Weekly Ocean News

WEEK TEN: 9 - 13 November 2015

For Your Information

• History of 150 years of NOAA Tide Tables described -- NOAA's National Ocean Service has posted a narrative along with a timeline visualization of the evolution of the NOAA Tide Tables since the first tide tables for locations along the East Coast of the United States when first published by the US Coast Survey in 1853. The changes in the methods used to compute the tide tables are also described. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
  NOAA recently announced that the 2016 NOAA tide tables are now available. Tide predictions and tidal current predictions can be obtained online for US coastal stations; printed tide tables are also available. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
• App available for locating NASA's "Eyes on the Earth" -- An applications software (app) called "Eyes on the Earth" is available for public download that displays the real-time location of all of NASA's Earth-observing spacecraft. With this app, the user can view geo-located satellite images of recent Earth events, including algal blooms, super storms and wildfires. The display will also permit comparison of the size of the orbiting satellite with that of a person or a school bus. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
• Hydrothermal vent organisms -- You are invited to read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth that describes how geoscientists have investigated the deep-sea environment in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents that form along the oceanic ridges nearly 3000 meters below the ocean surface. Interestingly, a diverse and abundant community of marine organisms has been found to live in these extreme oceanic conditions.

• Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week tropical cyclone activity was confined to the Northern Hemisphere's Indian Ocean basin:
  
Tropical Cyclone Chapala, which had become a major category 4 tropical cyclone (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) over the previous weekend weakened as it approached the coast of Yemen early last week. On Tuesday, Chapala made its initial landfall along the south coast of Yemen west of the port city of Mukulla as a category 1 cyclone with maximum sustained surface winds estimated at 75 mph, making it the first Category 1 cyclone on record to strike Yemen.  Chapala was responsible for producing over a year's worth of rain on sections of Yemen. Additional information and satellite images for Cyclone Chapala are found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Another tropical cyclone, identified as Cyclone Megh (formerly known as Cyclone 5-A), formed over the waters of the Arabian Sea, as a tropical storm last Thursday approximately 600 miles east of Socotra Island, Yemen. Megh intensified to become a category 3 tropical cyclone over this past weekend as it traveled westward off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, taking a track close to the one taken by Cyclone Chapala. Megh was expected to bring rains to sections of the Horn of Africa (Somalia and Ethiopia) and Yemen. As of late Sunday, Cyclone Megh was located approximately 75 miles northeast of Cape Guardafui, Somalia. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Tropical Cyclone Megh.
• "Wind watcher" instrument marks one year on Space Station -- NASA's ISS-RapidScat instrument, a scatterometer placed upon the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2014, has spent one year making measurements of the winds over the ocean surface that are designed to enhance weather forecasting and the understanding of climate. Data collected by RapidScat on numerous tropical cyclones and winter storms over the global oceans have been used by many meteorological agencies to include NOAA, the US Navy and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
• The NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite launched four years ago -- Four years ago on 28 October 2011, the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite was launched as the first of the satellite in NOAA's next generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) weather satellite fleet. Named for the late Verner Suomi, a meteorology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison considered to be the father of satellite meteorology, the polar-orbiting Suomi NPP satellite collects environmental data using a variety of instruments that include the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) and the Cloud and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES). [NOAA NESDIS News Archive]
• Chemicals in sunscreen products threaten coral reefs -- A team of international scientists has found that Oxybenzone, or BP-3, a common chemical used in more than 3500 sunscreen lotions and cosmetics worldwide appears to be highly toxic to juvenile corals and other marine life.. This compound for protection against the sun's harmful effects has been found to be entering the environment both through wastewater effluent and directly from swimmers wearing sunscreens. . [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
• Annual mission to sample harmful algal bloom cysts to be made in Gulf of Maine -- During this month, scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will embark onboard the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer for a 10-day sediment sampling mission in the Gulf of Maine to gain information as to a future harmful algal bloom (or "red tide") along the New England coast. The researchers will look at sediment cores for presence of seed-like cysts released by Alexandrium fundyense, a common type of harmful algae in the region. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
• US empowered to combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud and promote sustainable management of international fisheries -- President Obama signed the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act during the past week that includes a number of provisions preventing illegally harvested fish from entering the United States and supports efforts to achieve sustainable fisheries around the world. This act, which had bipartisan support, marks another critical step in the Administration's efforts to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud. The US will now join a global effort to ratify and implement the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), which will prevent vessels carrying fish caught illegally from entering US ports and keep illegal product out of US markets. [NOAA News]
• Annual International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meeting -- The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) will hold its 24th annual meeting in St. Julians, Malta between 10 to 17 November 2015. ICCAT is responsible for the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The organization was established at a Conference of Plenipotentiaries, which prepared and adopted the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. [ICCAT]
• Space agency to study plankton climate change connection -- Late last week NASA began a five-year field project called "The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES)" that will involve ships and aircraft to study the annual cycle of phytoplankton and the impact that small airborne particles emitted from the ocean have on the climate-sensitive North Atlantic. During the next week, NASA's C-130H Hercules airborne laboratory will begin research flights from St. Johns, Newfoundland, while the research vessel (R/V) Atlantis, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will provide detailed ship-based measurements of plankton in the North Atlantic. [NASA Press Release]
• Human-caused climate change appears to have increased severity of many extreme events in 2014 -- A report produced by 32 groups of scientists from around the world claims that human activities, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use, have influenced specific extreme weather and climate events in 2014. These scientists investigated 28 individual extreme events in 2014 that included tropical cyclones in the central Pacific, heavy rainfall in Europe, drought in East Africa, and stifling heat waves in Australia, Asia, and South America. They considered various factors that led to these extreme events, including the degree to which natural variability and human-induced climate change played a role. Their report, "Explaining Extreme Events of 2014 From a Climate Perspective," appears in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. [NOAA News]
• Swimmer safety buoy may be lost from high-risk Lake Michigan shoreline -- The near-shore monitoring buoy that had been anchored off the western coast of Lower Michigan near Pigeon Lake was pulled for the season. Unless local funding is procured, this buoy may not return next spring. This buoy, which one of 21 high-tech buoys in the Great Lakes Observing System, is along a part of the Michigan coast that experiences dangerous rip and longshore currents. National Weather Service marine forecasters consider a pivotal part of the beach hazard warning system. [Michigan Live]
[Note: Special thanks go to Katie O'Neill of the AMS Education Project for forwarding this link. 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] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Solving the Mystery of Seamount Ecosystems

