DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK ELEVEN: 12-16 April 2004

• Maritime mishaps:
• South Florida coral reef damaged by freighter-- Divers recently discovered that substantial damage to a coral reef was sustained when a Greek freighter ran aground off Port Everglades in Florida at the end of March. [Sun-Sentinel]
• Research vessel strikes uncharted reef-- A large trawler used by NOAA to research the Shelikof pollock fishery off Alaska ran aground on an uncharted reef off the coast of Kodiak Island and received substantial damage. [Juneau Empire]
• Killer whale to be reunited with family-- Officials from NOAA Fisheries and from Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced plans to return a juvenile orca (killer) whale to its family pod after nearly 3 years of separation off the coast of British Columbia. [NOAA News]
• Buoy deployed to support humanitarian efforts-- Officials at the National Data Buoy Center recently announced that they were deploying a meteorological buoy to the waters off the north shore of Haiti to provide weather and sea state information in support of the Combined Joint Task Force operations for "Operation Secure Tomorrow" in Haiti. [NOAA News]
• Satellites help save lives-- The assistant administrator of the NOAA Satellites and Information Service reported that 60 people were rescued during the first 3 months of 2004 as a result of NOAA satellites and the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System known as COSPAS-SARSAT. [NOAA News]
• New instrument for monitoring arctic ice tested-- An instrument was recently tested onboard an aircraft flying over the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole that will be used onboard the European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite to monitor small changes in the thickness of polar ice sheets and sea ice. [ESA News]
• Sea turtles nesting earlier -- Biologists at the University of Central Florida have found that loggerhead turtles are laying their eggs along Florida's Atlantic coast nearly 10 days earlier than 15 years ago. The scientists believe that the earlier dates are related to the increase of near-shore ocean temperatures by nearly 1.5 Fahrenheit degrees during this time span. [EurekAlert!]
• Argentina provides protective boost for coastal wildlife-- The Argentinean government recently committed to the Patagonia Coastal Zone Management Plan by signing an agreement that would safeguard its 2000-mile coastal zone from harmful development activities, thereby protecting coastal wildlife that includes sea lions and penguins. [EurekAlert!]
• Exploring the seafloor--
• Paving the seafloor with bricks -- An oceanographer with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution describes how the information recently obtained from such underwater devices as the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) has improved understanding of the details of lava flows and how they pave the seafloor. [Oceanus]
• Reconstructing the history of seafloor life -- A biologist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution describes how marine scientists have been attempting to reconstruct the history of life on the ocean floor. [Oceanus]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes-- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Living Coral and El Niño

El Niño episodes of 1982-83 and 1997-1998, the most intense of the century, confirmed the connection between higher than average ocean temperatures and bleaching of hermatypic corals. (Hermatypic corals live in warm shallow water and build large reefs.) Water temperatures higher than 29 °C (the normal maximum sea surface temperature in the equatorial eastern Pacific) can trigger expulsion of zooxanthellae, microscopic dinoflagellites whose symbiotic relationship with coral polyps is essential for the long-term survival of coral. Without zooxanthellae, coral polyps have little pigmentation and appear nearly transparent on the coral's white skeleton, a condition known as coral bleaching. If maximum temperatures are not too high for too long, corals can recover, but prolonged warming associated with an intense El Niño (that may persist for 12 to 18 months) can be lethal to coral. Most hermatypic corals thrive when the water temperature is 27 °C, but do not grow when the water becomes too cold. Although the ideal temperature varies with species and from one location to another, the temperature range for optimal growth is quite narrow-only a few Celsius degrees. This sensitivity to relatively small changes in water temperature is an important source of information on past climates as fossil coral is a significant component of many limestones. Evidence of bleaching episodes in fossil corals may yield important clues to past changes in the world's tropical ocean.

Coral, sometimes referred to as "the rainforests of the ocean," provides a base for local ecosystems and have many benefits (e.g., fisheries, tourism) that are important in many parts of the globe. Hence, vulnerability to El Niño-associated warming is an object of considerable scientific interest. During the 1997-98 El Niño, NOAA charted significant coral bleaching from portions of the Great Barrier Reef near Australia, French Polynesia in the south Pacific, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya, and around the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Closer to home, coral bleaching was reported in the Florida Keys, the Cayman Islands, and off the Pacific coast of Panama and Baja California. Fortunately damage from the 1997-98 El Niño warming was less drastic than the 1983-84 El Niño when up to 95% of the corals in some locations died. Many of the corals damaged in the late 1990s have at least partially recovered including important reefs in the Florida Keys. For additional information on coral status go to the NOAA website http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. Most hermatypic corals thrive at an ocean water temperature of [(10) (27)] °C.
2. Corals [(can) (cannot)] recover from bleaching if high ocean water temperatures are not long lasting.

• 13 April 1960...The Navy's navigation satellite, Transit, was placed into orbit from Cape Canaveral, FL and demonstrated the ability to launch another satellite. (Naval Historical Center)
• 14 April 1543...Bartolomé Ferrelo returned to Spain after assuming command of the ill-fated expedition of the Spanish navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (who died on San Miguel Island in California's Channel Islands). The expedition was the first known entry by Europeans into San Francisco Bay in the New World.
• 14-15 April 1912...The British steamer RMS Titanic sank following its collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland on its maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York. The collision occurred at about 11:45 PM on 14 April and the ship, which was considered unsinkable, sank in 21/2 hours during the early morning hours of the 15^th. Reports showed 1517 people out of 2207 onboard lost their lives in this accident. As a result of this disaster, certification and life saving devices were improved and an International Ice Patrol was established to monitor the iceberg hazards in the North Atlantic. The U.S. Coast Guard continues to conduct much of the effort. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 16 April 1851...The famous "Lighthouse Storm" (a "nor'easter") raged near Boston Harbor. Whole gales and gigantic waves destroyed the 116-ft Minot Ledge Light at Cohasset, MA with the loss of its two keepers still inside. The lighthouse was the first one built in the United States that was exposed to the full force of the ocean. The storm coupled with a spring tide resulted in massive flooding, great shipping losses and coastal erosion. Streets in Boston were flooded to the Custom House. (David Ludlum) (US Coast Guard Historians Office) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 April 1854...A furious storm that produced two feet of snow at New Brunswick, NJ also caused approximately 18 shipwrecks along the New Jersey coast. The immigrant ship Powhattan beached 100 yards from the shore. With rescue impossible, 340 people on board lost their lives. "The shrieks of the drowning creatures were melancholy indeed." (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 17 April 1524...Giovanni Verrazano, a Florentine navigator, onboard the frigate La Dauphine "discovered" New York Bay.
• 18 April 1848...U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan, commanded by LT William F. Lynch, reached the Dead Sea. (Naval Historical Center)

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