WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

24-28 December 2012

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 14 January 2013. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Ocean News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Sincerely,

Ed Hopkins and the AMS DS Ocean Central Staff

Items of Interest:

"Christmas tree worm" lives in tropical coral reefs -- In keeping with the holiday season, NOAA's National Ocean Service has highlighted Spirobranchus giganteus a marine species found in tropical coral reefs that has a common name of "Christmas tree worm." [NOAA National Ocean Service]
Watching snowflakes grow -- The American Chemical Society produced a holiday video that explains how snowflakes form and grow into distinctive six-sided shapes from their origins in bits of dust in clouds. [ACS Bytesize Science]
Extreme Weather events in US during 2012 -- Last week NOAA reported that 11 weather and climate extreme events occurred during 2012 produced at least $1 billion in losses. These events included seven severe weather/tornado outbreaks, two tropical cyclones involving hurricanes or tropical storms that made landfall in the United States and a year-long major drought with associated wildfires. In addition, these eleven events appear to have caused 349 deaths, with Sandy claiming 131 lives and the summer-long heat wave and associated drought causing over 123 direct deaths; an estimate of the excess mortality due to heat stress is remains unknown. NOAA estimates that the grand total in losses due to all weather events and climate episodes in 2012 should exceed last year's total, surpassing $60 billion. Most of the monetary losses would be from the persistent, widespread drought and from Super Storm Sandy. [NOAA NCDC News]
Review of Canada's top ten weather stories in 2012 -- During the last week, meteorologists with Environment Canada released a list of what they considered the top ten weather events across Canada during this calendar year of 2012. Some of these stories included the unseasonably warm weather that persisted throughout most of the year, the active Atlantic hurricane season, the major spring flooding in British Columbia and the ice melt in the Arctic sea ice. [Environment Canada]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- The only organized tropical cyclone activity during the last week was found in the
South Pacific basin, where Cyclone Evan intensified to a category 4 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it passed Fiji at the start of the week. More than 3500 people on Fiji were evacuated to emergency shelters due to Evan, which was reported to be the biggest tropical cyclone to affect the Pacific island nation in 20 years. Winds associated with Evan gusted to 170 mph along the northwest coasts of Fiji's main islands and a strong storm surge was also produced. Earlier, four people had been killed and thousands of home destroyed on nearby Samoa. [NBC World News] By late in the week, Cyclone Evan had become a remnant low pressure system over the waters of the South Pacific to the northeast of New Zealand. For satellite images and additional information on Cyclone Evan, please see the NASA Hurricane Page.
A global review of November 2012 temperatures -- Preliminary analysis of temperature data by scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center indicates that the worldwide combined ocean and land surface temperature for November 2012 ranked as the fifth highest global November surface temperature since a sufficiently dense and reliable network began in 1880. They also found that both the global ocean surface temperature and the global land surface temperatures were both the sixth highest readings for any November on record. The scientists also noted that the ten warmest Novembers have occurred during the last 12 years, including this past month. Furthermore, they reported that the combined land and ocean surface temperature for the globe during the Northern Hemisphere autumn (September-November 2012) was the second highest for all boreal autumn seasons going back to 1880. However, when averaged over the first eleven months of 2012, the combined ocean and land surface temperature was the eighth highest January through November average in 133 years of record. ENSO-neutral conditions continued in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean during November 2012 and could extend through Northern Hemisphere winter and into spring, thereby affecting global ocean temperatures in the upcoming months. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
Review of NOAA research activities around the globe in 2012 -- During the last week NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) provided a list of highlights of the scientific research the agency has conducted around the globe during the calendar year of 2012 in an effort to advance weather forecasting, climate prediction, environmental modeling, ocean exploration and coastal protection. Some of the OAR research activities during 2012 included improved techniques to model atmospheric radiation transport following the Japanese nuclear accident; airborne mercury studies; influence of climate patterns on the extreme tornado season across the nation in 2011; monitoring of Hurricane Sandy; monitoring of greenhouse gases and stratospheric ozone; assessment of endangered marine species threatened by changing climate and ocean acidity; successful habitat reconstruction on the Great Lakes. [NOAA Research]
New England offshore areas to reopen for several fisheries -- NOAA Fisheries officials recently announced that they will reopen sections of Georges Bank in the waters off the New England coast to fishing for Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog beginning in January. These fisheries had been closed to harvesting for 22 years because of high toxin levels that have now diminished. [NOAA News]
Deepwater gas seeps discovered off US Atlantic coast -- NOAA ocean explorers have discovered as many as 17 deepwater gas plumes emanating from the North Atlantic Ocean floor off the Middle Atlantic coast of the United States. These explorers used imagery from an advanced multi-beam sonar unit built into the hull of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to discover and map these seafloor seep locations. [NOAA News]
Warming of planet during instrumental period confirmed by independent evidence -- A team of researchers from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, the University of South Carolina, the University of Colorado and Switzerland's University of Bern has reconstructed a "proxy" temperature record for the last 130 years that has been compiled from several independent temperature-sensitive proxy indicators such as ice cores, old coral and sediment layers extracted from oceans and lakes. These researchers have found that this proxy temperature record drawn from 173 independent proxy datasets reveals a pattern of increased global temperatures between 1880 and 1995 that is comparable to the trend seen in the instrumental temperature record obtained from thermometers. They also claim that their findings resolve some of the uncertainty associated with thermometer records, including variations in instrumentation, shifts in station location and changes surrounding land use. [NOAA NCDC News]
Map shows locations of Great Lakes restoration challenges -- A team of US and Canadian researchers known as the Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping (GLEAM) project have produced a map that quantitatively identifies those areas around the North American Great Lakes susceptible to "environmental stressors." This environmental stress map should provide federal and regional officials with sufficient scientific information to manage the Great Lakes in sustainable fashion. [University of Michigan News Service]
Large dock and other tsunami debris reach Washington coast -- Early last week the US Coast Guard found a large dock structure that had washed up on the coast of Washington's Olympic National Park. Although not confirmed, this dock may have been a piece of debris that floated across the North Pacific following the March 2011 tsunami in Japan. [KING5]
Animals found to contribute to seagrass dispersal -- Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have found that small animals appear to help disperse seeds from a type of seagrass called eelgrass in the eelgrass beds around Chesapeake Bay. This discovery could help in the restoration efforts in the Bay, the nation's largest estuary, and in other coastal ecosystems. [Virginia Institute of Marine Science]
Climate change is shown to have major effects on ecosystems and species -- A technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems prepared by more than 60 federal, academic and other scientists, including the lead authors from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Wildlife Federation and Arizona State University in Tempe will be used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment. This report, entitled Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services, will show that plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life cycles at faster rates than even a few years ago as a consequence of changing climate conditions. [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, 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.

