Weekly Ocean News

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

WEEK THREE: 23-27 September 2013

For Your Information

Notice the sunrise-sunset times at the equinox -- The autumnal equinox, which marks the commencement of astronomical fall , occurred this past Sunday afternoon (officially at 2044Z on 22 September 2013 or 4:44 PM EDT or 3:44 PM CDT, etc.). If you checked the sunrise and sunset times in your local newspaper or from the climate page at your local National Weather Service Office, you would probably find that not until the midpoint of this coming week will the length of time when the Sun is above the local horizon would be precisely 12 hours at most locations. However; the length of night will exceed that of the length of daylight by the end of the week. The effects of atmospheric refraction (bending of light rays by the varying density of the atmosphere) along with a relatively large diameter of the sun contribute to several additional minutes that the Sun appears above the horizon at sunrise and sunset.
Aspects of ocean water chemistry and marine life considered -- If you would like more background information concerning how marine organisms evolved in the ocean with a relatively narrow range of chemical and physical characteristics, please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth.
"ClimateChangeLive" distance learning adventure webinar scheduled for this week -- The first in a series of seven webinars will be available between 7:30 and 9:00 PM this coming Wednesday, 25 September 2013. The series of webinars is designed to raise awareness and understanding of climate change science and is aligned to national science education standards. The collection of science-based, climate education resources and programs have been gathered from at least 19 federal agency and NGO partners that include the US Forest Service, NOAA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The first webinar scheduled for this Wednesday is "Bring Your Class Along on a ClimateChangeLIVE Distance Learning Adventure!" Check http://climatechangelive.org/ for registration details.
Informational resources made available for FIRST® LEGO® League Nature's Fury^SM Challenge -- NOAA Education Resources has provided a list of educational resources that can be used by FIRST Lego League teams and others in planning for the "2012 FLL Nature's Fury^SMChallenge" Project. [NOAA Education Resources ]

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics --- The weather across the tropical ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere remained somewhat active during the last week as the surface waters in this hemisphere remain relatively warm. Several named tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that form over tropical ocean waters, with near surface maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph that intensify to tropical storm- or hurricane-force status) developed in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific:

In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Humberto traveled northward across the central North Atlantic to the southwest of the Azores Islands at the start of last week. Earlier, this system had been the first hurricane of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, but had weakened into a post-tropical cyclone at the end of the previous week. By late this past week, Humberto finally weakened to a tropical depression last Thursday. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images on Hurricane Humberto.
Hurricane Ingrid, the second Atlantic hurricane of 2013, made landfall along the Gulf Coast of northeastern Mexico near La Pesca last Monday morning. Ingrid weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression as it traveled across the mountainous regions of eastern Mexico. Locally heavy rain fell across this region, leading to flash flooding an mudslides. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
for additional information on Hurricane Ingrid.
In the eastern North Pacific,Tropical Storm Manuel weakened to a tropical depression as it made an initial landfall along the Mexican coast to the north of Manzanillo one week ago this past Sunday. After passing across coastal areas of Mexico, Manuel moved out over the waters of the Pacific, where it re-intensified into a tropical storm and eventually became a hurricane after reaching the southern Gulf of California. Hurricane Manuel, which was the seventh hurricane of the 2013 eastern Pacific hurricane season, made a final landfall southeast of Los Mochis, Mexico as a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Locally heavy rain accompanied Manuel and eventually moved to the northeast toward south Texas. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Manuel.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Man-yi made land fall along the main Japanese island of Honshu at the start of last week, accompanied by strong winds and locally heavy rain. After making landfall, Man-yi quickly weakened and its remnant low headed for the Sea of Okhotsk. Additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Man-yi can be obtained from the NASA Hurricane Page.
At the start of last week, a tropical depression formed at the start of last week over the waters of the Philippine Sea to the east of the Philippine island of Luzon. This tropical depression quickly became a tropical storm and then a typhoon called Usagi. By midweek, it had become a super typhoon (or a category 5 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as maximum sustained surface winds reached at least 161 mph. Becoming the most powerful typhoon of 2013, Super Typhoon Usagi traveled to the west-northwest during the week, passing through the Luzon Strait between Luzon and Taiwan. This system brought heavy rain, strong winds and high seas to southern Taiwan before heading to the southeastern coast of China. Usagi made landfall on Sunday night (local time) nearly 100 miles to the east-southeast of Hong Kong. The NASA Hurricane Page has more information along with satellite images on Super-Typhoon Usagi. Data collected from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite showed the extremely rapid intensification of Super-Typhoon Usagi. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
During the week, Tropical Depression 18W formed over the South China Sea and moved westward, making landfall along the coast of central Vietnam. This system was relatively short-lived, as it dissipated within 18 hours after formation.
Over the past weekend, Tropical Storm Pabuk formed to the north-northeast of Guam from a tropical depression. Pabuk intensified as it traveled toward the northwest over the weekend. This system could become a typhoon on Monday. More information on Tropical Storm Pakuk when it was called System 98W is available from the NASA Hurricane Page.

