Weekly Ocean News

WEEK TWO: 7-11 September 2015

Items of Interest:

Flat-screen version of NOAA's Science On a Sphere animations will soon be available on your desktop -- Earlier this week NOAA released a free, downloadable flat screen version of its popular Science On a Sphere® (SOS) to the public, thereby permitting the display the dynamics of Earth's weather and climate, plate tectonics and more on desktop computers. This free downloadable tool called SOS ExplorerTM will help teachers bring these stunning science visualizations, usually found at museums and science centers, into the classroom, where students can learn by exploring. [NOAA's Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research News]
Approaching the peak in the Atlantic hurricane season -- The historic or statistical annual peak in the Atlantic hurricane season will occur this week (8-12 September), as determined as the date during the entire season with most frequent number of named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes), based upon over 100 years of record. This date corresponds closely with the time of peak sea-surface temperatures across those sections of the North Atlantic considered hurricane-breeding areas. [NWS National Hurricane Center]
Remote sensing of the oceans by satellites -- Please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth for a description of how oceanographers have employed orbiting satellites as observation platforms to make remote observations of the world's oceans.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- 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) across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere during the last week:

In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Fred intensified to become the second Atlantic hurricane of 2015 as it traveled to the northwest across the Cape Verde Islands early last week. Although weakening to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression, Fred continued its trek across the central North Atlantic during the remainder of the week. As of this past Sunday afternoon, Tropical Depression Fred had dissipated, leaving a remnant low. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images for Hurricane Fred, which was the farthest eastward forming tropical hurricane in history, since records began in the mid 1800s. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory] Furthermore, Fred was also the first hurricane to pass across Cape Verde Islands in a century. [NASA Earth Observatory]
The seventh named tropical cyclone of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season formed on this past Saturday from a tropical depression located to the south of the Cape Verde Islands. Named Tropical Storm Grace, it was traveling westward across the eastern Tropical Atlantic on Sunday. Grace was expected to strengthen as it was projected to continue toward the west at the start of this week.
In the eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Jimena, a category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) traveled toward the west-northwest and moved into the central North Pacific early this past week; additional information on Jimena appears below.
Tropical Storm Kevin developed early last week from a tropical depression well off the western coast of Mexico. This eleventh named tropical cyclone of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season traveled northward during the week, but became a remnant low approximately 300 miles to the west of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula on Saturday. See NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and information on Tropical Storm Kevin.
Tropical Storm Linda formed early Sunday morning from a tropical depression that was off the western coast of Mexico. Strengthening of Linda occurred on Sunday as it traveled toward the northwest. Linda was forecast to continue toward the northwest and strengthen to a hurricane early this week.
In the central North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Kilo crossed into the western North Pacific basin to become a typhoon at the start of the week.
Hurricane Ignacio, which had formed in the eastern North Pacific basin during the previous week, Ignacio approached the Hawaiian Islands as a major category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) at the start of the week, but curved toward the northwest, passing to the northeast of the Aloha State during the early half of the week. By this past weekend, Ignacio had weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression as it traveled toward the north. By the start of this past weekend Ignacio had become a post-tropical cyclone over the North Pacific approximately 1000 miles to the north-northwest of Honolulu. Remnants of Ignacio could reach the Gulf of Alaska early this week. Consult NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Hurricane Ignacio.
Hurricane Jimena entered the central North Pacific basin from the eastern Pacific early in the week and curved toward the northwest during the week, passing well to the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. Weakening of Jimena to tropical storm status occurred during the later part of the week. By late this past weekend, Tropical Storm Jimena was approximately 650 miles to the east-northeast of Honolulu, HI. Current forecasts indicate that this tropical storm would turn toward the west and continue weakening during the early part of this week. Satellite images and additional information on Hurricane Jimena are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon (the name for hurricanes in the western Pacific) Kilo strengthened to a category 3 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale after crossing the International Dateline from the central North Pacific basin early in the week. Passing neat Wake Island, Typhoon Kilo weakened later in the week as it continued its travel westward. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information on Hurricane Kilo and accompanying images.

