WEEK FIVE: 4-8 October 2010

ITEM OF INTEREST --

• Celebrate Earth Science Week -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized next week (10-16 October 2010) as Earth Science Week to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 12th annual Earth Science Week is "Exploring Energy", designed to "engage young people and the public in learning about Earth's energy resources." [American Geological Institute]

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics ---
During the past week minimal tropical cyclone activity was detected across the tropical ocean basins in the Northern Hemisphere. In the North Atlantic Basin, a tropical depression that formed early last week over the western Caribbean intensified into Tropical Storm Nicole, the fourteenth named tropical cyclone of the basin's 2010 hurricane season, over the Straits of Florida after passing across Cuba. However, this minimal tropical storm was short lived as it dissipated approximately six-hours after intensifying, but the remnant low pressure system continued to provide prolific rain across the Southeastern States in conjunction with a midlatitude frontal boundary at the end of the week. For more information and satellite images of Tropical Storm Nicole, please consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• GRIP Hurricane Research Campaign ends --
Late last week, NASA's six-week GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) Hurricane Mission drew to a close. This field experiment, designed to understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes, included a DC aircraft based in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and a Global Hawk drone from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California. [NASA GRIP Hurricane Mission]
• Historical Atlantic hurricanes can be tracked easily on line --
NOAA recently updated their NOAA website that permits the public to easily access and display the tracks and other information on user specified North Atlantic hurricanes during the last 159 years. This website provides storm paths based upon several options that include US zip code, state, year or storm name. Besides a downloadable map of the storm track, additional supplemental information on population trends and frequency of hurricane strikes is also generated. [NOAA News]
• Public comments invited on proposed research in marine sanctuary --
NOAA officials are inviting public comments through mid December concerning the creation of a research area in the agency's Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary located in the Atlantic waters off the Georgia coast. This research area is to evaluate the potential effects of human activities on sanctuary resources. [NOAA News]
• NOAA Administrator comments on fisheries enforcement report --
The NOAA Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, recently responded to the Inspector General's final report on fisheries enforcement, which was made following earlier complaints about the agency's enforcement programs. [NOAA News]
• Grants provide support for recovery of threatened and endangered species --
During the last week, NOAA’s Fisheries Service announced that $12.6 million had been provided in grants to 19 states and territories across the nation that would be designed to support local recovery efforts for threatened and endangered species. [NOAA News]
• Effects of Gulf oil spill receive continued attention --
Although the leaking oil well that created last spring's infamous BP/Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill appears to be permanently capped, attention remains upon the effects that the spilled oil have had on the marine ecosystem. Several developments have occurred within the last week:
• Additional waters reopened to fishing --
After consultation with the US Food and Drug Administration, NOAA Fisheries Service opened more than 5500 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast near the Mississippi River Delta to commercial and recreational fishing at the end of last week. At that time, approximately 89 percent of federal waters were open. [NOAA News]
• Strategy defined for future reopening declarations --
Officials with NOAA’s Fisheries Service recently described the protocol that the agency uses before making a declaration reopening a section of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico impacted by last spring's Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill to commercial and recreational fishing. During this process, a prescribed set of seafood sampling and testing priorities is maintained for federal closed area [NOAA News]
• Interagency resource restoration planning process commences --
Last week, officials with NOAA, the US Department of the Interior and the co-trustees for natural resources affected by the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill announced they have started the injury assessment and restoration planning phase of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment. This legal process is designed to determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources and their human uses as a result of the spill. [NOAA News]
• Analyzing the 2010 summer heat --
Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) who analyzed the Northern Hemisphere's summer 2010 temperatures reported that their analysis showed that globally, the temperatures for boreal summer (June through August) were the fourth highest in their 131-year temperature record. In comparison, the global temperature for the previous 2009 summer was the second highest. The slightly lower numbers this past summer were attributed to a moderate La Niña (lower than normal temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean) replacing a moderate El Niño (higher than normal temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean) in 2009. [NASA GISS]
• Use of fisheries law enforcement hotline encouraged --
NOAA officials are encouraging the public to use the agency's fisheries enforcement web site or telephone hotline to report complaints, problems or possible violations of law related to the nation's fishing and its enforcement program. [NOAA News]
• Research finds "unprecedented" change in Lake Michigan --
Based upon several decades of research, scientists at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research, and other academic partners have found that the complex network of predators and prey that inhabit Lake Michigan has drastically changed since the 1980s. This change appears to result in an uncertain future for the food web, along with management of water quality and fisheries. [NOAA News]
• Colorado River flows could be reduced this winter by ocean conditions --
In a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles, researchers have found that the combination of La Niña with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, two other long-term cyclic oscillations in oceanic temperatures, tends to result in drought in the upper reaches of the Colorado River. Based upon current conditions, these researchers predict a reduction in the stream flow on the Colorado River during this upcoming winter as drought conditions would appear to continue across the Southwest. [UCLA Newsroom]
• Tiled fields in Mississippi Valley contribute to nitrates in the Gulf --
Scientists from the University of Illinois and Cornell University have found that the installation of tile systems in farm fields across the Mississippi Basin designed to drain land too wet to farm and to increase agricultural productivity has also contributed to increases in nitrate loss from these fields. This increased nitrate concentration in streams that are part of the Mississippi watershed do to the tiled-drained areas appear to be the largest contributing source of nitrate into the Gulf of Mexico, leading to seasonal hypoxia, or regions of low dissolved oxygen concentrations that are also known as "dead zones." [EurekAlert!]
• Changes in Australia coastal fish species related to climate change --
Scientists associated with CSIRO's Climate Adaptation and Wealth from Oceans Flagships claim that significant changes in the distribution of approximately 30 percent of coastal fish species in southeastern Australia appear to have been due to increased water temperatures in the Tasman Sea associated with climate change. (CSIRO is Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.) [CSIRO]
• Offshore San Andreas Fault and associated ecosystems mapped --
Scientists from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Oregon State University, the California Seafloor Mapping Program, the U.S. Geological Survey and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are using an innovative research vessel along with advanced technology to image and map the previously unexplored offshore regions of the northern San Andreas Fault from near San Francisco northward to the "Mendocino Triple Junction", the intersection of the three tectonic plates off Cape Mendocino. [EurekAlert!]
• An interactive Global Ice Viewer unveiled --
Officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently unveiled the agency's interactive tool called "Global Ice Viewer" that permits the public to take a tour of polar ice caps in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica where changing climate is causing large scale change in the planetary ice cover. [NASA JPL]
• Widespread threats to world's rivers found --
A recent report made by nine international research institutions, including the City College of the City University of New York and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, demonstrates that multiple environmental "stressors" are threatening the rivers that serve approximately 80 percent of the world's population. These stressors, which are factors or stimuli that cause stress in the system, include anthropogenic pollution, agricultural runoff and the presence of invasive species and will threaten biodiversity and human water security. [EurekAlert!]
• An All-Hazards Monitor --
This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes --
A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• 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 a major 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)].

Historical Events

• 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 Guide 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 Guide 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 surge in the storm's wake penetrated 16 miles inland. (Accord Weather Guide 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 History)
• 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 History)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.