WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

THANKSGIVING WEEK: 19-23 November 2007

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics --- With two weeks remaining in the official hurricane seasons in the North Atlantic (including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea) and the eastern North Pacific, no tropical cyclone activity was detected this past week. However, tropical cyclone activity was reported in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific this past week. Interestingly, several tropical cyclones developed in the Southern Hemisphere, which is somewhat unusual as this hemisphere is currently experiencing spring.
  • In the North Indian Ocean, a major tropical cyclone (category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale) called Tropical Cyclone Sidr moved northward across the Bay of Bengal early last week before making landfall along the coast of Bangladesh last Thursday. Torrential rain, 150-mph winds and a four-foot storm surge accompanying this cyclone killed at least 1860 people, displaced 650,000 people and caused significant damage across Bangladesh. Rescue efforts were continuing as of Sunday. [USA Today] An image obtained from the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows clouds surrounding Sidr prior to landfall. [NOAA OSEI] A MODIS image from NASA's Terra satellite of the cyclone after it made landfall the following day shows how the system became disorganized. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional images, maps and discussion of former Tropical Cyclone Sidr are available on the NASA Hurricane Website. [NASA]
  • In the South Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Lee-Ariel formed at midweek well to the southeast of the Chagos Archipelago and traveled to the southwest. As of late Sunday (local time) this cyclone was continuing to the southwest. A tropical storm identified as Tropical Cyclone 4S had formed on Sunday (local time) near the Chagos Archipelago and was moving southward.
  • In the western South Pacific basin, Tropical Cyclone Guba, a category 1 tropical cyclone (on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale), formed during the middle of last week south of Papua New Guinea and traveled initially westward before taking an erratic path to the southeast and then southwest by Sunday (local time). A satellite image obtained by the sensors on the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows the clouds surrounding Guba. [Editor's note: Notice that the cloud swirl around the central eye is clockwise, since this cyclone is in the Southern Hemisphere. EJH] [NOAA OSEI] Additional images, maps and discussion of Tropical Cyclone Guba are available on the NASA Hurricane Website. [NASA]
  • In the western North Pacific basin, the tropical depression that formed west of the Mariannas became short-lived Tropical Storm Tapah as it moved to the northeast before dissipating on Monday.
• Potent storm strikes the Sea of Azov -- A MODIS image obtained from NASA's Aqua satellite shows a large comma-shaped cloud pattern that was accompanying a major midlatitude storm system that struck the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in southern Russia at the beginning of last week. Winds of up to 67-mph caused ten ships on these water bodies to either sink or run aground. Fuel oil leaked from a Russian tanker that broke apart in the Kerch Strait. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• US position made on bluefin tuna moratorium -- The director of NOAA’s Fisheries Service and the head of the U.S. Delegation to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas recently issued a statement that backed the resolution by the US Senate urging an international moratorium on fishing for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. [NOAA News]
• Public comment solicited on aquaculture feeds -- The NOAA's Fisheries Service and the US Department of Agriculture are soliciting public comment on ways to reduced the dependence on fish-based feeds in the nation's aquaculture industry as part of a year-long research program. [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 2007 through February 2008). These forecasters continue to foresee a higher than average probability that much of the nation should experience above average winter temperatures, except for sections of the West and northern New England. Southern Texas appeared to have the highest probability of an unseasonably warm winter. The West, which included the Pacific Coast, the northern tier of states from the interior Northwest to the Dakotas, along with northern New England, could have equal chances for above or below average temperatures. The forecasters also anticipate high probabilities of drier than average conditions across the southern tier of states, extending from southern California to the Southeast, regions that are currently experiencing severe to exceptional drought conditions. On the other hand, the Pacific Northwest and sections of the Midwest should have better than even changes of a wetter than average winter. The forecasters are basing their outlook on what they see as a continuation of the current La Niña event in the planetary scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes into early 2008. [NOAA News]
• Response of cod to climate extremes studied -- An international team of scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Norway have studied the DNA of current Atlantic cod and developed models to see how the cod responded to natural climate extremes, such as the last Ice Age; the research appears that the cod had been resilient to these large changes in climate. [EurekAlert!]
• New nursery to propagate staghorn coral -- Researchers from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have established an underwater nursery in the waters of south Florida's Biscayne National Park that is dedicated to help propagate the threatened staghorn coral in future reef restoration projects. [EurekAlert!]
• Satellites detect phytoplankton bloom off Africa -- An image obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite shows a large area of the Atlantic off the African coast of Namibia where phytoplankton bloomed earlier this month. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Hurricane Katrina blamed as a carbon source -- Scientists from the Tulane University and the University of New Hampshire used Landsat 5 satellite data from before and after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina along the Louisiana Gulf coast to assess the extent of the damage incurred by the forests because of the hurricane and to determine the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere because of the diminished role that these destroyed forests now play in storing carbon. [NASA Hurricane]
• Studying the workings of a "tsunami factory" -- Using seismic data collected from the western Pacific off the southwest Japanese coast, US and Japanese geoscientists have developed a three-dimensional view of the structure of the earth's crust below the seafloor in the Nankai Trough, a subduction zone capable of generating major tsunamis. [EurekAlert!]
• An update on Bay-area spill response efforts -- Several NOAA organizations were continuing to assist other local, state and federal agencies in the damage assessment and cleanup efforts underway in the San Francisco Bay area following the oil spill that resulted when a tanker collided with one of the supporting towers of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge more than a week earlier. [NOAA News]
• 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:

• 19 November 1493...The explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to go ashore on modern day Puerto Rico one day after seeing it for the first time. At the time, he named the island San Juan Bautista. (Wikipedia)
• 19 November 1978...A waterspout came onshore to become a tornado near Muhio Wharf in Hilo Harbor on Hawaii's Big Island. Some industrial buildings lost their roofs. The proximity of the waterspout-tornado caused an airliner to change its landing approach to Hilo's airport. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 19 November 1996...The last component of the Confederation Bridge was placed that crosses the Northumberland Strait between Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island and Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick. This two-lane eight mile long bridge, which was opened in May 1997, is the longest bridge over ice covered salt waters in the world. Ice covers the strait for five months per year. (Today in Science History)
• 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)

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