WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

WEEK THREE: 14-18 September 2015

Breaking News

• Tsunami advisories posted following large earthquake off coast of Chile -- A magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile early Wednesday evening. According to the director of the National Office of Emergency for the Chilean Ministry of Interior, early Thursday morning, at least five people were killed and one million people evacuated. In anticipation of the propagation of a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean basin, NOAA's National Tsunami Warning Centers in Palmer, AK and in Honolulu, HI posted tsunami advisories for sections of the coasts in southern California and the Hawaiian Islands that could be considered susceptible to strong currents or dangerous waves. These advisories were to begin on Thursday morning. [NOAA] [CNN]

For Your Information

• Observing International Coastal Cleanup -- This coming Saturday, 19 September 2015, has been designated as International Coastal Cleanup, which represents the largest global volunteer effort to clean up local shorelines, coastal areas, parks and neighborhoods. The NOAA Marine Debris Program and Ocean Conservancy are partners in the International Coastal Cleanup. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
• September is National Preparedness Month -- The month of September has been declared National Preparedness Month (NPM), which is aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters. NPM is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which has provided a toolkit of marketing materials to help promote the month, is the lead on this campaign that was originally launched in 2004. The theme for 2015 NPM is "Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today." During Week 3 (13-19 September), the weekly hazard-focused theme is "Hurricane." [FEMA's Ready.gov] NOAA's National Weather Service is working with FEMA to communicate the importance of emergency preparedness as a key component of its Weather-Ready Nation campaign. [NOAA Weather Ready Nation]
• Participation in the National Climate Game Jam is invited -- The public is invited to participate in the "National Climate Game Jam" an event on the weekend of 2-4 October where they will assist educators, scientists and game designers develop climate game prototypes designed to help the nation's students and the general public with the best available science-based information about climate change. This "National Climate Game Jam" is part of the Climate Education and Literacy Initiative launched in December 2014 by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. Two pre-jam events are scheduled on 22 September and 30 September. [Climate Game Jam]
• 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.

• Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week several named tropical cyclones traveled across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere:
• In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Grace traveled westward during the first half of the week before weakening and becoming a remnant area of low pressure approximately 825 miles to the east of the Lesser Antilles on Wednesday. Satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Grace can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  Tropical Storm Henri, the eighth named tropical cyclone of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season, formed early last week from a tropical depression approximately 220 miles to the east-southeast of Bermuda. Henri traveled northward during the week and on last Friday dissipated approximately 540 miles to the south-southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Henri.
• In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Linda strengthened to become the eleventh hurricane of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season at the start of last week as it traveled to the northwest well off the western coast of Mexico. By last Tuesday, Hurricane Linda became a major category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. After strengthening rapidly, Linda weakened relatively rapidly, becoming a remnant low approximately 260 miles to the west-southwest of Punta Eugenia on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula last Thursday afternoon. See NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and information on Tropical Storm Linda.
• In the central North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Jimena weakened as it traveled westward on a track to the north of the Hawaiian Islands early last week. By midweek, Jimena became a post-tropical cyclone was approximately 230 miles to the north of Honolulu, HI with remnant clouds and precipitation moving to the north of the island chain. Satellite images and additional information on Hurricane Jimena are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  
• In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Kilo weakened from category 3 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) at the start of last week as it curved toward the west-northwest and then to the northwest during the week. By the end of last week, Kilo had weakened to a tropical storm and then lost its tropical characteristics to become a midlatitude storm less than 600 miles to the south of the Japan. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information on Hurricane Kilo and accompanying images.
  Tropical Storm Etau formed early last week approximately 440 miles to the south of Yokosuka, Japan. Etau traveled northward and moved across Honshu, the main Japanese island and then dissipated over the Sea of Japan. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information on Tropical Storm Etau. Locally heavy rain fell across Japan from both Typhoon Kilo and Tropical Storm Etau. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  On Sunday, Tropical Storm Vamco developed from a tropical depression over the South China Sea several hundred miles off the central coast of Vietnam. This tropical storm was forecast to travel west and reach the Vietnam coast early this week.
• El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion & El Niño advisory -- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society recently released their El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion that showed a strong El Niño event was underway due to above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) across most of the equatorial Pacific during August 2015. SST values ranged from close to or greater than two Celsius degrees above normal from the central into the eastern equatorial Pacific. A map of the spatial pattern of SST across the eastern Pacific Ocean basin for the week of 31 August - 6 September is available. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory] Consequently, forecasters at CPC have continued their El Niño advisory that indicates the continuation and possible strengthening of an El Niño event that could peak in late fall in the Northern Hemisphere. These forecasters foresee a greater than 95 percent chance that this El Niño event would continue through the boreal winter of 2015-16, followed by a gradual weakening through spring 2016. A detailed El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
  An ENSO blog written by CPC staff suggests that this current El Niño event is "pretty strong" as SST values for the three months of June, July and August 2015 were the third highest on record since 1950. El Niño episodes since 1950. This El Niño, which they expect to continue through winter 2015-16 (in the Northern Hemisphere), could have a major impact on a variety of weather events around the world, such as hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as upon the autumn and winter seasonal climate outlooks across the United States. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
• Nuisance flooding may be accelerated by El Niño -- NOAA scientists recently published a report entitled "2014 State of Nuisance Tidal Flooding" that warns many of the 27 mid-Atlantic and West Coast communities could experience an increase in the number of nuisance flooding days by between 33 to 125 percent through April due to higher sea levels and more frequent storm surge, compounded by the anticipated strengthening El Niño through the upcoming winter. Some communities could see the highest number of nuisance flooding days on record. Nuisance flooding causes such public inconveniences as frequent road closures, overwhelmed storm drains and compromised infrastructure. The report had analyzed the changes from 27 NOAA tide stations around the nation over a period extending from 1950 through 2013. [NOAA News]
• Funds awarded for marine rescue efforts -- During the last week NOAA Fisheries officials announced that their agency made awards of $2.75 million in grant funding through the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program to partner organizations in 16 states for efforts for marine mammal efforts. These efforts include the response to stranded marine mammals, to their rehabilitation and to the collection of data on their health. [NOAA Fisheries Newsroom]
• Hammerhead shark tracked over a long distance across the eastern North Pacific -- A female hammerhead shark that had been fitted with a satellite tracking tag after its capture during last June's annual NOAA shark survey off La Jolla, CA has been tracked as it traveled more than 1000 miles to waters offshore of Mexico then back to off Ventura, CA. Scientists at NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center mote that unusually warm ocean water in the Southern California Bight since last summer has drawn hammerheads north. The northward migration of the hammerhead in warm Pacific waters may be related to the current El Niño pattern. [NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center News]
• Southern Ocean becomes more efficient in removing atmospheric carbon dioxide -- Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder, the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) Zurich have found that the Southern Ocean has become been removing more carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere since 2002 than during the last decade of the 20th century, when the amount of gas being absorbed in the ocean was decreasing. They based their findings on their compilation of a dense carbon data set that was collected from ship-based observations across waters of the Southern Hemisphere poleward of 35 degrees South latitude. [American Geophysical Union Press Release]
• Rising sea level threatening nation's space agency facilities -- Documented rises in global sea level over recent years have been creating a threat for NASA, as between half to two-thirds of the space agency's infrastructure and assets stand within 16 feet (5 meters) of sea level. Recent trends and projected sea level rises from climate models indicates that five NASA centers would be impacted by mid-century: Kennedy Space Center, the Langley Research Center and the Wallops Flight Facility on the Atlantic Coast, the Johnson Space Center on the Gulf Coast and the Ames Research Center on the Pacific Coast. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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: 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

