Weekly Ocean News

Weekly Ocean News

WEEK ELEVEN: 14-18 November 2011

Items of Interest:

Celebrate Geography Awareness Week -- This upcoming week (13-19 November 2011) has been identified as Geography Awareness Week. National Geography Awareness Week, launched by presidential proclamation in 1987, is designed to draw attention to geo-literacy and "the importance of geographic understanding in ensuring our nation's economic competitiveness, national security, environmental sustainability, and the livability of our communities in the 21st century." This year's Geography Awareness Week theme, "Geography: The Adventure in Your Community" promotes the idea that the geographic perspective is an important way to understand every community--no matter what size, or how long or briefly one has been a part of it.

Opportunity for Teachers: The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Teacher at Sea 2012 Field Season program is now accepting applications until 30 November 2011. Gain your "sea legs" and first-hand experience in one-week to one-month voyages. For more information, or to apply, see http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov.

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity across the tropical and subtropical ocean basins was relatively light last week:

In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Sean, the eighteenth named tropical cyclone of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, formed last Tuesday from a non-tropical low pressure system located between Bermuda and the Bahamas. This tropical storm traveled first toward the north-northwest and then turned toward the northeast late in the week, passing to the northwest of Bermuda. Sean lost its tropical characteristics last Friday as it merged with a midlatitude frontal boundary. For additional information and satellite images concerning Tropical Storm Sean, please consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Depression 24W formed early last week over the waters of South China Sea east of the central coast of Vietnam. After taking an erratic path to the northwest and then to the east, this tropical depression dissipated within two days after it formed. Additional information along with a satellite image of Tropical Depression 24W can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the North Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Depression 4A formed over the waters of the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman in southwestern Asia early last week. This depression intensified quickly to become Tropical Storm 4 as it traveled generally northward and then westward. However, it weakened and then dissipated by midweek before reaching the coast of Oman. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm 4A.

Public input sought on marine enforcement priorities -- Officials with NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement recently released a draft of its enforcement priorities and invited the public to submit comments through early January 2012. The agency is taking steps to improve its enforcement program and its communication with fishermen. [NOAA News]

Agreement reached clarifying use of law judges -- NOAA and US Coast Guard amended a memorandum of agreement clarifying use of administrative law judges from the US Environmental Projection Agency for pending NOAA cases. [NOAA News]

Grant awarded to develop a biofilter to remove Great Lakes algal toxins -- NOAA recently awarded a grant to a research team led by scientists from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry for research that could lead to the development of a biofilter, an instrument that could break down harmful algal toxins in the Great Lakes into harmless byproducts. [NOAA News]

Awards given to help research on toxic algal blooms -- During the last week, NOAA awarded grants to two projects involved with researching toxic or harmful algal blooms through programs run by NOAA's National Ocean Service/National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.
In one of the projects, scientists at New York State's Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences received funding for a three project involving new methods of monitoring and predicting HABs caused by the toxic algae Alexandrium and Dinophysis along the Long Island coastline. Eating shellfish tainted with toxins from these marine algae species can lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning in humans. [NOAA News]
In the other project, scientists from several California universities and marine laboratories for a five-year project intended to advance harmful algal bloom warnings to protect public and animal health in coastal California. The research will be conducted at the University of California Santa Cruz, the University of Southern California, Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, University of California Los Angeles, and NOAA Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research. [NOAA News]

First measurements obtained from nation's newest environmental satellite -- Last week scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center released the first images obtained from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard the agency's newest Earth-observing satellite National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP). One of the first images of the Earth's atmospheric water vapor included Tropical Storm Sean over the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. The NPP is designed to serve as a bridge between NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) of satellites and the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System, a NOAA program that will also collect weather and climate data. [NASA GSFC]

Student helps study newly discovered ocean currents around Iceland -- An oceanography graduate student working on her master's degree at the University of Rhode Island recently described her experiences on a 30-day cruise onboard the Research Vessel Knorr that studied the North Icelandic Jet, a newly-discovered current carrying cold water from the Arctic through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. [University of Rhode Island]

Fish can help save Pacific corals -- Researchers with the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that parrotfish and surgeonfish appear to be saving coral reefs in the South Pacific island of Moorea in French Polynesia by eating algae that would affect the coral. [University of California, Santa Barbara]

Methane release may have cause major climate change 56-million-years ago --Researchers at Rice University and Oregon State University believe that massive amounts of carbon were released from methane hydrate deposits in the ocean floor approximately 56 million years ago to cause a major change in the global climate now identified as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The methane released apparently was converted to atmospheric carbon dioxide, which resulted in an increase of global temperature by as much as 6 Celsius degrees. [Rice University]

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: 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

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

Historical Events:

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)
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)