Weekly Ocean News

12-16 November 2018

Items of Interest

Teachers invited to join the 2019 NOAA Planet Stewards Education Project Stewardship Community -- Now called NOAA Planet Stewards Education Project, educators across the United States working with elementary through university-age students are invited to learn more about climate change and climate resilience by applying to become part of the NOAA Climate Stewards Education Project (CSEP) Stewardship Community for the 2019/20 academic year. Selected educators who meet project requirements will be eligible for: mini-grants up to $2500 to support a climate stewardship action project; travel reimbursements to attend select workshops and/or national conferences; special professional development opportunities; and additional monetary and educational resources. Applications are due by midnight, Sunday 2 December 2018. For more information, go to the NOAA Climate Stewards Education Project Web Site and then to the Stewardship Community Applications Page.
Celebrate Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day -- This week (11-17 November 2018) has been identified as Geography Awareness Week. National Geography Awareness Week, launched by presidential proclamation in 1987, is designed to draw attention to geo-literacy and "the importance of geographic understanding in ensuring our nation's economic competitiveness, national security, environmental sustainability, and the livability of our communities in the 21st century." This year's Geography Awareness Week theme is “Igniting the Spirit of Exploration”
In conjunction with Geography Awareness Week, this Wednesday (14 November 2018) has been designated GIS Day, which commenced in 1999 and "provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems (GIS) technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in our society." This year's theme "Discovering the World Through GIS." [ GIS Day]
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS), which is a part of NOAA's National Ocean Service, is celebrating GIS Day 2018. NGS is providing information of how GIS is used as the digital link between maps and information, using the thousands of aerial damage assessment images collected of areas in the Florida Panhandle affected by Hurricane Michael to generate datasets and maps.
Watching a meteor shower -- This year's Leonid meteor showers should peak during the predawn hours of this coming Saturday night and Sunday morning (17-18 November 2018). The Leonid meteor showers, which appear to emanate from the constellation Leo, occur in November as Earth passes through the debris trail from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. As many as 10 to 15 meteors per hour are expected this year. A waxing gibbous moon could interfer with viewing for much of the night, during the predawn hours after moonset, when the sky should be sufficiently dark for viewing, unless city lights or clouds block the sky. The shower's radiant, or originating point, will be in the eastern sky after sunset and then will shift to the west after local midnight. [EarthSky]
A Long Polar Night -- After being above the horizon for only 64 minutes this Sunday, the sun set at 1:44 PM Alaska Standard Time (18 November 2018) at Barrow, the northernmost city in Alaska, for the last time this year. The next time the sun will rise above the local horizon in Barrow will be at 1:04 PM AST on 23 January 2019. On that date, the sun will remain above the horizon for 71 minutes. While the sun will be below the horizon for the next 66 days, residents of this city will have roughly three hours of some diffuse sunlight each day that is equivalent to civil twilight, provided the cloud cover is not too thick. To check the sunrise and sunset times of Barrow or any location in the United States go to the US Naval Observatory's on-line, interactive service for the entire year.
Species dominance and ocean properties -- Discover how variations in both the physical and chemical properties of ocean waters can be accompanied by changes in the dominance of the various species of marine life in this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- Several tropical cyclones were reported during the last week over the tropical waters of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres:
- In the eastern North Pacific basin:
  Tropical Storm Xavier was traveling to the northwest offshore of the coast of southwestern Mexico early last Monday morning, approximately 100 miles to the west-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Locally heavy rains and gusty winds continued over coastal sections of the Mexican States Colima and Jalisco. By midday on Monday, Xavier had curved toward the west-northwest on Monday, heading away from the coast. In its travels toward the west, Tropical Storm Xavier weakened and became a post-tropical cyclone or remnant low late Monday night approximately 145 miles to the southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico before dissipating. Additional information and satellite images for Tropical Storm Xavier can be found on the NASA Hurricane Blog Page.
- In the North Indian Ocean basin:
  A tropical depression formed over the waters of the Bay of Bengal over this past weekend. Traveling toward the west-southwest, this tropical depression strengthened to become a tropical storm this past Sunday (local time) that has been identified as Tropical Cyclone Gaja. As of Monday, Gaja was located approximately 700 miles south of Calcutta, India, as it was traveling toward the south-southwest. Gaja was forecast to return to its general west-southwest track and cross southern India by late this week. Before making landfall along the southeastern Indian coast to the south of Chennai late Wednesday, Cyclone Gaja could strengthen to a high-end tropical storm.
- In the South Indian Ocean basin:
  - A tropical low identified as Tropical Cyclone 3S formed last Tuesday approximately 740 miles to the north of Port Louis, Mauritius. Eventually, this system became Tropical Cyclone Alcide, the first named tropical cyclone of the 2018-2019 southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season, as it intensified during its travels to the west-southwest. By Tuesday, Alcide had become a high-end category 2 tropical cyclone (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as maximum sustained surface winds were estimated to be approximately 110 mph. Alcide began weakening as it curved to the southwest and head toward the northeast coast of Madagascar. By the beginning of this past weekend, Alcide turned toward the west and then northwest, staying well off the Madagascar coast. Late Sunday, Alcide had weakened and was beginning to transition into a post-tropical cyclone approximately 600 miles to the north-northwest of St. Denis on La Réunion Island. The NASA Hurricane Blog has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Cyclone Alcide.
  - Another tropical cyclone, Tropical Cyclone 4S formed last Friday, and soon was renamed Tropical Storm Bouchra. As of Monday (local time), Bouchra was located approximately 1150 miles to the east of Diego Garcia as it was drifting toward the east-northeast. Bouchra was expected to curve toward the southeast and weaken over the first few days of this week, well away from any populated land mass.
