WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

THANKSGIVING WEEK: 20-24 November 2006

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --
- In the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Sergio formed off the Mexican coast last week, intensified to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, moved northward and then westward before weakening to a tropical depression by Sunday evening. The hurricane did bring up to six inches of rain along the Mexican coast last Friday. [USA Today] A visible image from the NOAA GOES-12 satellite shows Hurricane Sergio off the Mexican coast. [NOAA OSEI]
- In the western North Pacific, Typhoon Chebi moved to the northwest toward southeastern China and dissipated early last week. Earlier during the previous week, this category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale had moved across the northern Philippines. An image from the NOAA-17 satellite shows a weakened Tropical Storm Chebi approaching China's Hainan Island. [NOAA OSEI]
Catastrophe bondholders could profit from quiet hurricane season -- Investors who purchased "catastrophe bonds" as a hedge against damage from hurricanes before the beginning of this hurricane season could stand to profit from a relatively mild season. [USA Today]
Pilgrims weathered a major hurricane -- A geology professor at Queens College collected information on the August 1635 "Great Colonial Hurricane" from historic journals, which was used in conjunction with the SLOSH (Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes) computer model to determine that the residents of Plymouth Colony experienced a major Category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) with winds to 130 mph and a storm surge of up to 21 feet high. [USA Today]
US protests Japanese whaling around Antarctica -- The U.S. Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission and director of the NOAA Fisheries Service has expressed the government's displeasure with the recent announcement by Japan that it will resume a special "research" hunt for whales in waters surrounding Antarctica. [NOAA News]
NOAA Aquaculture Program available for public comment -- NOAA officials have released the draft of their NOAA Aquaculture Program for public comment during the next two weeks. This ten-year plan is designed to provide an improved system for regulating and monitoring U.S. marine aquaculture, develop new seafood farming technology, improve public education about aquaculture, and influence development and adoption of global sustainable aquaculture practices and standards. [NOAA News]
New Gulf Institute announced -- NOAA officials and those from a consortium of universities have announced the creation of a new cooperative institute called the Northern Gulf Institute to be located at Stennis Space Center, MS that will address regional issues across the Gulf of Mexico associated with coastal hazards, climate change, water quality, ecosystem management, coastal wetlands and pollution. [NOAA News]
A final official US winter forecast is issued -- Forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center released their final US winter outlook for the winter season (the three months of December 2006 through February 2007). The forecasters are basing their outlook on what they see is a strengthening El Niño event in the planetary scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes. Once again, they foresee a higher than average probability that a large section of the nation will experience a winter that would have above average temperatures, with only Hawaii having a better than even chance of below average temperatures, while the Southeast had a better than even chance of near "normal" winter temperatures. The forecasters also anticipate high probabilities of drier than average conditions across the northern Rockies, sections of the Midwest and the Hawaiian Islands, while better than even changes of a wetter than average winter across the Southern States, stretching from southern California eastward to southern Texas and the Florida Peninsula. [NOAA News]
NOAA's role in monitoring the current El Niño event highlighted -- The roles that the various organizations within NOAA are taking in the research, monitoring and prediction of the current El Niño episode are featured in the NOAA Magazine. [NOAA Magazine]
Florida bans fishing in Dry Tortugas -- Florida Governor Jeb Bush approved a plan that would ban fishing in the a large section of the Dry Tortugas National Park located west of Key West. [CNN]
A space-age view of the birth of a Pacific Island volcano -- While a yacht crew was an eyewitness to the emergence of a volcanic island in the nation of Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean when the sailors spotted floating pumice in August, recent satellite imagery shows the newly emerged islands along with floating pumice. An image obtained from the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite shows the newly emerged Home Reef Home Reef. [NASA Earth Observatory] Two images made a little more than a month apart by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the development of the island and the pumice rafts. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Uncharted Antarctic seafloor to be explored by ice-breaker -- The Polarstern, the double-hulled ice-breaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will depart from this coming week from South Africa for the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula to conduct a biological and geophysical research in a relatively unknown region of the waters off Antarctica. [EurekAlert!]
Range of marine species not limited to latitude -- Scientists from the University of South Carolina, University of California - Santa Barbara, the University of British Columbia – Vancouver, and Oregon State University have found that the range of California Sea Mussel depends upon a mosaic type pattern of thermal stress in the intertidal zone, which depends upon several variables, not just latitude. [EurekAlert!]
A deep current reversal found in the tropical Pacific -- Scientists have been studying data collected from two oceanographic cruises in the tropical Pacific to get a better understanding of the role that two opposing ocean currents in the equatorial Pacific have upon global climate. [EurekAlert!]
International collaboration to help investigate geo-dynamics -- Earth scientists from 15 countries recently met to develop a strategy for investigation continental rifting and break-up by using an array of drilling platforms provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. [EurekAlert!]
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:

20 November 1820...The 238-ton American whaler Essex from Nantucket, MA was attacked by an 80-ton bull sperm whale approximately 2000 miles off the western coast of South America. Of the 20 crew members that escaped in three open boats, only five survived the 83-day journey to the coastal waters of South America. The classic novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851) was inspired in part by the story of the Essex. (The History Channel)
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)
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, Supertyphoon 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)
23-24 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, in Supply sailed from New York to Haifa 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)

Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., emailhopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2006, The American Meteorological Society.