Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK ELEVEN: 12-16 November 2007

Ocean in the News:

• (Thurs.) Limits proposed to end overfishing -- The NOAA Fisheries Service recently proposed setting limits on fishing of summer flounder, scup and Black Sea bass, three key fish species in North Atlantic waters off New England and the Middle Atlantic States, to end overfishing and to rebuild these stocks. [NOAA News]
• (Thurs.) New maps show coral reef ecosystem in western Pacific -- The NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment has recently released detailed maps of the coral reefs across the shallow waters of the Republic of Palau in the western tropical Pacific as part of a biological monitoring program initiated by that republic's government. [NOAA News]
• (Thurs.) New power source for lighthouses -- A consortium led by the United Kingdom's Centre for Process Innovation has developed and tested a fuel cell that can power lighthouses and withstand the harsh marine environment. [New Scientist]
• (Thurs.) Enhancing the natural carbon handling mechanism -- A team of researchers from Harvard and Penn State Universities have developed a method that would manipulate the volcanic silicate rocks to enhance the natural process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the oceans. They claim that this process would not acidify the oceans and may be beneficial to coral reefs. [EurekAlert!]
• (Thurs.) Air pollution from ships can be deadly -- Recent studies by international teams of researchers indicate that airborne particulate matter originating from ships is responsible for at least 60,000 deaths per year worldwide. They also report that this rate of premature deaths could rise by 40 percent in the next five years, unless immediate action is taken to reduce these aerosols, such as through the use of cleaner fuels. [New Scientist]
• (Tues.) Oil spill in Black Sea -- Storm-created 5-m waves broke an oil tanker in half in the Black Sea spilling 1,300 metric tons of fuel oil. Several other ships were sunk or damaged by the storm. Continuing stormy conditions are making clean-up efforts hazardous. [Euro News]
• (Tues.) New website for Great Lakes marine information -- The National Weather Service recently unveiled a new Great Lakes Marine Portal at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/greatlakes/ that will allow the user to obtain a wide variety of information about the weather and lake environments across the five Laurentide Great Lakes. [NWSFO Milwaukee-Sullivan]
• (Tues.) The legacy of Noel -- A tropical cyclone, which intensified to become Hurricane Noel late last month as it moved from the Caribbean across western Hispaniola, eastern Cuba and the northern Bahamas before traveling northward across the western North Atlantic offshore of the continental US, was responsible for at least 115 deaths due to flooding and mudslides from the heavy rain associated with the system.
  • A map of the rainfall totals for the last week of October generated by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis from data collected from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite show the locally heavy rainfall across the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. [NASA Earth Observatory] An image obtained last week from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows the effects of the flooding and mudslides across the Dominican Republic. [NASA Earth Observatory] Note: For a highly detailed analysis of Noel, see the NASA's Hurricane Web page with numerous maps and images.
  • Late reports from Cuba indicates that torrential rain from several weather systems, including Tropical Storm Noel, across eastern Cuba produced floods and mudslides that killed one person, damaged nearly 22,000 homes and caused $500 million in damages. [USA Today]
• (Tues.) Better estimates of hurricane intensity could come from space -- Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Colorado State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new "cloud profiling" technique for estimating the intensity of tropical cyclones from data collected by instruments on NASA's "A-Train" of Earth-observing satellites. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• (Tues.) Climate change could shrivel drinking water supplies -- Researchers at Ohio State University warn that coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their freshwater supplies than previously thought as projected rising sea levels associated with higher global temperatures could infiltrate freshwater aquifers within this century. [Ohio State University]
• (Tues.) Another sign of changing climate -- Various environmentalists along with federal and state marine experts report that endangered humpback and fin whales swam into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the northwest and northeast coasts of Alaska this past summer, well to the north of their usual habitat in the Bering Sea. This northward displacement was blamed upon the shifting Arctic ecosystem associated with higher global temperatures. [USA Today]
• Northwest Europe battered by a major storm -- A powerful storm accompanied by strong winds caused a tidal surge and coastal flooding along the North Sea coast of the British Isles at the end of last week. [USA Today] Comparison of MODIS images obtained from NASA's Terra satellite taken in the third week of October and last week show the North Sea surf and sediments stirred up due to the surge of water against the shores of northeastern England. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Oil spill affects San Francisco Bay -- Last week, a container ship collided with a pier supporting a tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, resulting in the discharge of approximately 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the Bay. [USA Today] Several NOAA organizations, including the Office of Response and Restoration, the National Weather Service and a NOAA Hazmat Response Team, assisted the US Coast Guard, the US Department of Interior and the state of California in responding to this incident. [NOAA News]
• La Niña event seen to persist -- Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory report that their analysis of data collected from the US-French Jason altimetric satellite shows sea surface height patterns across the equatorial Pacific that indicate a continuation of the La Niña episode. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Eye on the tropics ---
  • No organized tropical cyclones formed in the North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific or central North Pacific basins last week.
  • In the western North Pacific basin , Typhoon Peipah made landfall late last week along the southeastern coast of Viet Nam near Nha Trang as a tropical depression after travelling across the South China Sea. [The Daily Green] An image obtained from the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows the swirl of clouds and the characteristic eye associated with Typhoon Peipah as it was moving westward across the South China Sea west of Luzon early last week. [NOAA OSEI] Additional images, maps and discussion of former Typhoon Peipah are available on the NASA Hurricane Website. [NASA]
    Tropical Depression 22W formed west of the Mariannas on Sunday and was beginning a projected track to the northeast.
  • In the North Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone 06B formed over the southern Bay of Bengal west of the Andaman Islands on Sunday (local time). It was beginning to move toward the northwest.
• Florida's "red tides" linked to Mississippi River -- The results of a NOAA research model indicate that high nutrient levels in river water flowing from the Mississippi River may be responsible for the development of harmful algal blooms, commonly called "red tide" in the Gulf of Mexico waters offshore of Florida's western coast. [NOAA News]
• Human development could affect health of tidal creeks -- The results of a NOAA study issued last week at the Estuarine Research Federation International Conference warns that the level of development by humans directly impacts the health of the nation's coastal ecosystems, especially along tidal creeks of Southeastern estuaries, and could potentially threaten the health of residents in these coastal areas. [NOAA News]
• Attempting to study a "black smoker" analog -- Researchers from researchers from the University of California-Davis, the University of California-Riverside, Stanford University and the University of Oregon participating in the Iceland Deep Drilling Project plan on sinking a bore hole on Iceland down to where superheated seawater circulates through hot rock in an effort to simulate conditions in deep sea hydrothermal vents called "black smokers." [UC Davis]
• 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.