New grants are funded for the 2018 National Coastal Resilience Fund -- Officials from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, NOAA and their partners recently announced that $28.9 million were being made available in new grants designed to protect the nation's coastal communities and enhance habitat. These projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico are for the restoration or expansion of natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, mangroves, forests, coastal rivers, and barrier islands that help minimize the impacts of storms, rising sea levels and other extreme events on nearby communities and infrastructure. [NOAA News]
Awards made to advance nation's coral reef conservation science and management -- NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program recently awarded at least $8.3 million in grants and cooperative agreements, supporting coral reef conservation projects and scientific studies. Grant award recipients are also providing more than $5.2 million in matching support for these critical projects. These projects and studies are in seven U.S. states and territories, as well as for those international projects in the Caribbean and Micronesia. [NOAA News]
Partnering to monitor Great Lakes water quality -- Several researchers from several of NOAA's offices including the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) have been collecting non-indigenous mussel species from around the Great Lakes in support of NOAA's NCCOS Mussel Watch Program. [NOAA NCCOS News]
IPCC Vice-chair interviewed on climate change and consensus building -- A blog was posted to the ClimateWatch Magazine recently that contained major points from an interview made by a meteorologist with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center with Ko Barrett, a Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Deputy Director of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office. Ms. Barrett described the IPCC's recently released special report entitled Global Warming of 1.5°C, which she helped assemble. She explained what the IPCC does and how consensus building between scientists and decision makers have given the IPCC reports an authoritative perspective on climate science. She also discussed the implications that the 1.5 Celsius degree increase in global temperatures, which is the focus of the recently released report, would have upon the planet's people, plants and animals and upon the pathways to limiting warming. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Assessment team views storm surge damage from Hurricanes Florence and Michael -- Officials from NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC), including the NHC director and specialists from the NHC storm surge and hurricane specialist unit branches, traveled to North Carolina following the landfall of Hurricane Florence and to the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Michael's landfall to assess damage caused by storm surge associated by each of these hurricanes. They met with local officials to see how storm surge watches and warnings, along with the potential storm surge flooding maps issued by NHC verified with actual events. [NOAA News]
Understanding aerial photography and shoreline mapping basics -- NOAA's National Ocean Service posted an informational feature that describes the basics about aerial photographs of shoreline and coastal features that are used by the agency's National Geodetic Survey to help produce nautical charts. [NOAA National Ocean Service Geodesy]
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion & La Niña advisory outlook updates released -- Late last week forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) that showed La Niña conditions had developed in October and early November as below average sea surface temperatures (SST) were found across most of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. SST values ranged from between one half and two Celsius degrees below normal across this region. Consequently, the CPC forecasters released their monthly El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion in which they maintained their La Niña advisory, as they envision the present La Niña conditions to persist through this upcoming Northern Hemisphere winter (December through February). They gave the La Niña an approximately 65 to 75 percent chance of continuation for the next three to four months. A technical description of the forecasters' reasoning is provided. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued an updated ENSO forecast from a Southern Hemisphere perspective. They reported that the tropical Pacific had warmed during the last two weeks, with sea surface temperatures reaching the El Niño levels. However, some of the atmospheric indicators still suggested neutral conditions. The most of international forecast models indicated additional warming of the Pacific, which suggests El Niño conditions would be maintained until March 2019. Therefore, they have maintained their Bureau's ENSO Outlook as an El Niño ALERT, which means that an approximately 70% chance exists for the occurrence of an El Niño for the next few months, or roughly triple the normal likelihood. [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]
Above average winter temperatures are foreseen over the Pan-Arctic region -- During the second session of the Pan-Arctic Climate Outlook Forum (PARCOF) that was held at the end of this past October, the climate conditions in the Arctic basin during this past summer season were reviewed and an outlook for the forthcoming winter season was provided. The past summer was warmer than average over the Arctic domain, except for parts of Canada and central Greenland. Consequently, the minimum sea ice extent in September was the sixth lowest on record since 1979. The outlook indicates that surface air temperatures are expected to be above average over essentially the entire Arctic from November through January. The fall freeze-up of sea ice is expected to be earlier than normal in around Canada, primarily in Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and the Beaufort Sea, but later than usual across most of the eastern Arctic. The maximum sea ice extent in March 2019 is expected to be below or near normal. The Forum, which was held virtually, was hosted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and coordinated by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. [WMO Media News]
Another iceberg is calved from Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier -- Polar orbiting satellites have been providing data for images that show the recent calving of another iceberg from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite observed the calving of Iceberg B-46, a large iceberg, at the end of October. A before-and-after photo was generated from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA's Landsat 8 satellite, featuring a view in mid-September before the rift developed between the glacier and iceberg and an image made last week after the iceberg broke away from the glacier. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Viewing the graveyard of icebergs from space -- Digital photographs provided by an astronaut on the International Space Station and images from the MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra satellite show the coffin-shaped B-15T iceberg floating in the South Atlantic Ocean between South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. This region is considered to be the place where large icebergs that had been calved off the Antarctic Ice Sheet tend to migrate and eventually melt after spending several years drifting in the Antarctic Coastal Current around the Antarctic continent; in this case, the B-15T iceberg had been floating for 18 years. [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: Living Coral and El Niño

