Weekly Ocean News

PREVIEW WEEK: 31 August-4 September 2009

Ocean in the News:

Recruiting teachers and students to sample "The Digital Ocean" -- A multidisciplinary team associated with the Carsey-Wolf Center of Film, Television and New Media at the University of California, Santa Barbara who have produced "The Digital Ocean", a virtual commons for helping students and teachers learn about the ocean sustainability and the ocean ecosystems, are encouraging participation in "Sampling the Sea" a part of the development of the program. [CFTNM/UCSB]
Eye on the tropics --- The weather across the tropical waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans remained active, with several named tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that form over tropical ocean waters, with near surface maximum sustained winds that intensify to tropical storm or hurricane force status).
- In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Danny, the fourth named tropical cyclone of the 2009 North Atlantic hurricane season formed over the open waters of the Atlantic east of the Bahama Islands late last week. Initially, this storm traveled to the north-northwest before heading northward off the coast of the US mainland. By Sunday, this An animation of satellite images from NASA's GOES Project for a three-day span last week shows the movement of Tropical Storm Danny near Bermuda. [EurekAlert!] For more information along with satellite images of Tropical Storm Danny, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
- In the eastern North Pacific basin, two tropical cyclones formed late last week, intensified into named systems on last Saturday and remained active through the remainder of the weekend. A satellite image along with additional information on these two systems, which were unnamed last Friday, appeared on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  Hurricane Jimena, the tenth named tropical cyclone and the fifth hurricane of the 2009 hurricane season in that basin formed off the southwestern Mexican coast. This hurricane intensified rapidly to become a major category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled to the north-northwest. By Sunday afternoon, this hurricane was projected to reach Mexico's Baja California Peninsula early this upcoming week.
  Tropical Storm Kevin also formed on Saturday farther to the southwest of where Hurricane Jimena developed. Kevin traveled to the north-northeast.
  At the start of last week, Tropical Storm Ignacio formed over the open waters of the eastern North Pacific and traveled to the northwest before dissipating. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Ignacio.
- In the Central North Pacific, Tropical Storm Hilda arrived from the eastern Pacific after crossing the basin boundary at the 140-degree West meridian of longitude early last week. By midweek, this tropical storm weakened and dissipated over the waters of the Pacific south of the Hawaiian Islands. Additional information on Tropical Storm Hilda and satellite images can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
- In the Western North Pacific Tropical Storm Krovanh formed late last week to the northeast of the Northern Mariana Islands and moved north and then northwest toward the southern coast of the Japanese island of Honshu.
  Earlier last week, Typhoon Vamco weakened and dissipated as it traveled across the western North Pacific to the east of Japan.
New tilefish catch-share program announced in Northeast -- Following a recommendation by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, NOAA's Fisheries Service recently approved the first catch-share quota program for the tilefish fishery in the waters of the Northeastern States that will become effective in November. [NOAA News]
Fish habitat and movements mapped in a Southeastern marine sanctuary -- Two research expeditions were recently conducted by NOAA scientists to track and then map the habitat preferences and movements of fish in the waters of Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary that is located off the coast of Georgia. These expeditions should help managers protect a variety of overfished species along the Atlantic coast. [NOAA News]
Nation to be represented at World Climate Conference-3 -- The NOAA administrator and undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere in the US Department of Commerce, Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., will lead the US delegation to this week's World Climate Conference-3 in Geneva, Switzerland. This World Climate Conference-3 will attempt to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services, which is intended to provide useful information on the impacts of climate change. [NOAA News]
US and Japan establishes a navigation satellite ground station -- Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently unveiled a new ground station at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Guam that will track spacecraft from the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System that is to be launched by JAXA in 2010. [NOAA News]
New instrument tested for a polar orbiting satellite -- The US Navy's Naval Research Laboratory has been developing an instrument called the Microwave Imager/Sounder to be placed on a National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) that is to be launched in 2016. This instrument, which will produce microwave imagery along with specialized meteorological and oceanographic products. [EurekAlert!]
Gravity data help shed new light on oceans and climate -- Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been applying a method originally developed for calculating gravity from data collected during the agency's moon program in the early 1970s to gravity data collected from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites to determine the ocean bottom pressure around the globe, which permits determination of ocean currents and global-scale ocean circulation. This information can also be used to improve knowledge of sea level and climate. [NASA JPL]
Active lakes under Antarctic ice are mapped -- A team of researchers from the University of Washington, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have analyzed more than four years of ice elevation data collected from the lasers onboard NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation satellite (ICESat) to map the locations of 124 lakes that actively drain or fill under the Antarctic ice sheet. [NASA Earth Science News Team]
Post-Katrina return of business to the Big Easy examined -- An environmental sciences professor at Louisiana State University, the head of the Louisiana Real Estate Commission and others from Tulane University and Texas State University have analyzed the return of business to New Orleans following the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina four years ago, noting that those business that involved professional, scientific, or technical services opened more quickly. This group warned that better advance planning and decision making at the public policy level was needed for a more rapid return of business following a natural disaster. [EurekAlert!]
Portrait of a supertyphoon -- NASA recently posted a visible image of the swirl of clouds surrounding the Super Typhoon Jangmi made in September 2008 by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. At the time, Super Typhoon Jangmi was rated a Category 5 typhoon (the western North Pacific's equivalent of a hurricane) on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as maximum sustained surface winds were estimated to have reached 162 mph over the Pacific near Taiwan. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Aral Sea shrinkage continues -- An image obtained in mid-August 2009 from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the continued decrease in the size of Aral Sea in the Former Soviet Union which had been the world's fourth-largest inland sea. However, during the last decade, NASA satellites have shown a marked decrease in the size of the Aral Sea, due in part to the river diversions made to make arid sections of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan fertile cropland. [NASA Earth Observatory]
"Great Pacific Ocean garbage patch" is located -- Researchers participating in the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) have found a region of extensive plastic debris floating in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean Gyre approximately 1000 miles from the California coast, forming a region labeled as the "Great Pacific Ocean garbage patch." [EurekAlert!]
Reconstructing the temperature record in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool -- Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Rutgers State University and the University at Albany-State University of New York have studied sediment cores collected from the floor of the waters surrounding Indonesia, producing a 2000-year reconstruction of the sea surface temperature of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool. The researchers found that this region may have been as warm during the Medieval Warm Period (1300-800 CE) as currently found. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
An All-Hazards Monitor --This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
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: Touring the DataStreme Ocean website

