WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

THANKSGIVING WEEK: 21-25 November 2016

This week is Thanksgiving Break for the Fall 2016 offering of the DataStreme Ocean course. This Weekly Ocean News contains new information items and historical data, but the Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 11.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving Week from the AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Ed Hopkins!

Items of Interest

News flash! Nation's newest environmental sensing satellite heading for its geosynchronous orbit -- Last Saturday evening (19 November 2016, an Atlas V Centaur rocket lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, FL carrying the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R spacecraft, the first of a next generation of Earth sensing satellite that is intended to dramatically improve NOAA's capability for observing the weather as onboard sensors should scan the Earth's disc surrounding the equatorial sub-satellite point with four times the spatial resolution as earlier satellites and five times faster. In addition to observing weather systems for weather forecasting, the sensors onboard the satellite is designed to monitor volcanic ash clouds, lightning, solar activity that are important for the ocean and climate sciences. In approximately two weeks, GOES-R will be positioned in its designated geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,300 miles above Earth and will become known as GOES-16. A series of calibration tests will be made over the next several months before the satellite will become operational. Three additional satellites, labeled S through U, are scheduled to follow in the GOES-R series over future years. [NOAA News] [NOAA/NASA GOES-R]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2016 Campaign is underway -- The twelfth in the series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2016 will continue through Wednesday, 30 November. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of a constellation (Perseus in the Northern Hemisphere and Grus in the Southern Hemisphere) with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The next and final series in the 2016 campaign is scheduled for 20-30 December 2016. [GLOBE at Night]
Species dominance and ocean properties -- Discover how variations in both the physical and chemical properties of ocean waters can be accompanied by changes in the dominance of the various species of marine life in this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity was limited across the tropical ocean basins last week. In the eastern North Pacific, Tropical Storm Tina formed one week ago Sunday evening offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico, approximately 185 miles to the west of Manzanillo, Mexico. Tina was the nineteenth named tropical cyclone of 2016 in the eastern North Pacific. Traveling to the west-northwest, this tropical storm was relatively short lived, as Tina became a remnant low hardly 24 hours after formation. At that time, the remnants of this minimal tropical storm were located approximately 580 miles to the west of Manzanillo. Satellite imagery and additional information are available on the NASA Hurricane Page for Tropical Storm Tina.
Economic importance of ocean to US island territories is studied -- A new study entitled "Describing the Ocean Economies of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico" was recently prepared for NOAA's Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) that focuses upon the importance of the ocean to the economies of these two US island territories in the Caribbean. This study confirms that most of the residents of these islands depend more upon the ocean for their economic survival than more diversified coastal states along the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Marshes along Pacific coast appear more resilient to rising seas than their Atlantic counterparts -- A technical report entitled "Assessing tidal marsh resilience to sea-level rise at broad geographic scales with multi-metric indices" was recently published by a team of scientists involved with NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System that reports on their establishment of a national baseline for monitoring the effects of climate change on estuaries. This study, which was conducted at 16 sites in 13 coastal states, shows Pacific coast tidal marshes are more resistant to rising sea levels from climate change than marshes in the Atlantic. The reasons for the differences are twofold: Pacific marshes are generally at higher elevations than Atlantic marshes, and oceanographic circulation of the eastern North Pacific tends to push water away from the coast, reducing the effect of sea level rise. [NOAA News] or [NOAA Ocean Service News]
Head of NOAA Fisheries highlights agency's international work -- Eileen Sobeck, Head of NOAA Fisheries recently posted a message describing how her agency is working to advance stewardship of effective international fisheries as well as to promote the conservation and protection of marine life and their habitats. She notes that the US is one of the world's largest seafood-consuming nations and that 80 to 90 percent of the seafood consumed by its residents is imported in any year. In addition, she highlighted NOAA Fisheries' efforts in 2016 in the establishment of the world's largest marine protected area in Antarctica's Ross Sea. [NOAA Fisheries]
Widespread land losses found from Gulf oil spill -- A research team from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory used airborne remote sensing imagery to analyze and construct annual maps of the Louisiana marshlands that show shoreline loss along the state's Gulf Coast due to heavy coating of oil from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Their focus was upon upper Barataria Bay, located on the western side of the Mississippi River Delta, beginning a year before the spill and extending for nearly two and a half years after the spill. They found erosion to be widespread along the shoreline that was heavily coated in the year following the spill and in areas that had less coating in the second year. The team also compared shoreline loss linked to the deposited oil with shoreline erosion caused by high waves from Hurricane Isaac in 2012. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Feature] or [USGS News]
Real-life "Sea Turtle Superheroes" introduced -- Dr. Joe Flanagan, the Houston (TX) Zoo's chief veterinarian, and Lyndsey Howell, a biologist from NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center's Galveston Sea Turtle Facility, are featured in an article as to how they and other members of their veterinary staff are helping rescue stranded sea turtles along the upper Texas Gulf Coast and rehabilitating them before releasing them back into the wild. [NOAA Fisheries Feature Stories]
More exploration made of the remains of World War II's Battle of the Atlantic -- During the months of August and September, marine archeologists from the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and their colleagues continued to explore the remains of two vessels that sank in a World War II convoy battle approximately 40 miles off North Carolina's Outer Banks. The two vessels that they explored were the Nicaraguan merchant ship Bluefields that was part of an Allied convoy and a German submarine, U-576. The remnants of these ships were under 700 feet of water. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
Seabird species used as indicators of marine ecosystem health -- Researchers working at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay have been studying the populations of the great shearwater, one of the seabird species found in the sanctuary. By tagging these migratory seabirds with monitors, they are attempting to better understand the availability of food like the sand lance or sandlance, a fish belonging to the family Ammodytidae. The great shearwater forage for sand lance fish that are moderately vulnerable to changes in ocean and climate patterns. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

This Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 11.

Concept of the Week: Living Coral and El Niño

El Niño episodes of 1982-83 and 1997-1998, the most intense of the 20th century, confirmed the connection between higher than average ocean temperatures and bleaching of hermatypic corals. (Hermatypic corals live in warm shallow water and build large reefs.) Water temperatures higher than 29°C (the normal maximum sea surface temperature in the equatorial eastern Pacific) can trigger expulsion of zooxanthellae, microscopic dinoflagellates whose symbiotic relationship with coral polyps is essential for the long-term survival of coral. Without zooxanthellae, coral polyps have little pigmentation and appear nearly transparent on the coral's white skeleton, a condition known as coral bleaching. If maximum temperatures are not too high for too long, corals can recover, but prolonged warming associated with an intense El Niño (that may persist for 12 to 18 months) can be lethal to coral. Most hermatypic corals thrive when the water temperature is 27°C, but do not grow when the water becomes too cold. Although the ideal temperature varies with species and from one location to another, the temperature range for optimal growth is quite narrow--only a few Celsius degrees. This sensitivity to relatively small changes in water temperature is an important source of information on past climates as fossil coral is a significant component of many limestones. Evidence of bleaching episodes in fossil corals may yield important clues to past changes in the world's tropical ocean.

Coral, sometimes referred to as "the rainforests of the ocean," provides a base for local ecosystems and have many benefits (e.g., fisheries, tourism) that are important in many parts of the globe. Hence, vulnerability to El Niño-associated warming is an object of considerable scientific interest. During the 1997-98 Niño, NOAA charted significant coral bleaching from portions of the Great Barrier Reef near Australia, French Polynesia in the south Pacific, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya, and around the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Closer to home, coral bleaching was reported in the Florida Keys, the Cayman Islands, and off the Pacific coast of Panama and Baja California. Fortunately damage from the 1997-98 El Niño warming was less drastic than the 1983-84 El Niño when up to 95% of the corals in some locations died. Many of the corals damaged in the late 1990s have at least partially recovered including important reefs in the Florida Keys. For additional information on coral status, go to the NOAA website http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Most hermatypic corals thrive at an ocean water temperature of [(10) (27)] °C.
Corals [(can) (cannot)] recover from bleaching if high ocean water temperatures are not long lasting.

