Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 2-6 February 2009

Ocean in the News

Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclone (low pressure systems that develop over tropical ocean basins) activity occurred in both the South Pacific and South Indian Ocean basins this past week.
In the western South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Ellie had formed early Sunday (local time) off the northeast coast of Australia near Townsville, Queensland. This low pressure system, with tropical storm force winds (between 39 and 74 mph) was traveling to the southwest toward the coast of Australia.
During the middle part of last week, Tropical Cyclone Hettie formed in the South Pacific Ocean near Fiji. This minimal tropical storm weakened after a day. For more information on Tropical Cyclone Hettie and several NASA satellite images, see the NASA Hurricane Page
In the eastern South Indian Ocean, Tropical Cyclone Domenic formed off the northwestern coast of Western Australia at the start of last week. After three days, this system, with tropical storm force winds, made landfall along the coast. A visible image obtained from the MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra satellite shows the cloud pattern surrounding Domenic as it made landfall. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional satellite images and further information concerning Tropical Cyclone Domenic appear on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Keeping tabs on La Niña conditions -- Earlier in January, scientists from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center reported that atmospheric and oceanic conditions appeared to point to a continuation through the next several months with possible strengthening of an anomalous circulation regime in both the atmosphere and oceans called a "La Niña" event, most often recognized by below average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Hurricane and climate researchers with NASA are also monitoring the sea surface temperatures and height of sea level from data collected from the NASA fleet of satellites, and they confirm this La Niña event, which can impact the weather and short term climate conditions around the planet. [NASA GSFC Hurricanes]
International cooperation for training aimed to end overfishing -- NOAA Fisheries Service scientists are traveling to the west African nation of Senegal to train government officials and university students to become marine resource observers, while the US Navy will transport observer equipment and supplies aboard the USS Nashville. The goal of this collaborative training program is to strengthen international cooperation in fisheries management and help end overfishing. [NOAA News]
Cooperation will restore a damaged New Jersey river -- Agreements were recently signed by NOAA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and 23 companies to cooperate in the assessment, development and implementation of a restoration plan to restore damaged habitat along New Jersey's Lower Passaic River, a degraded tributary to New York Harbor, one of the nation's important estuaries. [NOAA News]
Arctic is under-prepared for maritime accidents -- A panel meeting of experts and decision-making from governments, industry and local communities surrounding the Arctic basin recently released a report through the University of New Hampshire and NOAA that warned the current infrastructure that exists to respond to maritime accidents in the Arctic is limited at a time when ship traffic across the basin has increased in response to less sea ice. [NOAA News]
Nation's weather satellites help save lives -- Officials with the NOAA Satellite and Information Service recently announced that the fleet of NOAA satellites helped save 283 people across the nation and its surrounding waters during 2008, as the satellites detected and located distress signals from emergency beacons and then relayed the information to ground-based first responders who made the rescues. [NOAA News]
Climate change appears to be irreversible -- A new scientific study led by NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory indicates that changes in surface temperature, precipitation and sea level appear to be irreversible for up to a millennium after carbon dioxide emissions cease. [NOAA News]
"Hot spot" for toxic algal blooms found off Washington State coast -- A team of scientists and students from NOAA’s Fisheries Service, San Francisco State University and the universities of Washington, Maine and Western Ontario recently reported that their research as part of the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Pacific Northwest program indicates a section of the Strait of Juan de Fuca separating Washington State and British Columbia appears to be a "hot spot" for the toxic algal blooms that adversely affect the Pacific coasts of the state and province. [NOAA News]
Ocean "dead zones" expand dramatically -- A team of Danish researchers warn that projected increases in global temperature could lead to a dramatic expansion of the "dead zones" with low levels of oxygen in ocean waters by an order of magnitude or more, resulting in adverse effects upon fisheries and ocean systems for generations to come. [EurekAlert!]
Changing climate could cause extinction of emperor penguins -- Biologists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution warn that changes in climate and the resulting loss of sea ice surrounding Antarctica could cause emperor penguins to become extinct before 2100 as the penguin's range for survival shrinks with the sea ice. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
"Burial at sea" recommended for some of planet's climate troubles -- Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, Irvine claim that by using existing technology, a significant amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide could be sequestered for thousands of years as carbon in seafloor sediments by baling and sinking nearly one third of the global crop residues, which would thereby help reduce global temperatures. [EurekAlert!]
Natural iron fertilization could fuel ocean islands productivity and carbon sequestration -- An international team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre who have studied the Southern Oceans downwind of ocean islands have found that natural iron fertilization due to the islands enhances phytoplankton growth and productivity, resulting in the export of carbon to the deep ocean. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
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, 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, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD --

A request: If you have some ocean-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme Ocean participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

Concept of the Week: The Birth of Surtsey, A Volcanic Island

In early November 1963, cod fishers plying the waters of the North Atlantic south of Iceland observed what appeared to be smoke or steam emanating from the distant ocean surface. They were witnessing the beginnings of a volcanic eruption that ultimately would give birth to a new island later named Surtsey after Surtur, the fire giant of Norse mythology. Surtsey is located at 63.4 degrees N, 20.3 degrees W or 33 km (20 mi) south of the coast of Iceland. Volcanic activity was nothing new to the fishers who lived on the nearby volcanic Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). These islands as well as the main island of Iceland straddle the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary where hot molten lava wells up from the Earth's mantle, cools and solidifies into new oceanic crust.

