DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 21-25 February 2005

• Survivors of a tropical cyclone found -- A US Coast Guard aircraft found six survivors of Tropical Cyclone Olaf onboard their crippled fishing boat off American Samoa nearly two days after the tropical cyclone (the South Pacific counterpart of a hurricane) hit the islands. [USA Today]
• Sustainable fish farming explored -- Scientists with the NOAA and the University of New Hampshire have been conducting a test program called the Open Ocean Aquaculture Demonstration Project that has produced the first halibut grown in offshore deep water cages, demonstrating that an economical and environmentally suitable aquaculture industry could be developed offshore. [NOAA Magazine]
• A new observing systems website is online -- NOAA officials recently unveiled a new website called NOSA (NOAA Observing Systems Architecture) that provides information on a variety of instruments and instrument platforms that agencies within NOAA have been using during the last three decades for monitoring the earth's environment. [NOAA News]
• New Fisheries Survey Vessel on maiden voyage -- The FSV (Fisheries Survey Vessel) Oscar Dyson, NOAA's newest ship, is on its maiden voyage from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal. [NOAA News]
• International agreement reached on global observation network -- Representatives from the US and nearly 60 other countries along with 40 scientific organizations met at the Third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels and agreed to implement a 10-year plan for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). This plan is intended to create a comprehensive linked system of environmental systems and data sets, which will be available for information and research on the global ocean and water cycle. [NOAA News] A European perspective is also available. [ESA]
• Ocean trash bill introduced -- Senators from Alaska and Hawaii recently introduced a bill in the US Senate that would authorize NOAA to remove thousands of tons of trash that annually wash up on the nation's shores and empower the US Coast Guard with additional enforcement of laws regarding pollution from ships. [ENN]
• A grisly task continues -- Workers with various international aid organizations who are helping in tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia report that the retrieval of bodies could take more months than previously estimated. [US Water News Online]
• Human-induced ocean warming detected--A team of scientists, including those from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, report that their computer models and "observed" data provide clear evidence that the world's oceans have warmed as a consequence of human activity. [Scripps News]
• Modeling of huge waves -- A professor at Texas A&M University has created a numerical model that can be used to forecast huge waves on the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Maine. [EurekAlert!]
• Increased nitrogen pollution found in nation's coastal waters -- Scientists from Cornell University and the University of California-Berkley reported that nitrogen pollution has increased much faster than previously thought in the watersheds and estuaries that are part of the nation's coast system because of increased fossil fuel combustion from vehicles and power plants. [EurekAlert!]
• New views of the ocean floor -- New technologies, including 3-D visualization programs, have been developed that permit scientists to remotely explore the ocean floor. [EurekAlert!]
• Discovering the secret lives of whales -- Scientists have been employing a variety of techniques, including genetics, sonar, submersibles and toxicology to study the lives of whales. [EurekAlert!] Using antisubmarine acoustic equipment, a researcher at Cornell University has been studying the songs and calls made by whales. He has found that whales can communicate over long distances in the North Atlantic Basin, but he warns that sound pollution from increased human activity could be a threat to the whales. [Cornell News]
• A new approach needed for restoration of an important estuary -- Scientists have called for a new approach to the nearly 20 years of restoration attempts that have been employed for Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary. This new approach that would involve state and federal agencies is called "adaptive management". [EurekAlert!]
• New scientific techniques needed for fisheries -- Scientists recently called for fisheries managers to implement the new scientific discoveries in order to rebuild their fisheries. [EurekAlert!]
• Melting ice indicates global change -- A Penn State glaciologist points to the observed melting of mountain glaciers and ice sheets as an indication of a global warming. [EurekAlert!]
• A new use found for marine seaweed -- Scientists at Oregon State University and Northeastern University have discovered that marine seaweed can detoxify various organic pollutants. This discovery could lead to using seaweed as a protection agent in aquaculture. [EurekAlert!]
• 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: 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)].

• 21 February 1835...The HMS Beagle, along with Charles Darwin left Valdivia, Chile.
• 21 February 1907...During an exceptionally heavy gale, the British-owned mail ship Berlin hit dangerous shoals and broke up while attempting to navigate around the Hook of Holland in the English Channel. Only 14 on board survived; 127 were killed or drowned.
• 22-26 February 1995...Cyclone Bobby slammed into the Western Australia coast causing widespread flooding. Some areas reported up to 12 in. of rain from the storm. (The Weather Doctor)
• 23 February 1802...A great snowstorm raged along the New England coast producing 48 inches of snow north of Boston and 54 inches of snow at Epping, NH. Three large (indiamen) ships from Salem were wrecked along Cape Cod by strong winds. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 24 February 1881...De Lesseps' Company began work on the Panamá Canal
• 25 February 1977...An oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spilled 31 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean.
• 26 February 1935...Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated RADAR (Radio Detection & Ranging) for the first time, using the BBC shortwave radio transmitter to successfully detect the distance and direction of a flying bomber during the so-called Daventry Experiment.
• 26 February 1938...The passenger ship was equipped with radar.
• 27 February 1949...Aerial ice observation flights by long-range aircraft operated from Argentia, Newfoundland. An International Ice Patrol by vessels was neither required nor established during the 1949 season, and it was the first time that aircraft alone conducted the ice observation service. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 27 February 1988...A major rain event occurred across Saudi Arabia's Foroson Islands in the Red Sea and on the adjacent mainland around Jizon when 1.15 in. fell. The monthly average rainfall is only 0.02 in. On the following day, flash flooding south of Riyadh killed 3 children. (Accord's Weather Calendar)

Return to DataStreme Ocean Homepage

URL: DS Ocean:/news.html
Prepared by AMS DataStreme Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2005, The American Meteorological Society.