat flux to global sea surface temperature variability, Lagrangian circulation measurements in mixed layers of the world ocean, and response of upper ocean to tropical storms.