El Niño episodes of 1982-83 and 1997-1998, the most intense of the 20th century, confirmed the connection between higher than average ocean temperatures and bleaching of hermatypic corals. (Hermatypic corals live in warm shallow water and build large reefs.) Water temperatures higher than 29°C (the normal maximum sea surface temperature in the equatorial eastern Pacific) can trigger expulsion of zooxanthellae, microscopic dinoflagellates whose symbiotic relationship with coral polyps is essential for the long-term survival of coral. Without zooxanthellae, coral polyps have little pigmentation and appear nearly transparent on the coral's white skeleton, a condition known as coral bleaching. If maximum temperatures are not too high for too long, corals can recover, but prolonged warming associated with an intense El Niño (that may persist for 12 to 18 months) can be lethal to coral. Most hermatypic corals thrive when the water temperature is 27°C, but do not grow when the water becomes too cold. Although the ideal temperature varies with species and from one location to another, the temperature range for optimal growth is quite narrow--only a few Celsius degrees. This sensitivity to relatively small changes in water temperature is an important source of information on past climates as fossil coral is a significant component of many limestones. Evidence of bleaching episodes in fossil corals may yield important clues to past changes in the world's tropical ocean.

Coral, sometimes referred to as "the rainforests of the ocean," provides a base for local ecosystems and have many benefits (e.g., fisheries, tourism) that are important in many parts of the globe. Hence, vulnerability to El Niño-associated warming is an object of considerable scientific interest. During the 1997-98 Niño, NOAA charted significant coral bleaching from portions of the Great Barrier Reef near Australia, French Polynesia in the south Pacific, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya, and around the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Closer to home, coral bleaching was reported in the Florida Keys, the Cayman Islands, and off the Pacific coast of Panama and Baja California. Fortunately, damage from the 1997-98 El Niño warming was less drastic than the 1983-84 El Niño when up to 95% of the corals in some locations died. Many of the corals damaged in the late 1990s have at least partially recovered including important reefs in the Florida Keys. For additional information on coral status, go to the NOAA website http://www.coralreef.noaa.gov/.

Historical Events:

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 November 1977...The "Andhra Cyclone" formed over the Bay of Bengal. The Super Cyclone would strike India on the 19th, killing over 10,000 people, with winds up to 125 mph and a storm surge of 16 feet. (National Weather Service files)
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)
14 November 1999...Hurricane Lenny formed in the Caribbean and began moving in an unusual direction: eastward. Forecasters nicknamed the storm "left-handed Lenny." (National Weather Service files)
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 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)
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)
16 November 1999...Hurricane warnings were in effect as late-season Hurricane Lenny was threatening Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Lenny was a Category 3 hurricane with top winds of 115 mph. Lenny was not only unusual because of its late-season strength, but because of its forward movement. Lenny was moving from west to east across the Caribbean. It was the first hurricane in recorded history to threaten Puerto Rico from the west. The unusual motion meant that some harbors normally protected from hurricanes were threatened. (National Weather Service files)
17 November 1820...Captain Nathaniel Palmer, USN, became the first American to see Antarctica. He saw the Palmer Peninsula, which was later named after him. (Wikipedia)
17 November 1869...The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas, was officially inaugurated in Egypt with an elaborate ceremony. (Wikipedia)
17 November 1973...The "Largest Icebreaker in the Western World," USCGC Polar Star, was launched. (USCG Historians Office)
18 November 1421...Wind-driven waves from an intense storm breached Dutch dikes on the Zuider Zee, sweeping away 72 villages. At least 10,000 people died in "St. Elizabeth's flood." (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
18 November 1929...A magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on the Grand Banks off the south coast of Newfoundland broke 12 transatlantic telegraph cables and triggered a tsunami that destroyed many south coast communities on Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. (Wikipedia)