Review of August 2013 (and seasonal) weather and climate for the globe reviewed -- Preliminary data analyzed by scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) indicated that the global combined land and ocean average surface temperature for August 2013 was 61.2 degrees Fahrenheit, which tied August 2005 for the fourth highest August monthly temperature since a sufficiently dense network of global temperature records began in 1880. The globally averaged August 2013 temperature was approximately 1.1 Fahrenheit degree above the 20th-century average (1901-2000) for the month. When considered separately, the monthly temperature of the ocean surface was 1.03 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th-century average, essentially tying it with ocean temperatures in 1998, 2003, 2005, and 2009 month for the record highest August temperature. On the other hand, the land surface surface temperature for this recently concluded month was the eleventh highest August temperature on record, with a temperature that was approximately 1.39 Fahrenheit degrees above the long-term average. The researchers also noted that the global land and ocean average temperature for the three-months of June, July and August (meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere) 2013 tied the corresponding months of 2009 was the fifth highest for that three-month period since 1880. The June-August 2013 temperature for the ocean was fifth highest while the corresponding land temperature for the three months was the seventh highest for any boreal summer in the last 134 years. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
According to data provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the average August Arctic sea ice extent was approximately 15.6 percent below the 1981–2010 average, making it the sixth smallest August Arctic sea ice extent since satellite records began in 1979. However, the August 2013 Arctic sea ice extent was larger than the record low August extent of 2012. Conversely, the August Antarctic sea ice extent was the largest August extent on record, surpassing the previous record of August 2010.
Note: As of mid-September 2013, the Arctic sea ice extent remained the sixth smallest on record, at a time when the minimum ice extend occurs during the summer melt season. [NASA's Earth Science News Team]
Monitoring and assessing changes in extremes of midlatitude storms, winds and waves -- A new scientific assessment entitled "Monitoring and Understanding Changes in Extremes: Extratropical Storms, Winds, and Waves" will be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that was prepared by a team of scientists of the changes in extreme extratropical storms, winds and ocean waves that affect the United States since the mid-20th century. In their assessment, they produced a diagram that provides a visualization of the "adequacy for detecting and understanding changes for classes of extremes." [NOAA National Climatic Data Center News]
Presence of undersea mountains provides an influence in climate prediction --Scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States have measured the mixing of ocean waters in the Southern Ocean so as to improve understanding of the mixing of deep and mid-depth oceans are mixed and ultimately, improve long-term climate projections. They used an inert chemical tracer released into the Southern Ocean to measure the mixing. They found that seawater mixes dramatically as to passes over undersea mountains in Drake Passage, the channel situated between South America's Cape Horn and the Antarctic continent. [University of Exeter News]
Alaskan crabs are not immune from effects of rapidly acidifying waters -- A story prepared for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) NewsHour by The Seattle Times and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting reports that increasing ocean acidification caused by rising carbon emissions into the atmosphere has begun altering the chemistry of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea, which create trouble for Alaska's noted crab populations. The frigid waters of the Bering Sea are considered to be one of the world's most productive marine systems. [PBS NewsHour]
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]
check -- 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.

Concept of the Week: Sea Water Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

In view of the contemporary concern regarding global climate change, scientists are studying the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are on the rise primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (an atmospheric gas that absorbs and radiates infrared radiation) so that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

As noted in Chapter 3 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. As noted in Chapter 1 of your textbook, photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question.

Since the late 1980s, scientists have been recording ocean conditions at a site (dubbed ALOHA) about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, in 2001, the rate of CO₂ uptake was only about 15% of what it was in 1989. Why the change in CO₂ uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's CO₂ uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Concept of the Week: Questions

With rising sea surface temperatures, the rate of evaporation of sea water [(increases)(decreases)].
With increasing salinity and constant temperature, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is taken up by ocean water [(increases)(decreases)].

