DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 31 January-4 February 2011

Items of Interest

• Earth scientists in the news --
During the last week, several scientists who specialize in meteorology and oceanography have been noted for their accomplishments:
• The Director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, has been named President-Elect of the American Meteorological Society, for a presidential term that begins in 2012. [NOAA News] (Editor's Note: Dr. Uccellini has long been a friend and champion of the American Meteorological Society's Educational Initiative. Congratulations to a fellow Wisconsin Badger! EJH)
• The NOAA Administrator recently named David Kennedy to be the new NOAA assistant administrator for the National Ocean Service, effective immediately. [NOAA News]
• Several scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) received awards at the recent annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). These scientists include
  Joseph Klemp who received the 2011 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere and the 2011 Charles Franklin Brooks Award for outstanding services to the AMS.
  Brant Foote, director of NCAR’s Research Applications Laboratory, received the 2011 Cleveland Abbe Award for leadership of a major laboratory that has successfully implemented state-of-the-science methods for addressing problems that affect people’s lives.
  NCAR scientist George Bryan received the 2011 Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award, which is given to promising early-career scientists for outstanding ability. [UCAR]

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics ---
During the last week, several tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that form over tropical oceans) were found over the waters of the South Pacific and the South Indian Oceans:
In the South Pacific Basin, Tropical Cyclone Wilma, which had formed the previous week near Samoa, moved southward. After becoming a category 4 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson late in the week, Wilma lost its tropical characteristics and became a midlatitude storm. Satellite images of Wilma along with additional information are available from the NASA Hurricane Page.
Tropical Storm Anthony formed off the northeastern coast of Australia at the start of last week and took a path that carried it eastward over the waters of the Coral Sea during the week before turning westward near the end of the week. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Anthony.
Tropical Storm Yasi formed late this past weekend over the waters near the Solomon Islands.
In the South Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Bianca formed off the northern coast of the Western Australia early last week and intensified to become a category 4 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale. This cyclone traveled initially to the southwest and then south off the coast of Australia before curving to the southeast at the end of the week, when it began to dissipate. For more information and satellite imagery on Tropical Cyclone Bianca, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Algae bloom in Antarctic coastal waters --
A true-color image obtained one week ago from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite shows a large swirl of green in the waters of the Ross Sea off Antarctica that indicate a bloom of phytoplankton (or algae). [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Monitoring ocean wave behavior has become more precise --
Engineers at Oregon State University and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands have developed a new "stereo vision" method designed to more accurately track the behavior of ocean waves through the use of two video cameras aimed at a large expanse of ocean waves. They hope that their efforts will help in the study of the impact of waves on coastal zones. [Oregon State University]
• Performance tests continue on salinity-measuring satellite --
Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been conducting performance tests on the instrument package that is a part of the Aquarius/Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D) spacecraft that will be launched in early June. Aquarius/SAC-D, an international mission involving NASA and Argentina's space agency (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales), is designed to measure global sea surface salinity (dissolved salt concentration) and its variability for climate studies, since salinity is a key tracer for ocean circulation. [NASA JPL]
• Dispersants used in Gulf Spill could linger in deepwater --
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of California, Santa Barbara recently reported that they continued to find a mixture of oil and chemical dispersants used to break the oil into smaller droplets following last spring's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico several months after the spill. They suggest a prolonged existence of the oil/dispersant mixture in the deep waters of the Gulf. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
• Drought could become more frequent in eastern Africa --
Scientists from the US Geological Survey and the University of California, Santa Barbara warn that the increased frequency of drought observed across eastern Africa over the last two decades could continue as both the global and Indian Ocean temperatures continue to rise, while regional precipitation diminishes. Increased drought frequency poses a risk of food shortages for more than 17 million people in the Horn of Africa. [USGS Newsroom]
• Warming North Atlantic water could be linked to Arctic heating --
Scientists from Germany and the University of Colorado, Boulder have report that temperatures of North Atlantic Ocean water flowing north into the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait are the highest in over 2000 years and appear related to the amplification of the widespread warming in the Arctic basin. They believe that the rapid Arctic warming and the decrease in the extent of Arctic sea ice are coupled with enhanced heat transfer from the North Atlantic Ocean. [University of Colorado, Boulder]
• Links seen between ancient climate change and mass extinction events --
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have discovered that the Late Ordovician mass extinction (at approximately 450 million years ago) appears to have coincided with a glacial period in Earth history when global temperatures dropped, leading to a possible link between the two events. The researchers used a new isotopic method for measuring ancient ocean temperatures to determine the timing of the glaciation. [Cal Tech]
• 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.

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

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.

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

• 1 February 1788...A patent for a steamboat was issued by the state of Georgia to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet. The patent was the only one ever to be issued by Georgia, and first in the U.S. for a steamboat. Much development had to follow before the steamboat would be commercially viable. (Today in Science History)
• 1 February 1838...A U.S. patent (No. 588) was issued for the screw propeller to John Ericsson, (1803-89), a Swedish American engineer, who later designed and built the Monitor for the Union Navy in the War of the Rebellion. (Today in Science History)
• 1 February 1811...The Bell Rock Lighthouse was lit for the first time eleven miles off the east coast of Scotland. Using 24 lanterns, it began flashing its warning light atop a 100-foot white stone tower. As the oldest sea-washed lighthouse in existence, it was built by Robert Stevenson on a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies submerged just beneath the waves. In the centuries before, the dangerous Bell Rock had claimed thousands of lives, as vessels were wrecked on its razor-sharp serrated rocks. (Today in Science History)
• 1 February 1953...An intense low-pressure system (966 millibars or 29.52 inches of mercury) swept across the North Sea. Wind speeds at Aberdeen, Scotland exceeded 125 mph. A storm surge of 13 feet, aided by a high spring tide, breached the dams in as many as 100 places along the Zuider Zee in The Netherlands, flooding 3.95 million acres or one-sixth of the country. More than 1800 deaths were attributed to drowning and 50,000 people were evacuated. In addition, this storm was responsible for the loss of 100,000 poultry, 25,00 pigs and 35,000 cattle. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 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)

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.,
email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.