Three major hurricanes over eastern and central North Pacific a first -- Images made from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA/NASA Suomi-NPP satellite of Hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena represent a historic first, as this marked the first time in recorded history that three Category 4 storms simultaneously found over the central and eastern Pacific. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Survey of World War I shipwreck made off North Carolina coast -- At the start of last week teams from NOAA's Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, in partnership with the US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, began a survey of the historic wreck of Diamond Shoal Lightship No. 71, the only American lightship to be sunk by an enemy German submarine during World War I. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
Signs of Katrina in Louisiana marshes remain visible from space -- With the tenth anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, visible reminders of this disastrous hurricane remain visible in the coastal marshes surrounding Delacroix, a fishing town to the southeast of New Orleans. The signs of this destruction to the marshland can be seen by comparing a false-color image generated from data collected by the Thematic Mapper) onboard NASA's Landsat 5 satellite during the week prior to Katrina's landfall and a corresponding image from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA's Landsat 8 satellite in August 2015. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Money made available to support fisheries projects -- Late last week NOAA announced that approximately $10 million dollars in competitive grants were being made available through the 2016 Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program to help build resilient coastal communities and sustainable marine resources across the nation. Proposals for these grants can be submitted until early November. [NOAA News]
Awards made available to support fish species recovery -- NOAA recently announced that more than $4.5 million in grants have been awarded to states and tribes as part of the 2015 NOAA Fisheries Species Recovery Grant Program to support endangered or threatened species recovery efforts. Five new projects and 14 multi-year projects are being funded along with In addition, the agency is also opening a call for 2016 proposals under this program. [NOAA News]
Research in Gulf receives award from NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program -- NOAA's RESTORE (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States) Act Science Program recently completed its first funding competition and is awarding approximately $2.7 million to seven research teams that will address one or more of the Science Program's short-term priorities for the Gulf of Mexico. These priorities are to focus on assessing ecosystem modeling, evaluating ecological indicators for Gulf conditions, and assessing and developing recommendations for monitoring and observing in the Gulf. [NOAA News]
Animations constructed to compare current and historic 1997 El Niño events -- The Visualization Laboratory at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) has created animations that provide a comparison of the sea surface temperatures (SST) across the tropical Pacific Ocean basin during the historic El Niño event in 1997 and 1998 with the currently evolving event that some experts claim could be one of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history. An El Niño event is characterized by above average SSTs across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that can impact the weather elsewhere around the globe. While the side by side comparison between the two events reveals some striking similarities for the first several months of each event, researchers are hesitant to project how the current El Niño would impact future weather around the world in ways similar to the 1997-98 event. [NCAR/UCAR AtmosNews]
Response made to record West Coast harmful algal bloom -- NOAA along with their partners have been actively responding to the record Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) that expanding across coastal waters of the North Pacific along the West Coast of North America running from central California northward to Alaska. Multiple HAB projects are either continued or started since the HAB commenced. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Video cameras provided to fishing fleet help track bycatch -- Beginning this summer, every boat in the US Atlantic pelagic longline fleet was equipped with video monitoring system that can be used to capture images of bluefin tuna that are caught and kept or thrown back as bycatch. This video system will along NOAA Fisheries to digitally document every bluefin tuna caught, kept, and discarded, which will provide both the accountability and accurate information needed to best regulate the fishery. [NOAA Fisheries News]
Rip current scenes from the Outer Banks to be featured in NOAA film on shoreline risks -- During the third week of August filmmakers associated with NOAA were at Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina's Outer Banks to shoot a video on rip currents that is intended to educate young people across the nation about the dangers of rip currents, or powerful water currents that travel seaward, away from the coast. NOAA worked closely with Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue and the University of North Carolina's Coastal Studies Institute to capture high definition footage of rip currents for the video. NOAA's National Weather Service Forecast Office at Morehead City, NC had been involved with running a new high resolution rip current forecast model that will predict hazardous rip currents for up to three days into the future. [The Outer Banks Voice] [Editor's Note: Special thanks go to Terri Kirby Hathaway, Marine Education Specialist at North Carolina Sea Grant and an AMS DataStreme Oceans LIT leader from Manteo, NC. EJH ]
"Blue buttons" from tropics make appearance on Outer Banks beaches -- Beach goers to the beaches on North Carolina's Outer Banks have been seeing "blue buttons", or porpita porpita, drifting in the surf zone and washing up on the beaches. These bright colored and unique shaped marine creatures typically are found offshore in tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but a large area of high atmospheric pressure anchored over the Outer Banks during most of the summer has helped bring the blue buttons toward the coast. [ The Outer Banks Voice] [Editor's Note: Special thanks go to Terri Kirby Hathaway from Manteo, NC. EJH ]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]

Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet

earthweek.com

Concept of the Week: The Birth of Surtsey, A Volcanic Island
In early November 1963, cod fishers plying the waters of the North Atlantic south of Iceland observed what appeared to be smoke or steam emanating from the distant ocean surface. They were witnessing the beginnings of a volcanic eruption that ultimately would give birth to a new island later named Surtsey after Surtur, the fire giant of Norse mythology. Surtsey is located at 63.4 degrees N, 20.3 degrees W or 33 km (20 mi) south of the coast of Iceland. Volcanic activity was nothing new to the fishers who lived on the nearby volcanic Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). These islands as well as the main island of Iceland straddle the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary where hot molten lava wells up from the Earth's mantle, cools and solidifies into new oceanic crust.

Eruptions that produced Surtsey began on the ocean floor, some 130 m (427 ft) below sea level. The accumulating lava, cinders, and ash first emerged from the sea on 15 November 1963. Over the next 3.5 years, episodic eruptions built an island that eventually covered 2.5 square km (1 square mi) and attained a maximum elevation of 171 m (560 ft) above sea level. The initial eruptions were explosive as hot magma interacted with cold seawater producing dark jets of ash and steam that shot up to 200 m (656 ft) above two main volcanic vents. At this time, clouds of ash and steam rose into the atmosphere to altitudes perhaps as great as 10 km (6.2 mi). Subsequent eruptions were much more peaceful, consisting of quiescent flows of lava. When the eruptions ceased in early June 1967, a cubic kilometer of ash and lava had built up on the ocean floor with 9% of this volcanic material above sea level.

No volcanic activity has occurred on Surtsey since 1967 and geologists consider the volcanic island to be extinct with little risk of future eruptions. Nonetheless, Surtsey remains off limits to visitors except for scientists who obtain permission from the Icelandic government. The island offers scientists a unique opportunity to study not only the geology but also the establishment of plants and animals on the island, a process known as ecological succession. For example, by 1987, some 25 species of higher plants were growing on the initially barren island and 20 species of birds were nesting there.

Unless volcanic activity begins anew, the future is not bright for Surtsey. Some geologists predict that in a hundred years or so the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock. The island is composed of basaltic rock that is particularly vulnerable to weathering and erosion, ocean waves are eroding its shores, and the island is gradually sinking into the sea. Scientists reported a total subsidence of about 1.1 m (3.6 ft) between 1967 and 1991. Compaction of the volcanic material and the underlying sea-floor sediments are likely causes of the subsidence. For NASA topographical images of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/garvin/surtsey.html . These images were obtained using a scanning airborne laser altimeter.

Concept of the Week: Questions

The volcanism responsible for the formation of Surtsey was associated with a [(divergent)(convergent)] tectonic plate boundary.
At present on Surtsey, erosive forces [(are)(are not)] prevailing over volcanic activity.