Historical Events

22-23 September 1998...Hurricane Georges raked Hispaniola leaving over 580 dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, due mainly to flash flooding and subsequent mud slides in high terrain regions. Damage estimates from the storm exceeded $1 billion (US). (The Weather Doctor)
23 September 1551...The Grand Harbour at Valetta, Malta was hit by a waterspout that then moved inland and caused extensive damage. A shipping armada in the harbor about to go into battle was destroyed by the waterspout killing at least 600 people. (The Weather Doctor)
23 September 1815...One of the most powerful hurricanes to strike New England made landfall initially on Long Island, NY and then again at Old Saybrook, CT before crossing into Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Extensive structural damage resulted. Providence, RI was flooded and six people were killed. This "Great September Gale" was the worst tempest in nearly 200 years, equal in strength to the Great 1938 Hurricane, and one of a series of severe summer and autumn storms to affect shipping lanes that year. (David Ludlum)
24 September 1493...Christopher Columbus set sail with 17 ships on his second expedition to the New World, reaching the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola before returning to Europe in March 1496. (Wikipedia)
25 September 1513...Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish conquistador-explorer, crossed the isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean, which he christened Mar del Sur (South Sea), claiming the ocean and all adjacent lands for Spain. (Wikipedia)
25 September 1939...A West Coast hurricane moved onshore south of Los Angeles bringing unprecedented rains along the southern coast of California. Nearly 5.5 in. of rain drenched Los Angeles during a 24-hr period. The hurricane caused $2 million in damage, mostly to structures along the coast and to crops, and claimed 45 lives at sea. "El Cordonazo" produced 5.66 in. of rain at Los Angeles and 11.6 in. of rain at Mount Wilson, both records for the month of September. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
25 September 1956...The world's first transatlantic telephone cable system began operating (Clarenville, Newfoundland to Oban, Scotland). Previous cables had been limited to telegraph transmissions. (Today in Science History)
26 September 1580...English seaman Francis Drake returned to Plymouth, England, in the Golden Hind, becoming the first British navigator to circumnavigate the globe. He had commenced his voyage around the world on 13 December 1577 with five ships, but returned with only one ship. During his voyage in the Pacific Ocean, he paused near San Francisco Bay and then traveled as far north as present-day Washington State. He brought back valuable information about the world's ocean to Queen Elizabeth I. (The History Channel)
26-27 September 1959...Typhoon Vera ravaged Honshu, Japan, the nation's largest island, leaving over 5000 dead, more than 40,000 injured, 1.5 million homeless and 40,000 homes destroyed. It was Japan's greatest storm disaster. (The Weather Doctor)
27 September 1854...After colliding with the French ship SS Vesta in dense fog, the American Collins Line steamship Arctic sank with more than 300 people on board near Cape Race, Newfoundland, marking the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean. (Wikipedia)
27 September 1922...Report on observations of experiments with short wave radio at the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory in Anacostia, DC started US Navy development of radar. (Navy Historical Center)
27 September 1958...A typhoon caused the death of nearly 5000 people on Honshu, the main Japanese island. (Wikipedia)
28 September 1542...Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed into present-day San Diego (CA) Bay during the course of his explorations of the northwest shores of Mexico on behalf of Spain. His landing at Point Loma Head apparently was the first known European encounter with California. Before dying on the Channel Islands off the Santa Barbara coast in January 1543, he had explored much of the California coast. (The History Channel)
28 September 1850...An Act of Congress (9 Stat. L., 500, 504) provided for the systematic coloring and numbering of all buoys for, prior to this time, they had been painted red, white, or black, without any special system. The act "prescribed that buoys should be colored and numbered so that in entering from seaward red buoys with even numbers should be on the starboard or right hand side; black buoys with odd numbers on the port or left hand side; buoys with red and black horizontal stripes should indicate shoals with channel on either side; and buoys in channel ways should be colored with black and white perpendicular stripes." (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
29 September 1959...Hurricane Gracie made landfall near Beaufort, SC with sustained winds of 97 mph and a peak gust of 138 mph. Ten people were killed in South Carolina and Georgia. As the weakening storm moved through Virginia on the 30th, the storm spawned an F3 tornado at Ivy, VA, which killed 11 people. On the same day, a storm produced 28 inches of snow in Colorado Springs, CO. (David Ludlum)