The United States Commission on Ocean Policy reports that less than 5% of the ocean floor has been explored. This is beginning to change as scientists and engineers develop and apply new technologies to investigate deep ocean waters and the sea bottom (refer to Chapter 13 in your DataStreme Ocean textbook). Consider, for example, the effort to obtain a better understanding of seamount ecosystems.

A seamount is a submarine mountain of volcanic origin (now extinct) that rises more than 1000 m (3300 ft) above the ocean floor. Usually a seamount summit is 1000 to 2000 m (3300 to 6600 ft) below sea level. They occur as isolated peaks, chains (e.g., Emperor Seamounts in the North Pacific; New England chain in the North Atlantic), or clusters. The term "seamount" was first applied in 1936 to the Davidson Seamount located off the coast of Southern California. Scientists estimate that perhaps 30,000 dot the ocean floor with as many as two-thirds located on the Pacific Ocean bottom. However, fewer than one thousand seamounts have been named and only a handful of seamounts has received detailed scientific study.

In recent years, discovery of unique life forms on seamounts has spurred scientific interest in seamount ecosystems. Many nations, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, are supporting scientific cruises to observe and collect specimens from seamount ecosystems. Seamount ecosystems are unusually productive and are home to unique species. Some seamount surveys have found that certain seamount species are endemic, that is, they live on only one seamount or a few nearby peaks. For example, up to one-third of all species living on some seamounts off New Caledonia are endemic while up to half of the invertebrates and fish on the Nazca seamount off Chile are endemic. In the northeast Pacific, large-scale eddies may transport larval fish from coastal environments to isolated seamounts located out at sea. Furthermore, some scientists argue that seamounts may function as stepping stones that allow for migration of species over lengthy periods--perhaps over millions of years. In addition, some seamounts may serve as aids to navigation for fish that migrate over long distances. For example, hammerhead sharks may use the magnetic field surrounding seamounts to find their way.