Historical Events

7 September 1934...US Coast Guard (USCG) vessels responded to a fire aboard the liner Morro Castle six miles off the New Jersey coast. This disaster, which resulted in the loss of 133 of the 455 passengers and crew, led to a Senate investigation and subsequent changes in maritime safety regulations. (USCG Historian's Office)
8 September 1900...The greatest weather disaster in U.S. records occurred when a hurricane struck Galveston, TX. Waves fifteen feet high washed over the island demolishing or carrying away buildings, and drowning more than 6000 persons. The hurricane destroyed more than 3600 houses, and total damage was more than $30 million. Winds to 120 mph, and a twenty-foot storm surge accompanied the hurricane. Following the storm, the surf was three hundred feet inland from the former water line. The hurricane claimed another 1200 lives outside of the Galveston area. (8^th-9^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
Editor's note: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted a webpage commemorating the Galveston, TX hurricane of 1900. This page contains links to historic photos and excerpts of an eyewitness description of storm by Isaac Cline, the chief forecaster of the Galveston U.S. Weather Bureau Office.
9 September 1945 - A "computer bug" is first identified and named by LT Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They "debugged" the computer, first introducing the term. (Naval History Center)
10 September 1919...A hurricane struck the Florida Keys drowning more than 500 persons. (David Ludlum)
10 September 1965...Hurricane Betsy slammed Louisiana with wind gusting to 130 mph at Houma, resulting in 58 deaths and over 17,500 injured. The storm surge and flooding from torrential rains made Betsy the first billion-dollar hurricane with losses exceeding $1.4 billion.
11 September 1961...Very large and slow moving Hurricane Carla made landfall near Port Lavaca, TX. Carla battered the central Texas coast with wind gusts to 175 mph, and up to 16 inches of rain, and spawned a vicious tornado (F4 on the Fujita tornado intensity scale) which swept across Galveston Island killing eight persons and destroying 200 buildings. A storm surge of up to 18.5 feet inundated coastal areas and Bay City was deluged with 17.1 inches of rain. The hurricane claimed 45 lives, and caused $300 million in damage. The remnants of Carla produced heavy rain in the Lower Missouri Valley and southern sections of the Upper Great Lakes Region. (David Ludlum) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
11 September 1992...Hurricane Iniki, the third most damaging hurricane in US history, hit the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai and Oahu. Six people died as a result of the hurricane.
12 September 1775...The Independence Hurricane caught many fishing boats on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland killing 4000 seamen, most from Britain and Ireland. (The Weather Doctor)
12 September 1857...The S.S. Central America sank while in the midst of a hurricane off the North Carolina coast after beginning to take on water the previous day (11^th). Approximately 400 people onboard were lost, the greatest single loss from a commercial ship due to a hurricane. (Accord Weather Calendar)
12 September 1960...Hurricane Donna made landfall on central Long Island and then tracked across New England. Wind gusts reached 140 mph at the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton, MA and 130 mph at Block Island, RI. MacDowell Dam in New Hampshire recorded 7.25 inches of rain. Although a record tide of 6.1 feet occurred at the Battery in New York City, elsewhere fortunately the storm did not make landfall at the high tides so its effects were minimized. This was the first hurricane to affect every point along the East Coast from Key West, FL to Caribou, ME. (Intellicast)
12 September 1979...Hurricane Frederick smashed into the Mobile Bay area of Alabama packing 132-mph winds. Wind gusts to 145 mph were reported as the eye of the hurricane moved over Dauphin Island, AL, just west of Mobile. Frederick produced a fifteen-foot storm surge near the mouth of Mobile Bay. Winds gusted to hurricane force at Meridian, MS although the city is 140 miles inland. The hurricane was responsible for five fatalities and was the costliest in U.S. history to date causing $2.3 billion in damage. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
13-16 September 2004...Hurricane Ivan affected coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, with landfall near Gulf Shores, AL early on the 16th. Before breaking loose of its mooring, a buoy just south of the Alabama coastal waters reported a peak wave height of 52 feet on the 15th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)

Return to DataStreme Ocean's RealTime Ocean Portal

Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.,
email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2015, The American Meteorological Society.