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

Historical Events

• 14 September 1716...The Boston Light, the first lighthouse in America, was first lighted just before sunset. This light was located on Little Brewster Island to mark the entrance to Boston Harbor and guide ships past treacherous rocks. This original light was blown up by the British in 1776, rebuilt in 1783, and is currently the last staffed station in the U.S. (Today in Science History)
• 15 September 1752...A great hurricane produced a tide (storm surge )along the South Carolina coast that nearly inundated downtown Charleston. However, just before the surge reached the city, a shift in the wind caused the water level to drop five feet in ten minutes. (David Ludlum)
• 16 September 1928...Hurricane San Felipe, a monster hurricane, which left 600 dead in Guadeloupe and 300 dead in Puerto Rico, struck West Palm Beach, FL causing enormous damage, and then headed for Lake Okeechobee. Peak winds were near 150 mph. The high winds produced storm waves that breached the eastern dike on Lake Okeechobee, inundating flat farmland. When the storm was over, the lake covered an area the size of the state of Delaware, and beneath its waters were 1836 victims. The only survivors were those who reached large hotels for safety, and a group of fifty people who got onto a raft to take their chances out in the middle of the lake. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 16 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert made landfall 120 miles south of Brownsville, TX in Mexico during the early evening. Winds gusted to 61 mph at Brownsville, and reached 82 mph at Padre Island. Six-foot tides eroded three to four feet of beach along the Lower Texas Coast, leaving the waterline seventy-five feet farther inland. Rainfall totals ranged up to 8.71 in. at Lamark, TX. Gilbert caused $3 million in property damage along the Lower Texas Coast, but less than a million dollars damage along the Middle Texas Coast. During its life span, Gilbert established an all-time record for the Western Hemisphere with a sea-level barometric pressure reading of 26.13 inches (888 millibars). Winds approached 200 mph, with higher gusts. Gilbert devastated Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
• 17-23 September 1989...Hurricane Hugo hit the Virgin Islands on the 17^th, producing wind gusts to 97 mph at Saint Croix. Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island of Saint Croix causing complete devastation and essentially cutting off the island's communications systems. A storm surge of five to seven feet occurred at Saint Croix. The only rain gauge left operating, at Caneel Bay, indicated 9.40 in. in 24 hrs. Hurricane Hugo claimed the lives of three persons at Saint Croix, and caused more than $500 million in damage. A ship, Nightcap, in the harbor of Culebra, measured wind gusts as high as 170 mph. On the 18^th, Hugo hit Puerto Rico, producing a storm surge of four to six feet, and northeastern sections of the island were deluged with more than ten inches of rain. Hugo claimed the lives of a dozen persons in Puerto Rico, and caused $1 billion in property damage, including $100 million in crop losses. On the 21^st, Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at about 11 PM, making landfall near Sullivans Island. Hurricane Hugo was directly responsible for thirteen deaths, and indirectly responsible for twenty-two others. A total of 420 persons were injured in the hurricane, and damage was estimated at $8 billion including $2 billion damage to crops. Sustained winds reached 85 mph at Folly Beach SC, with wind gusts as high was 138 mph. Wind gusts reached 98 mph at Charleston, and 109 mph at Shaw AFB. The highest storm surge occurred in the McClellanville and Bulls Bay area of Charleston County, with a storm surge of 20.2 ft reported at Seewee Bay. Shrimp boats were found one half-mile inland at McClellanville. On the 22^nd, Hugo quickly lost strength over South Carolina, but still was a tropical storm as it crossed into North Carolina, just west of Charlotte, at about 7 AM. Winds around Charlotte reached 69 mph, with gusts to 99 mph. Eighty percent of the power was knocked out to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Property damage in North Carolina was $210 million and damage to crops was $97 million. The greatest storm surge occurred along the southern coast shortly after midnight, reaching nine feet above sea level at Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach. Hugo killed one person and injured fifteen others in North Carolina. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
• 17 September 1996...Remnants of Hurricane Fausto that had initially formed over the eastern Pacific and moved northeastward from Mexico reformed into a powerful coastal storm in Atlantic waters off the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula, before passing Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts. Winds gusted to 50 mph and rainfall was up to four inches. Minor coastal flooding in the New York City metropolitan area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 September 1926...The great "Miami Hurricane" produced winds reaching 138 mph, which drove ocean waters into Biscayne Bay drowning 135 persons. The eye of the hurricane passed over Miami, at which time the barometric pressure dropped to 935.0 millibars (27.61 inches of mercury). Tides up to twelve feet high accompanied the hurricane, which claimed 372 lives. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 19 September 1957...Bathyscaph Trieste, in a dive sponsored by the Office of Naval Research in the Mediterranean, reached a record depth of 2 miles. (Naval Historical Center)
• 19 September 1967...Hurricane Beulah deluged Brownsville, TX with 12.19 in. of rain in 24 hrs, to establish a record for that location. Hurricane Beulah made landfall on the 20^th near the mouth of the Rio Grande River, where a wind gust of 135 mph was reported by a ship in the port. (19^th-20^th) (The Weather Channel)
• 20 September 1519...Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In October 1520, he passed through the straits that now bear his name separating Tierra del Fuego and the South American mainland and became the first known European explorer to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. In September 1522 one remaining ship from the original five that set sail returned to Spain, to become the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521. (The History Channel)
• 20 September 1909...A strong hurricane made landfall in southeastern Louisiana. A 15-ft storm surge flooded the Timbalier Bay area. Some 350 people perished. (Intellicast)

Return to DataStreme Ocean 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.