DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 4-8 October 2004

• No more major hurricanes forecasted -- Last Friday, Professor William Gray of Colorado State University issued a forecast in which he said that he foresaw no more major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale) for the rest of the 2004 North Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs through 30 November. However, he thought that as many as three more named tropical cyclones (to include tropical storms and hurricanes) could form during the remainder of the season. [USA Today]
• Destruction by Jeanne documented from air -- At the end of last week NOAA posted more than 1200 high-resolution aerial images of the destruction along central Florida's Atlantic coastline caused by Hurricane Jeanne following the hurricane's landfall near Vero Beach one week ago last Saturday night. [NOAA News]
• Florida beaches in bad shape from hurricanes -- State officials in Florida have been assessing the damage caused to state beaches as a consequence of the four hurricanes that made landfall in the state during the last two months. These hurricanes have relocated enormous quantities of sand and the experts have noted that efforts to clean up and restore the beaches will be extremely costly. [USA Today]
• Hurricanes could delay Space Shuttles -- The delays as a result of the four hurricanes that struck Florida and the central Gulf coast during August and September appears to have caused the postponement of the first launch of a Space Shuttle since the February 2003 Columbia disaster by roughly one month to May or June 2005. [CNN]
• Harmful algae forecast system now operational for Gulf Coast -- The NOAA Administrator, Conrad C. Lautenbacher announced last week that a new operational system became operational last Friday, which would permit the production of twice weekly forecasts of harmful algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida coasts, along with assessments of the likely impacts to the environment. [NOAA News]
• West Coast algae bloom sighted -- Scientists from the University of Washington and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center at the end of last week reported that a toxic algae bloom located approximately 15 miles off the Washington State coast had grown to a record 30 mile width. [ENN]
• Gulf "dead zone" shrinking -- Scientists from Texas A & M University and Louisiana State University recently reported that during a research cruise in the northern Gulf of Mexico in August, they found to their surprise that the region of low oxygen and marine losses dubbed the "dead zone" appears to have either moved or disappeared. [EurekAlert!]
• Right whales appear to be making a comeback -- During a survey last month, NOAA scientists spotted approximately twice as many right whales in the Bering Sea as previously thought, suggesting a possible comeback of this species that had been hunted to near extinction. [CNN]
• More fish being consumed by Americans -- In its annual report, NOAA Fisheries reported that Americans ate a record 16.3 pounds of fish and shellfish per person in 2003, which marked a four-percent increase over the previous year. [NOAA News]
• A fish shortage could endanger millions -- The World Resources Institute recently reported that overfishing is appearing to threaten over two-thirds of the world's most valuable fish species, potentially threatening hundreds of millions of people especially in the developing countries in Africa and Asia with major food shortages and loss of income. [ENN]
• More curbs placed on cruise ship pollution -- California governor Arnold Schwartzenegger signed legislation late last week that would ban cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from incinerating trash or dumping gray water within three miles of the California coast. [ENN]
• Mapping the genome of diatoms could yield information on carbon cycle -- A genomic map of diatoms, single cell organisms that are found in the oceans, could provide valuable information as to how these organisms absorb carbon dioxide and affect the global carbon cycle. [EurekAlert!]
• Source of global "hum" identified -- Scientists from the University of California have suggested that the low frequency noise or "hum" emanating from the earth may be produced by storms over the Pacific and Southern Oceans that generate ocean waves, which then transfer some energy to the ocean floor by infragravity waves where seismic waves are produced. [BBC]
• Protection for reef fish requested -- The WWF and the IUCN-World Conservation Union have requested that the rare reef fish called the humphead wrasse in the Indo-Pacific should be guarded from overfishing. [BBC]
• Earthweek--Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: The Ocean and the Global Radiation Budget

The ocean is an important player in the radiational heating and cooling of Planet Earth. For one, covering about 71% of Earth's surface, the ocean is a primary control of how much solar radiation is absorbed (converted to heat) at the Earth's surface. Also, the ocean is the main source of the most important greenhouse gas (water vapor) and is an important regulator of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), another greenhouse gas.

On an annual average, the ocean absorbs about 92% of the solar radiation striking its surface; the balance is reflected to space. Most of this absorption takes place within about 200 m (650 ft) of the surface with the depth of penetration of sunlight limited by the amount of suspended particles and discoloration caused by dissolved substances. On the other hand, at high latitudes multi-year pack ice greatly reduces the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the ocean. The snow-covered surface of sea ice absorbs only about 15% of incident solar radiation and reflects away the rest. At present, multi-year pack ice covers about 7% of the ocean surface with greater coverage in the Arctic Ocean than the Southern Ocean (mostly in Antarctica's Weddell Sea).

