WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

31 December 2012-4 January 2013

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 14 January 2013. 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

Items of Interest:

In Close -- Earth reaches perihelion, the point in its orbit that is closest to the sun (147.1 million kilometers or 91.2 million miles), late in the evening of New Year's Day (officially at 05Z on 2 January 2013 or midnight EST, 11 PM CST, etc. on Tuesday, 1 January).
Grants for furthering environmental literacy are made available --Officials at the NOAA Office of Education has announced they will release a new funding opportunity in January 2013 through its Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) program that is designed to build the capacity of informal and/or formal educators to use NOAA data and data access tools to help K-12 students and/or the public understand and respond to global environmental change. The proposed application deadline would be in early March. For more details, see the website http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/grants/elg.html . Eligible applicants will be considered according to two priority categories of equal importance that involve: 1.) collaborative teams of two or more US institutions, and 2.) collaborative teams exclusively composed of two or more non-profit US aquariums. Applicant teams may request up to $1 million for a 2- to 5-year project period.
Videos help de-mystify science fair projects -- The Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently released a six-part video series designed to help lead teachers, students and parents in a step-by-step way through the designing and crafting a science fair project, including help with communicating the final results. [NASA JPL]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- The only organized tropical cyclone activity during the last week was found in the Eastern Hemisphere.
In the western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Wukong formed from a tropical depression early last week in the Philippine Sea to the east of the Philippines. Moving to the west, this tropical depression intensified to Tropical Storm Wukong as it crossed the central Philippines to the south of Manila and then continued into the South China Sea. Heavy rain and strong winds accompanying Wukong buffeted this island nation. This tropical storm weakened to a tropical depression as it traveled toward the west-southwest, passing to the south of the coast of southern Vietnam. Wukong finally dissipated late in the week. For additional information on Tropical Storm Wukong, together with satellite images, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Indian basin, Tropical Storm Four developed at the start of last week well to the east of the African nation of Somalia. Movement was to the west-southwest. However, this tropical storm was relatively short-lived as it weakened and dissipated before reaching Somalia, having survived for approximately 36 hours.
In the western South Pacific basin, Cyclone Freda formed at mid week over the waters of the Solomon Sea to the south-southwest of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. These islands experienced heavy rain and strong winds from this developing tropical cyclone. As it traveled generally southward, Freda intensified into a major category 3 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale on Sunday (local time). Cyclone Freda was expected to pass to the west of New Caledonia during this upcoming week.
In the South Indian basin, Tropical Storm Mitchell formed late last week off the northwestern coast of Western Australia. This system, which was moving southward over this past weekend, remained well off the Australian coast and should weaken to a tropical depression by early this upcoming week.
Public comments sought on expansion of two national marine sanctuaries in California -- NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries recently announced that public comments are being solicited through the end of February on the proposed changes in the boundaries for its Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries that are located in the North Pacific waters off northern California. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
More Gulf of Mexico restoration projects approved in wake of oil spill disaster -- The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Trustees recently approved two additional early restoration projects that will begin along the Gulf Coast in 2013 that involve helping restore nesting habitats in the Florida Panhandle and in Mississippi for beach-nesting birds and sea turtles negatively impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [Deep Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment]
Robotic probe's Sandy mission may aid hurricane forecasts -- Several graduate students from Rutgers University are analyzing data on ocean currents and sea-surface temperatures collected from an underwater Slocum electric glider they deployed prior to the landfall of Hurricane Sandy along the New Jersey coast. They envision that the data they collected showing rapidly changing undersea conditions as the hurricane made landfall could be used to help scientists reconstruct Sandy's behavior. Furthermore, they hope that these data can help in the better prediction of how hurricanes change during the critical hours before landfall. [Daily Record/USA Today]
Monitoring Arctic during the "polar night" from space....-- A "day-night" band image made from data collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite shows the sea ice that was expanding during this past autumn polar darkness across the Arctic Ocean. The VIIRS is sufficiently sensitive to be able to detect the dim light from the moon, stars and air glow that is reflected from the sea ice even when the region is not being illuminated by the Sun. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Rapid warming found on West Antarctic Ice Sheet -- Researchers from the Byrd Polar Research Center on the Ohio State University campus, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) report that the temperature record obtained from Byrd Station on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has increased by 4.3 Fahrenheit degrees in average annual temperature since 1958, which represents a rate of increase that is three times faster than the average temperature rise from elsewhere around the globe. Furthermore, the temperature rise is nearly double warming trends during austral summer (December through February). The researchers are concerned that this increased warming rate could result in an even bigger contribution to sea level rises than previously thought. [Ohio State University Communications][NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]
Old views about evolution of early life challenged -- A research team from the University of California, Riverside and their colleagues in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany claim that their analysis of organic-rich shale has challenged a popular hypothesis in paleo-ocean chemistry that low levels of zinc in seawater was a factor in the delayed diversification of single and multi-cell organisms prior to 600 million years ago. These researchers believe that zinc was not in limited supply and that other controls must be invoked to explain the protracted appearance and proliferation of eukaryotic life. [University of California, Riverside Today]
Hawaiian Islands are being dissolved -- Geologists from Brigham Young University claim that in addition to erosion from rainwater, the mountains on some of the Hawaiian Islands such as Oahu are being dissolved from within by groundwater. The researchers based their conclusions upon the annual mass loss they determined sampling the mineral content of the ground and surface water and from US Geological Survey records. While these mountains could disappear over time leaving low-lying islands, the researchers feel that other geological processes involving plate tectonics will maintain mountainous sections of Oahu for as long as 1.5 million years. [Brigham Young 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, drought, floods, 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, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Report from the Field -- Bill Huskin, a DataStreme Ocean LIT leader from Doylestown, PA, reported that southeastern Pennsylvania awoke to a rare white Christmas, as one half of an inch of snow fell during the predawn hours. He notes that according to NOAA, this area has a less than 20% chance of snow on the ground at Christmas.