Concept of the Week: Living Coral and El Niño

El Niño episodes of 1982-83 and 1997-1998, the most intense of the 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 El 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

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

Historical Events:

• 12 November 1956...(date approximate) The crew on the icebreaker USCGC Glacier saw what may have been the world's largest iceberg. Observed about 150 mi west of Antarctica's Scott Island, the iceberg was about 60 mi wide by 208 mi long, or roughly the size of Maryland. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 12 November 1974...A salmon was caught in the River Thames, England - the first in more than 130 years. (Today in Science History)
• 13 November 1970...A cyclone swept over Bangladesh, then known as East Pakistan, pushing a 49-ft storm surge against the coast at high tide. Flooding killed 500,000. Over 50 million people were affected by the storm rain, wind and surge. (The Weather Doctor)
• 13 November 2002...The single-hulled oil tanker Prestige sank off Spain's Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill. (Wikipedia)
• 14 November 1825...The Codorus, the first ship made in the U.S. with sheet iron, was tested on the Susquehanna River at York, PA. The ship weighted five tons, of which two tons was for the coal- and wood- fueled boiler which provided power for an 8 hp engine. With a keel length of 60-ft and a 9-ft beam, the ship drew about seven inches of water. (Today in Science History)
• 14-21 November 1991...Tropical Cyclone Tia spent most of its life near the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. However, it completely destroyed 90 percent of all dwellings on Tikopia Island. The remaining 10 percent of the buildings sustained collapsed walls or roofs that had been blown off. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 15 November 1860...The light in the massive stone Minots Ledge Lighthouse at the entrance to Boston Harbor, which was built on the original site of the one lost in 1851, was exhibited. Work on the new lighthouse commenced in 1855 and was finished in 1860. "It ranks, by the engineering difficulties surrounding its erection and by the skill and science shown in the details of its construction, among the chief of the great sea-rock lighthouses of the world." (USCG Historians Office)
• 15 November 1888...The Norwegian oceanographer and meteorologist Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was born on this date. He was known for his studies of the physics, chemistry, and biology of the ocean. He died in August 1957. (Today in Science History)
• 15 November 1854...In Egypt, a royal concession from Said was made that ultimately permitted construction of the Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. (Wikipedia)
• 17 November 1820...Captain Nathaniel Palmer, USN, became the first American to see Antarctica. He saw the Palmer Peninsula, which was later named after him. (Wikipedia)
• 17 November 1869...The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas, was officially inaugurated in Egypt with an elaborate ceremony. (Wikipedia)
• 17 November 1973...The "Largest Icebreaker in the Western World," USCGC Polar Star, was launched. (USCG Historians Office)
• 18 November 1421...Wind-driven waves from an intense storm breached Dutch dikes on the Zuider Zee, sweeping away 72 villages. At least 10,000 people died in "St. Elizabeth's flood." (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 November 1929...A magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on the Grand Banks off the south coast of Newfoundland broke 12 transatlantic telegraph cables and triggered a tsunami that destroyed many south coast communities on Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. (Wikipedia)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.