Eruptions that produced Surtsey began on the ocean floor, some 130 m (427 ft) below sea level. The accumulating lava, cinders, and ash first emerged from the sea on 15 November 1963. Over the next 3.5 years, episodic eruptions built an island that eventually covered 2.5 square km (1 square mi) and attained a maximum elevation of 171 m (560 ft) above sea level. The initial eruptions were explosive as hot magma interacted with cold seawater producing dark jets of ash and steam that shot up to 200 m (656 ft) above two main volcanic vents. At this time, clouds of ash and steam rose into the atmosphere to altitudes perhaps as great as 10 km (6.2 mi). Subsequent eruptions were much more peaceful, consisting of quiescent flows of lava. When the eruptions ceased in early June 1967, a cubic kilometer of ash and lava had built up on the ocean floor with 9% of this volcanic material above sea level.

No volcanic activity has occurred on Surtsey since 1967 and geologists consider the volcanic island to be extinct with little risk of future eruptions. Nonetheless, Surtsey remains off limits to visitors except for scientists who obtain permission from the Icelandic government. The island offers scientists a unique opportunity to study not only the geology but also the establishment of plants and animals on the island, a process known as ecological succession. For example, by 1987, some 25 species of higher plants were growing on the initially barren island and 20 species of birds were nesting there.

Unless volcanic activity begins anew, the future is not bright for Surtsey. Some geologists predict that in a hundred years or so the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock. The island is composed of basaltic rock that is particularly vulnerable to weathering and erosion, ocean waves are eroding its shores, and the island is gradually sinking into the sea. Scientists reported a total subsidence of about 1.1 m (3.6 ft) between 1967 and 1991. Compaction of the volcanic material and the underlying sea-floor sediments are likely causes of the subsidence. For NASA topographical images of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/garvin/surtsey.html . These images were obtained using a scanning airborne laser altimeter.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The volcanism responsible for the formation of Surtsey was associated with a [(divergent)(convergent)] tectonic plate boundary.

2. At present on Surtsey, erosive forces [(are)(are not)] prevailing over volcanic activity.

Historical Events

2-3 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Florida on the 3rd; it also represents the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin. The storm produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1976...Groundhog Day Storm, one of the fiercest Maritimes storms ever battered the Bay of Fundy region around Saint John, New Brunswick with winds clocked at 118 mph, generating 39 foot waves with swells of 32.5 feet. (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1488...The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Diaz landed at Mossal Bay, Cape of Good Hope, the first European known to have landed on the southern extremity of Africa. He was also the first known European to have traveled this far south and round the Cape. (Wikipedia)
3 February 1880...Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board--all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the wreck of the George Taulane. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1943...The torpedoing of the transport Dorchester saw USCGC Comanche and Escanaba respond. The crew of the Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. Although Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97, over 600 men were lost, including the Four Chaplains. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1953...The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau published his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World, which was made into a film three years later. (The History Channel)
5 February 1924...Hourly time signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were broadcast for the first time. (Wikipedia)
5 February 1997...High winds pushed mountains of ice against the northern shore of Lake Erie crushing several houses and cottages in Colchester, Ontario. This phenomenon is known as ice shove. (The Weather Doctor)
5 February 2004 - Nineteen Chinese cockle-pickers from a group of 35 drowned after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. (Wikipedia)
6 February 1933...The highest reliably observed ocean wave was observed by crew of the US Navy oiler, USS Ramapo, in the North Pacific during the night on its way from Manila to San Diego. The wave was estimated (by triangulation) to have a height of 112 feet. Average winds at the time were 78 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (See additional discussion on highest ocean waves)
7 February 1969...USCGC Tern, commissioned on this date and stationed in New York, embodied an advanced concept in servicing aids to navigation. Her over-the-stern gantry system of handling buoys is unique. The automation and modernization of over-age, isolated lighthouses and light stations showed significant progress this year. A new, more effective version of the LAMP (Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project) plan was promulgated in this year. (USCG Historian's Office)
7 February 1978...The worst winter storm of record struck coastal New England. The storm produced 27.5 inches of snow at Boston, and nearly 50 inches in northeastern Rhode Island. The fourteen-foot tide at Portland, ME was probably the highest of the century. Winds gusted to 79 mph at Boston, and reached 92 mph at Chatham, MA. A hurricane-size surf caused 75 deaths and 500 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
8 February 1987...A powerful storm produced blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes Region. North winds of 50 to 70 mph raised the water level of southern Lake Michigan two feet, and produced waves 12 to 18 feet high, causing seven million dollars damage along the Chicago area shoreline. It was the most damage caused by shoreline flooding and erosion in the history of the city of Chicago. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
8 January 2001...The log-carrying ship, Leo Forest, lost much of its cargo as over 2300 logs went overboard approximately 400 miles north of Adak, AK. The ship lost power in waves that were greater than 35 feet and the loss of the logs caused the ship to list 10 degrees to port (left) with the bow three feet down. Fortunately, the ship made safe passage to Dutch Harbor for repairs. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)