WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

24-28 December 2007

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2008 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 14 January 2008. 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

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity was reported last week in the South Indian Ocean basins. The tropical storm identified as Tropical Storm 06S that had formed over one week ago near Diego Garcia, was later given the name Tropical Cyclone Celina as it continued its track to the southwest across the South Indian Ocean to near La Reunion Island before dissipating. Images generated from data collected by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua satellite show the temperature of the tops of the clouds surrounding this cyclone. [NASA Hurricane Page] An image obtained from the METEOSAT-7 geosynchronous satellite shows the clouds associated with Tropical Cyclone Celina as this tropical storm was passing near Mauritius and La Reunion Islands. [NOAA OSEI]
  A second tropical cyclone within the last week formed to the southeast of Diego Garcia This cyclone was initially called Tropical Storm 07S and then Tropical Cyclone Dama, as it moved first to the west-southwest, before recurving to the south and then southeast. By the end of the week, it had dissipated. An AIRS image from NASA's Aqua satellite shows the temperature of the tops of the clouds surrounding this cyclone. [NASA Hurricane Page] An image from the METOSAT-7 satellite shows the clouds accompanying Tropical Cyclone Dama. [NOAA OSEI]
• Saving humpback whales -- Following negotiations with the International Whaling Commission, Japan has bowed to international pressure and agreed to suspend targeting humpback whales during its annual hunt. [NOAA News]
• Some guarded optimism for Alaskan whales -- Marine biologists with the NOAA Fisheries Service recently announced that their annual survey last June indicates 375 endangered beluga whales were populating the Cook Inlet near Anchorage, AK, representing the largest population of these whales since 2001. [NOAA News]
• Greater protection of threatened coral is sought -- Officials with the NOAA Fisheries Service have proposed extending the majority of the prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act to the threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals. [NOAA News]
• An update on La Niña -- An image depicting the global sea surface temperature anomalies (arithmetic differences between observed and average temperatures) collected by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite during the month of November 2007 shows a continuation of the conditions that are associated with an La Niña episode, with below average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific off the coast of South America. A continuation of a moderately strong La Niña through the winter of 2007-2008 is being predicted by NOAA forecasters. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Cold front churns across the Gulf -- Images obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite at the start of last week contain several indications of the strong winds from the northwest that followed behind a cold front traveling across the Gulf of Mexico. The images show long cloud streets of stratocumulus clouds, or rows of clouds oriented along the path of the winds, that developed as cold air streamed across the warm surface waters of the Gulf, resulting in destabilization of the near surface air and cloud formation. Some other cloud features apparent from the images included cloud waves that paralleled the coast. In addition, one of the images also showed sediments in the nearshore waters off the southwest coast of Florida, due to the strong winds disturbing the water and churning the sediments. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Saharan dust helped put the chill on the 2006 North Atlantic hurricane season -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center who analyzed data obtained from NASA satellites claim that one-third the drop in sea surface temperatures across the North Atlantic between June 2005 and 2006 was due the dust from Africa's Sahara Desert that was carried over the North Atlantic. The reduced sea surface temperature appears to result in a reduction in the number of hurricanes from 15 during the record 2005 season to only five in 2006. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• New facilities being built for Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory -- Ground was recently broken that marked the start of construction of a new research facility for the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, which will increase the size of the current facility in Ann Arbor, MI. This laboratory focuses on a variety of environmental issues involved with Laurentide Great Lakes of North America. [NOAA News]
• New vessel launched -- A new NOAA fisheries survey vessel was recently launched and christened Pisces. This 208-ft vessel, which will be used to study fish silently across the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic waters off the Southeastern US, will call Pascagoula, MS its homeport. [NOAA News]
• Global changes in climate could be affecting El Niño events -- Scientists from Chile and France studying marine cores containing diatoms from northern Chile's Bay of Mejillones claim that the frequency and intensity of the rhythmic variations in the atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) appear to be influenced by changes in global temperature. [EurekAlert!]
• Report issued on German tsunami warning system -- As the third anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, a report was issued by German geo and marine scientists as to the current status of the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean, which should be operational by the end of 2008. [EurekAlert!]
• Accurate density measurements of reference water made -- Researchers at Germany's Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt have developed a technique called the Magnetic Flotation Method that allows them to accurately measure the density of ultra-pure water over a large range of temperatures, which represents an important contribution to the oceanographic measurements of ocean currents. [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt]
• 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)
• 27 December 1831...The HMS Beagle, along with the 22-year old British naturalist Charles Darwin, set sail from Plymouth, England on a five-year expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Based upon his study of the flora and fauna of such places as the Galapagos Islands, he developed his famous theory of evolution that was described in his 1859 work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. (The History Channel)
• 27 December 1965...The BP oil rig Sea Gem capsized in the North Sea, with the loss of 13 lives.
• 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)

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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.