Historical Events:

1 January 1850...The lamp was lit at the first iron pile lighthouse in the U.S. built on Minot's Ledge, just outside the Boston (MA) Harbor. The Minot's Ledge Light, the first lighthouse in the U.S. to be exposed to the ocean's full fury, was swept away in a great gale on 16 April 1851. (Today in Science History)
1 January 1903...The first message telegraphed on the transpacific cable was sent from Honolulu, Hawaii to President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, DC. The Cable Ship Silvertown began laying the 2620-mile long cable on 14 December 1902 when it left San Francisco, CA and it completed the project following its arrival at Oahu's Waikiki on 26 December. The cable now lies abandoned on the bottom of the Pacific after being abandoned in November 1951. (Today in Science History)
1 January 1954...The "Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1948" commonly known as the "Revised International Rules of the Road" became law. These were a result of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1948. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
1 January 1958...The U.S. Coast Guard ceased listening continuously for distress calls on 2670 kilohertz. Although the countries of the world had agreed at the Atlantic City Convention of the International Telecommunication Union in 1947 to use 2182 kilohertz for international maritime mobile radiotelephone calling and distress, the U.S. Coast Guard had continued listening on the old frequency until the public had had sufficient time to change to the new one. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
1 January 1959...The U.S. Naval Observatory introduced the system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures. (Naval Historical Center)
1 January 1987...A winter storm brought rain, snow and high winds to the Southern and Middle Atlantic Coast Region. The storm, which occurred in a period of unusually high astronomical tides, produced a tide of 9.4 feet at Myrtle Beach, SC (their highest since Hurricane Hazel in 1954) which caused a total of 25 million dollars damage in South Carolina. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1 January 1997...Two 12-foot waves generated by an intense Pacific storm swept 27 people into the Pacific Ocean from the King Harbor Breakwater at Redondo Beach, CA. All survived the ordeal. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
2 January 1955...Hurricane Alice battered the Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 85 mph on this day. Alice was upgraded as a full tropical system on 31 December 1954, making Alice the latest and earliest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean. (Intellicast)
2 January 1993...Cyclone Kina battered Fiji with wind gusts to 130 mph and heavy rain. Up to 21.65 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, resulting in the worst flooding in 60 years. Twenty-three people were killed and damage was estimated to be in excess of 547 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2 January 1998...Tropical Cyclone Ron (the Southwest Pacific's counterpart of a hurricane) destroyed most of the structures on Swains Island in American Samoa. The island's 49 residents sought safety in a concrete structure, which withstood the cyclone's 90-mph sustained winds. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
3 January 2006...The record 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season extended into the new year, as Tropical Storm Zeta reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph for the second time; the previous occurrence was on 1 January 2006. Never a threat to land as it traveled across the central North Atlantic, Tropical Storm Zeta was the 27th named tropical cyclone (including both tropical storms and hurricanes) of the season. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
4 January 1493...The explorer, Christopher Columbus, began his return to Spain and completed his first journey to the New World. (Wikipedia)
5 January 1841...The British explorer, James Clark Ross, was the first to enter pack ice near Ross Ice Shelf off Antarctica.
5 January 1875...CDR Edward Lull, USN, began an expedition to locate the best ship canal route across Panama. This route was followed 30 years later. (Naval Historical Center)
5 January 1903...The general public could use the San Francisco-Hawaii telegraph cable across the Pacific cable for the very first time.
6 January 1839...A two-day storm off the Irish and English coasts was immortalized as "The Big Wind".
6 January 1898...The first telephone message from a submerged submarine was transmitted by Simon Lake, the father of the modern submarine.
6 January 1928...An intense low pressure system over the North Sea created a storm surge that moved upstream along the Thames River to London in England. Water rose over embankments. The rapid rise of the river resulted in 14 deaths in basements. As many as 40,000 people were left homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)