The recent effort to survey and explore seamount ecosystems has reached new urgency with the realization of the devastating impact of commercial fish trawlers on those ecosystems. In some cases, trawling has striped off most marine life (e.g., coral gardens) from the surface of seamounts leaving behind mostly bare rock. Typically, trawled seamounts have only half the biomass and considerably fewer species than undisturbed seamounts. Scientists anticipate that a better understanding of seamount ecosystems will help make the case for their conservation and inform the most effective strategies for their protection. Australia is one of the first nations to protect seamount ecosystems, establishing the Tasmanian Seamount Marine Reserve in 1999. The reserve covers 370 square km (140 square mi) and includes more than a dozen seamounts.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. Seamounts are extinct submarine volcanoes that occur primarily in the [(Atlantic) (Pacific)(Southern)] Ocean.
2. Commercial fish trawling has [(little if any)(a devastating)] impact on seamount ecosystems.

Historical Events:

• 9 November 1913...The "Freshwater Fury," a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone, caused unpredicted gales on the Great Lakes. Seventeen ships, including eight large ore carriers on Lake Erie sank drowning 270 sailors. Cleveland, OH reported 17.4 in. of snow in 24 hrs, and a storm total of 22.2 in., both all-time records for that location. During the storm, winds at Cleveland averaged 50 mph, with gusts to 79 mph. The storm produced sustained winds of 62 mph at Port Huron, MI, wind gusts to 80 mph at Buffalo, NY. (9^th-11^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 9 November 1932...An unnamed hurricane struck Cuba, with winds reaching approximately 210 mph at Nuvitas. However, a storm surge was the main killer of 2500 of the 4000 residents of Santa Cruiz del Sur. Essentially no storm records exist, as the observer drowned, with records and instruments washed away. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 10 November 1835...A severe storm crossed the Great Lakes and "swept the lakes clear of sail" as 19 ships were lost and 254 sailors killed on Lakes Erie, Ontario and Michigan. (Intellicast)
• 10 November 1975...Another "freshwater fury" hit the Great Lakes. A large ore carrier on Lake Superior, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sank near Crisp Point with the loss of its crew of 29 men. Eastern Upper Michigan and coastal Lower Michigan were hardest hit by the storm, which produced wind gusts to 71 mph at Sault Ste Marie, MI and gusts to 78 mph at Grand Rapids, MI. Severe land and road erosion occurred along the Lake Michigan shoreline. A popular song by Gordon Lightfoot was inspired by the storm. (David Ludlum) (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
  Editors note: In 2000, the NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office at Marquette, MI created a web page commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the sinking and describing the advances in marine weather forecasting over the last quarter century. EJH
• 10 November 1993...Violent storm over the Black Sea closed the Russian oil terminal port of Novorossisk for 20 days. "Bora" winds reported as high as 112 mph sank at least seven ships. (The Weather Doctor)
• 11 November 1099...Violent storm in the North Sea killed 100,000 people in England and The Netherlands. (The Weather Doctor)
• 12 November 1956...(date approximate) The crew on the icebreaker USCGC Glacier saw what may have been the world's largest iceberg. Observed about 150 mi west of Antarctica's Scott Island, the iceberg was about 60 mi wide by 208 mi long, or roughly the size of Maryland. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 12 November 1974...A salmon was caught in the River Thames, England - the first in more than 130 years. (Today in Science History)
• 13 November 1970...A cyclone swept over Bangladesh, then known as East Pakistan, pushing a 49-ft storm surge against the coast at high tide. Flooding killed 500,000. Over 50 million people were affected by the storm rain, wind and surge. (The Weather Doctor)
• 13 November 2002...The single-hulled oil tanker Prestige sank off Spain's Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill. (Wikipedia)
• 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)

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