DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK THREE: 7-11 February 2011

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics ---
Tropical cyclone activity continued across the South Pacific basin during the past week as Southern Hemisphere summer continues. In the South Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Anthony made landfall along the coast of Queensland, Australia at the start of the week. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Anthony.
Cyclone Yasi moved west toward Australia early last week after forming late the previous weekend over the South Pacific waters near the Solomon Islands. As it moved westward, the cyclone intensified to become a major category 5 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale as maximum sustained surface winds reached 155 mph; gusts of 183 mph were reported. By midweek, Cyclone Yasi made landfall with 170-mph winds and wind-generated ocean waves that reached heights of 42 feet. Though quite damaging to many areas, Australian officials were relieved that the cyclone was responsible for relatively few fatalities. The cyclone came on the heels of last month's massive flooding. [UK Guardian News] Additional weather information and satellite imagery on Cyclone Yasi can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page. Attention is also drawn to a satellite image of the cloud-top temperatures of the clouds surrounding Cyclone Yasi as obtained from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite. [NASA JPL] (Editor's note: The clouds surrounding Cyclone Yasi, a Southern Hemisphere low-pressure system, appear opposite clouds seen around their Northern Hemisphere counterparts. EJH)
In the South Indian Ocean Basin, the remnants of Cyclone Bianca, which had briefly become a category 4 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale over the previous weekend, made landfall along the southwestern coast of Australia at the start of last week. For an update on Cyclone Bianca, see the NASA Hurricane Page.
• New website highlights African-American maritime heritage --
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in partnership with Murrain Associates, Inc., and the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS), recently launched a new website and education initiative called "Voyage to Discovery" that highlights untold stories of African-Americans and their seafaring achievements over the last several centuries. [NOAA News]
• Mislabeling seafood investigations lead to guilty pleas --
Two guilty pleas were filed recently in federal court following an investigation conducted by the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement into conspiracy, misbranding and smuggling of seafood. [NOAA News]
• Additional Gulf waters reopened to royal red shrimping --
Early last week, NOAA officials, after consulting with colleagues in the US Food and Drug Administration, reopened more than 4000 square miles of federal waters in the northern Gulf of Mexico offshore of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to royal red shrimping. These waters had been closed to fishing and shrimping last November as a precaution following discovery of tar balls that may have been created because of last April's Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill. [NOAA News]
• Seven new fish species discovered --
Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Science Foundation have discovered seven new species of blenny in the genus Starksia using a combination of modern genetic and traditional morphological analysis techniques. [Smithsonian Institution Newsdesk]
• New research policies urged in wake of Gulf disaster --
Nine scientists from several major research universities have published a position paper in which they urge implementation of new research policies as a consequence of last spring's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They argued that a priority be given to the systematic acquisition of baseline data for marine species. In addition, they listed seven elements that should be considered when crafting new research priorities for protected marine species. [Oregon State University]
• New report indicates Arctic fisheries catches are greater than earlier estimates --
Researchers at the University of British Columbia recently reported that their analysis of fisheries catch data from the arctic coastal areas indicates that the catches from 1950 to 2006 are approximately 75 times higher than previous reports made to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) during this time span. [University of British Columbia]
• Decline of oyster reefs presents a global problem --
An international team of researchers recently reported that approximately 85 percent of the oyster reefs around the world have been lost due to overharvesting, habitat degradation and disease. The researchers claim that oyster reefs are the most threatened of all shallow-water, structured habitats including coral reefs, mangroves or wetlands. However, they believe that oyster reef recovery is possible. [Virginia Institute of Marine Science]
• Climate models improved by new discoveries --
Scientists from the US Geological Survey and their colleagues from the United Kingdom reported on their study of the influence of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge under the surface of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans upon the surface water temperature over the last three million years, back to the mid-Pliocene warm period. They argue that their discovery of how underwater ridges impact ocean circulation will help improve climate projections run using climate models. [USGS Newsroom]
• 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: Sea Water Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

In view of the contemporary concern regarding global climate change, scientists are studying the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are on the rise primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (an atmospheric gas that absorbs and radiates infrared radiation) so that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

As noted in Chapter 3 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. As noted in Chapter 1 of your textbook, photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question.

Since the late 1980s, scientists have been recording ocean conditions at a site (dubbed ALOHA) about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, in 2001, the rate of CO₂ uptake was only about 15% of what it was in 1989. Why the change in CO₂ uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's CO₂ uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. With rising sea surface temperatures, the rate of evaporation of sea water [(increases)(decreases)].
2. With increasing salinity and constant temperature, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is taken up by ocean water [(increases)(decreases)].

Historical Events

• 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)
• 9 February 1942...The French Liner Normandie, a 79,280-ton luxury ocean liner, burned and capsized in New York Harbor during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship. (The History Channel)
• 10 February 1807...With the backing of President Thomas Jefferson, the US Coast Survey was authorized by Congress "to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States." The Coast Survey represents the oldest U.S. scientific organization to encourage commerce and to support a growing economy in a safe and efficient manner. (NOAA History)
• 10 February 1940...USCGC Bibb and Duane made the first transmissions as weather stations as part of the Atlantic Weather Patrol. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 11 February 1809...The American inventor, Robert Fulton patented his steamboat, the Clermont, for the first time, although he had made the first successful steamboat trip up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, NY in 1807. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science)
• 11 February 1862...The Secretary of the Navy directed the formation of an organization to evaluate new inventions and technical development, which eventually led to the National Academy of Science. (Naval Historical Center)
• 11 February 1971...The US and the USSR, along with other nations, signed the multilateral Seabed Treaty outlawing the emplacement of nuclear weapons (or "weapons of mass destruction") on the ocean floor in international waters, or beyond a 12-mile coastal zone. (Wikipedia)
• 12 February 1907...A collision of the steamer Larchmont and a large schooner, the Harris Knowlton, during a blizzard resulted in the deaths of 332 people. Only nine survivors were rescued. The incident occurred off Rhode Island's Block Island and was the worst disaster in New England maritime history. (RMS Titanic History)
• 12 February 1997...A combination of heavy surf and high winds contributed to the overturning of a U.S. Coast Guard motor life boat (MLB 44363) on a search and rescue mission when responding to a distress call from the sailing vessel Gale Runner in the stormy North Pacific Ocean off Washington State's Quillayute River Bar. Three of four crewmembers lost their lives in the first fatal sinking of this type of ship in its 35-year history. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (USCG Historian's Office)
• 13 February 1784...Ice floes blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans, then passed into the Gulf of Mexico. The only other time this occurred was during the "Great Arctic Outbreak" of 1899. (David Ludlum)
• 13 February 1969...The National Transportation Safety Board issued its "Study of Recreational Boat Accidents, Boating Safety Programs, and Preventive Recommendations". (USCG Historian's Office)
• 13 February 1997...Ocean swells generated by a storm well to the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands generated surf with heights to 20 feet and some sets to 25 feet along the northern shores of the islands. A professional surfer was killed by 25-foot surf at Alligator Rock on Oahu's North Shore. Lifeguards aided more than thirty people. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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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.