Welcome to DataStreme Ocean! You are embarking on a study of the world ocean and the role of the ocean in the Earth system. This unique teacher enhancement course focuses on the flow and transformations of energy and water into and out of the ocean, the internal properties and circulation of the ocean, interactions between the ocean and the other components of the Earth system, and the human/societal impacts on and responses to those interactions. Throughout this learning experience, you will be using the DataStreme Ocean website to access and interpret a variety of environmental information, including recent observational data. The objective of this initial Concept of the Week is to explore features of the DS Ocean website.

On Monday of each week of the course, we will post the current Weekly Ocean News that includes Ocean in the News (a summary listing of recent events related to the ocean), Concept of the Week (an in-depth analysis of some topic related to the ocean in the Earth system), and Historical Events (a list of past events such as tsunamis or specific advances in the understanding of oceanography). When appropriate, a feature called Supplemental Information-In Greater Depth will be provided on some topic related to the principal theme of the week.

You will use the DS Ocean website to access and download the weekly "Current Ocean Studies" (plus supporting images) that complement Investigations found in your Ocean Studies Investigations Manual. These materials should be available Monday morning. Click the appropriate links to download and print these electronic Current Ocean Studies and answer forms as well as your Chapter Progress and Investigations Response forms.

The body of the DS Ocean website provides links to the Earth System, information on Physical & Chemical, Geological, and Biological aspects of the ocean, Atmosphere/Ocean Interaction, the Great Lakes, and extras–a glossary of terms, maps, educational links, and DataStreme Ocean information. Following each section is a link to other sites that examine the various subsystems of the Earth system. Let's take a quick tour to become more familiar with the DS Ocean website.

Under Physical & Chemical, click on Sea Surface Temperatures. This image uses a color scale to depict the global pattern of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) (in degrees Celsius) averaged over a recent 7-day period and based on measurements by infrared sensors onboard Earth-orbiting satellites. (Depending on your browser, you may have to place your mouse cursor on the slide bar to the right and scroll down to view the entire image.) Compare SSTs in the Northern Hemisphere with those in the Southern Hemisphere. Return to the DS Ocean website.

Under Geological, click on Current Earthquake Activity. The USGS Current World Seismicity page provides a global map of the locations of seismic (earthquake) events color-coded for the past seven days. The size of the squares represents the magnitude of an earthquake. Note how earthquakes are concentrated along the margin of the Pacific Ocean. Details of recent earthquakes can be found by clicking on their map squares. Return to the DS Ocean website.

The ocean is home to a wide variety of habitats and organisms. Under Biological, click on Ocean "Color" (Productivity). This is a satellite-derived (SeaWiFS) color-coded map of biological productivity in the surface waters of the world ocean averaged from the year 1978 to date. Orange and red indicates the highest productivity and dark blue and violet indicate the lowest productivity. Note the vast areas of relatively low productivity over the central regions of the subtropical ocean basins. Individual months within this period may be chosen for viewing. Now return to the DS Ocean website.

Under Atmosphere/Ocean Interaction, click on TRMM Tropical Rainfall. The TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) page includes color-coded maps of the Monthly Mean Rainrate (in mm per day) across the tropics for the last 30 days ending on the present date. Changes in rainfall are linked to large-scale shifts in the atmosphere/ocean circulation in the tropics. Now return to the DS Ocean website.