Historical Events:

25 December 1492...The Santa Maria, one of the ships that Christopher Columbus used in his historic trans-Atlantic voyage, landed at the Dominican Republic.
25 December 1974...Tropical Cyclone Tracy (a hurricane in the waters surrounding Australia) made landfall near Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Excellent warnings kept the death toll to between 50 and 60, with more than 20,000 people evacuated in the week following the storm. Some areas were totally devastated. Peak wind speeds reached exceeded 174 mph. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
26-31 December 1993...The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race off Australia was plagued by hurricane-force wind gusts in excess of 74 mph and 33 foot high seas. Of 104 starters, only 37 yachts finished the race. On the 28^th, one yacht owner spent five hours in the water after being swept overboard. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
26 December 2004...A massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter magnitude scale approximately 100 miles off the western coast of Sumatra created a tsunami that caused devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean. The death toll is currently estimated at more than 300,000. Officials say the true toll may never be known, due to rapid burials. Indonesia was worst affected with as many as 219,000 people killed. (Wikipedia)
28 December 1857...The light was first illuminated in the Cape Flattery Lighthouse, located on Washington State's Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. "Because of Indian trouble it was necessary to build a blockhouse on Tatoosh Island before even commencing the construction of the lighthouse. Twenty muskets were stored in the blockhouse, and then the lighthouse work began." (USCG Historian's Office)
28 December 1903...An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the non-contiguous territory of the Hawaiian Islands. (USCG Historian's Office)
28 December 1908...An early morning earthquake under the Straits of Messina leveled cities in Sicily and southern mainland Italy, as well as producing a tsunami with 40-foot waves that inundated coastal communities. This earthquake, estimated to by a magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale, and the resulting tsunami killed an estimated 100,000 people. Long stretches of coastline sunk into the Messina Straits and disappeared from view. A steady rain also added to the woes of the survivors. (The History Channel)
29 December 1897...Congress prohibited the killing of fur seals in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
30 December 1972...The 86-foot high wave measured by the ship Weather Reporter was the world's highest measured wave. The wave was measured in the North Atlantic Ocean at 59 degrees North latitude and 19 degrees West longitude. (Accord's Weather Calendar)