The atmosphere is nearly transparent to incoming solar radiation but much less transparent to outgoing infrared (heat) radiation. This differential transparency with wavelength is the basis of the greenhouse effect. Certain trace gases in the atmosphere absorb outgoing infrared and radiate some of this energy to Earth's surface thereby significantly elevating the planet's surface temperature. Most water vapor, the principal greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere via evaporation of seawater. Carbon dioxide, a lesser greenhouse gas, cycles into and out of the ocean depending on the sea surface temperature and photosynthesis/respiration by marine organisms in surface waters. Cold water can dissolve more carbon dioxide than warm water so that carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere where surface waters are chilled (at high latitudes and upwelling zones) and released to the atmosphere where surface waters are heated (at low latitudes). Photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and all organisms release carbon dioxide via cellular respiration.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. If the ocean's pack ice cover were to shrink, the ocean would absorb [(more)(less)] solar radiation.
2. All other factors being equal, if sea surface temperatures were to rise, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolved in surface ocean waters would likely [(increase) (decrease)].

• 4 October 1582...The Gregorian Calendar was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII to correct for an increasing discrepancy between the leap year corrections of the Julian Calendar and the actual length of the year marked by the earth's orbit of the sun. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, 4 October of this year was followed directly by 15 October, skipping over 10 days. (Wikipedia)
• 4 October 1869...A great storm struck New England. The storm reportedly was predicted twelve months in advance by a British officer named Saxby. Heavy rains and flooding plagued all of New England, with strong winds and high tides along the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Canton, CT was deluged with 12.35 inches of rain. (David Ludlum)
• 5 October 1972...Heavy rains, mostly the remnants of Tropical Storm Joanne, fell across much of Arizona. It was believed to be the first time in Arizona weather history that a tropical storm entered the state with its circulation still intact. The center was over Flagstaff early on the 7th. (3rd-7th) (The Weather Channel)
• 5-7 October 1999...A storm southeast of New Zealand caused surf to reach heights of 12 ft along the south shores of all the Hawaiian Islands, flooding some roads and parking lots. The lobby of the Kihei Beach Resort on Maui and three ground floor units were flooded. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 7 October 1737...A furious cyclone in the Bay of Bengal caused a major disaster at the mouth of the Hoogby River near Calcutta, India. As many as 300,000 people were killed, mainly as the result of the storm's forty foot high surge. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 9 October 1873...LT Charles Belknap called a meeting at the Naval Academy to establish the U.S. Naval Institute for the purpose of disseminating scientific and professional knowledge throughout the U.S. Navy. (Navy Historical Center)
• 9 October 1967...A cyclone of relatively small dimension with a surface width of only 31 miles, hit India's coast at Orissa and moved to the northeast along the coast for 75 miles. As many as 1000 people and 50,000 head of cattle died. A tidal wave in the storm's wake penetrated 16 miles inland. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 10-16 October 1780...The most deadly Western Hemisphere hurricane on record raged across the Caribbean Sea. This "Great Hurricane of 1780" killed 22,000 people on the islands of Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. Thousands more died at sea. (The Weather Doctor)
• 10 October 1845...Naval School, renamed the U.S. Naval Academy, opened in Annapolis, MD with 50 midshipmen students and seven faculty. (Navy Historical Center)
• 10 October 1861...Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, oceanographer, statesman, and humanitarian was born. Nansen led a number of expeditions to the Arctic (1888, 1893, 1895-96) and oceanographic expeditions in the North Atlantic (1900, 1910-14). He wrote The Oceanography of the North Polar Basin (1902). For his relief work after World War I, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1922. (Today in Science)
• 10 October 1913...President Woodrow Wilson with the aid of a telegraph signal sent from Washington, DC triggered the demolition of the Gamboa Dike, allowing water to fill the Culebra Cut and create Lake Gatun, at 85 ft above sea level, the largest man-made lake at that time. This act signaled the completion of construction of the Panama Canal, which would eventually open to ship traffic between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on 14 August 1914. (Wikipedia, Today in Science)

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Prepared by AMS DataStreme Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.