Take a few minutes when you have time to browse the other data and information sources available via the DS Ocean website. You should "bookmark" ("favorites") this page on your computer. Return frequently to learn more about the many resources on the ocean in the Earth system. Bon voyage!

Concept of the Week: Questions

The latest global sea surface temperature map indicates that SSTs are generally higher over the [(western)(eastern)] tropical Pacific Ocean.
The USGS map of Current Earthquake Activity indicates that earthquakes appear to be more common along the [(east)(west)] coast of North America.

Historical Events

31 August 1842...The U.S. Naval Observatory was authorized by an act of Congress. (Today in Science History)
1 September 1858...The first transatlantic cable failed after less than one month of service. (Today in Science History)
1-2 September 1935...Perhaps the most intense hurricane ever to hit the U.S. struck the Florida Keys with sustained winds of over 155 mph with gusts exceeding 200 mph. On the 1^st, the "Labor Day Hurricane" formed rapidly over the Bahama Islands and intensified into a Category 5 hurricane (on the Saffir Simpson Scale) with sustained winds of over 155 mph and gusts exceeding 200 mph. On the next day, this hurricane generated a 15-foot tide and waves 30-ft high, as it became the first known Category 5 hurricane to hit the U.S. Mainland. More than 400 persons perished in the storm on that Labor Day, including many World War I veterans building a bridge from the Keys to the mainland. The barometric pressure at Matecumbe Bay, FL hit a record low for the U.S. at 26.35 inches of mercury (or 892 millibars). (David Ludlum) (The Weather Doctor)
1 September 1974...Navy Lieutenant Judy Neuffer became the first woman to pilot a plane through the eye of a hurricane. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
1 September 1985...A joint French-American expedition headed by the American explorer, Robert D. Ballard, located the wreck of the sunken liner RMS Titanic on the floor of the North Atlantic using an experimental and unmanned submersible craft Argo. The wreckage of the Titanic, which sank in April 1912 on its maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg, was found at a depth of about 13,000 feet and approximately 400 miles west of Newfoundland. (The History Channel)
2 September 1752...The British Empire adopted the Gregorian Calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of western Europe (primarily 1582). To correct the imprecise leap year correction in the Julian Calendar, 11 days were dropped making the following day 14 September. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
3 September 1821...A hurricane made landfall at Long Island, near the current J.F. Kennedy Airport and then moved through western Connecticut. The hurricane produced a record high tide at New York City. (David Ludlum)
4 September 1954...Icebreakers, USS Burton Island (AGB-1) and USCG Northwind, completed first transit of the Northwest Passage through McClure Strait. (Naval Historical Center)
4-6 September 1970...Moisture from Pacific Tropical Storm Norma led to heavy rain and severe flooding over a three-day span. Unprecedented rains caused rivers in central Arizona to rise five to ten feet per hour, sweeping cars and buildings as far as 30 to 40 mi downstream, leading to the greatest natural disaster of record for Arizona. Flooding claimed the lives of 23 persons, mainly campers, and caused millions of dollars in property damage. Water crested 36 feet above normal near Sunflower. Workman's Creek was deluged with 11.40 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a 24-hour precipitation record for the Grand Canyon State. An estimated six inches of rain fell at Bug Point, UT, setting a 24-hour precipitation record for the Beehive State. (The Weather Channel) (NCDC)
5 September 1987...A tropical storm, which formed off the South Atlantic coast, was responsible for torrential rains over coastal regions of South Carolina. Between 30 August and 8 September, Charleston, SC received 18.44 in. of rain. The heavy rains caused extensive flooding around the city of Charleston, seriously damaged cotton crops in the eastern part of the state, and resulted in an unusually high number of mosquitoes. (Storm Data)
5 September 1946...The U.S. Air-Rescue Agency, an inter-departmental group headed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard and engaged on the study of improved and standardized rescue and search methods, was renamed the Search and Rescue Agency. "Search and Rescue Units" of the Coast Guard were at the same time integrated into the peace time organization and the whole developed into a system of constantly alerted communications, coastal lookout, and patrols of institute instant and systematic search and rescue procedure in case of disasters." (USCG Historian's Office)
5 September 1950...Hurricane Easy produced the greatest 24-hour rainfall in U.S. weather records up to that time. The hurricane deluged Yankeetown, on the upper west coast of Florida, with 38.70 in. of rain. This record has since been replaced by 43 in. of rain at Alvin, TX on 25-26 July 1979. (David Ludlum)
6 September 1522...The Magellan expedition completed its historical circumnavigation of the globe as one of Ferdinand Magellan's five ships, the Vittoria, arrived at Sanlýcar de Barrameda in Spain with 17 other crewmembers and four Indians. Magellan, who lost his life in April 1521 in the Philippines, set sail from Spain with 270 seamen on 20 September 1519 in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. (The History Channel)