Historical Events:

21 November 1987...Truk Island (Federated States of Micronesia at 7.4 degrees N, 151.7 degrees E) was struck by the rapidly intensifying Tropical Storm Nina, as winds gusted to 95 mph. Five died, and most buildings were destroyed. A storm of such intensity so close to the equator is somewhat unusual. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
21 November 1994...Hurricane Gordon caused 1122 deaths in Haiti, mostly in mudslides. Eight died when Gordon came ashore in Florida as a category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 mph. Over 14 inches of rain fell at Fort Lauderdale. The storm caused an estimated damage of $400 million in the US alone. (National Weather Service files)
22 November 1992...Supertyphoon Gay generated gusts up to 120 mph on Guam in the western Pacific. Only one injury was sustained. Earlier, when at its peak approximately 1000 miles southeast of Guam, Super typhoon Gay had sustained surface winds estimated to 185 mph with gusts to 225 mph. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
23 November 1869...The clipper ship, the Cutty Sark, was launched at Dumbarton, Scotland. This three-masted and 212-foot long ship was one of the last clipper ships to be built and is the only one surviving to the present day, residing in a dry dock at Greenwich, England. (Wikipedia)
23 November 1912...The Rouse Simmons (also known as "The Christmas Tree Ship") was a three-masted schooner famous for sinking during a violent storm on Lake Michigan on this day. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off the coast of Two Rivers, WI, killing all on board. (National Weather Service files)
23-24 November 1981...Typhoon Irma, the worst in 10 years, struck north central Philippines (mostly Luzon) with winds to 139 mph and a storm surge of 16 feet. More than 236 people died, while 600,000 were made homeless. Entire provinces were left without power or communication. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
24 November 1982...Hurricane Iwa lashed the Hawaiian Islands of Niihau, Kauai, and Oahu with high winds and surf. Winds gusting to 120 mph caused extensive shoreline damage. Winds at Honolulu gusted to 81 mph. Damage totaled 150 million dollars on Kauai, and fifty million dollars on Oahu. The peak storm surge on the south shore was six to eight feet. It marked the first time in 25 years that Hawaii had been affected by a hurricane. (The Weather Channel)
26 November 1703...Bristol England was damaged by a hurricane. The Royal Navy lost 15 warships.
26 November 1778...Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy became the first European to discover Maui in the Sandwich Islands (later renamed the Hawaiian Islands). (Wikipedia)
26 November 1847...LT William Lynch, USN, sailed from New York to Haifa on USS Supply for an expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. His group charted the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea and compiled reports of the flora and fauna of the area. (Naval Historical Center)
26 November 1888...A late season hurricane brushed the East Coast with heavy rain and gale force winds. The hurricane passed inside Nantucket and over Cape Cod, then crossed Nova Scotia. (David Ludlum)
26 November 1966...The world's first tidal power station was opened at Rance estuary in the French province of Brittany. This power plant, fitted with reversible turbines, generates 500 million kilowatt-hours annually. (Today in Science History)
26-28 November 1898...The "Portland" storm raged across New England producing gale force winds along the coast and heavy snow inland. A foot of snow blanketed Boston, MA, and 27 inches fell at New London, CT. Winds at Boston gusted to 72 mph, and wind gusts to 98 mph were estimated at Block Island, RI. A passenger ship, the S.S. Portland, sank off Cape Cod with the loss of all 191 persons aboard, and Boston Harbor was filled with wrecked ships. The storm wrecked 56 vessels resulting in a total of 456 casualties. (26^th- 28^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
27 November 1701...Anders Celsius, the astronomer who invented the Celsius thermometer scale, was born in Uppsala, Sweden. (National Weather Service files)
27 November 1703...The first Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Devon, England (approximately 14 miles southwest of Plymouth) was destroyed in the "Great Storm," and killed its builder Henry Winstanley. This first light was in an octagonal wooden structure built in 1698. The "Great Storm" is reported to have killed more than 8000 people. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
27-28 November 1905...Heavy snow and wind blasted the western Great Lakes with as much as seven inches of snow in northwestern Wisconsin and sustained winds of 42 mph recorded at Duluth, MN for 29 straight hours and 65 mph winds for 13 continuous hours. Severe drifting resulted. Eighteen ships were destroyed or disabled on Lake Superior. The ship Mataafa was grounded and broke in two in Duluth harbor. Nine of the fifteen crew of the Mataafa froze to death despite running aground within 100 yards of the shore. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)