DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 23-27 February 2004

• Ancient Inuit hunting practices aided by satellites -- The annual practice of hunting and fishing along the edge of the Arctic ice by the Inuit of northern Canada has been aided by satellite images that locate the ice type and extent obtained from the Northern View Floe Edge Information Service, which is supported by The European Space Agency. [ESA News]
• Improved water quality hampered by slow moving ground water -- A recent USGS study reports that slow moving ground water in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which represent a major pathway of nitrogen to the Bay, have been a major cause of the poor water quality in this major estuary and have also hampered the efforts at implementing nutrient-reduction strategies aimed at improving water-quality conditions. [USGS]
• A healthy appetite for fish could be endanger fragile stocks -- Delegates to a recent UN sponsored Convention on Biological Diversity, were warned that the demand for prime seafood by some countries has caused the exploitation and depletion of more than 70 percent of the world's commercially important fish stocks. [ENN]
• Locating the HMS Beagle -- A leading marine archaeologist at St Andrews University recently announced that he thinks that images made by advanced ground-penetrating radar may have located the remains of the HMS Beagle, the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his famous voyage around the world in the 1830s. [Guardian Unlimited]
• Florida coral killer spreads -- A dark red algae bloom that was spotted along the Atlantic beaches of South Florida appears to have not diminished over winter and may have even spread along the coast. While this algae, identified by a Boston University microbiologist, does not appear harmful to humans, it has been harming the sponges and soft coral. [The Miami Herald]
• Virtual tours of underwater environments -- NOAA officials have unveiled several websites that provide the public with information concerning:
• Exploring underwater vents on the Ring of Fire [NOAA News]
• US Marine Protected Areas [NOAA News]
• Humpback whale research commences-- NOAA officials announced the start of a three-year project called "SPLASH" (Structure of Populations, Level of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks) that is intended to be the most comprehensive study of the endangered North Pacific humpback whale population. [NOAA News]
• Research mission headed to underwater habitats -- A joint mission by NOAA and the National Park Service is underway that will use remote sensing tools to explore the nearshore and deepwater habitats within the Buck Island Reef and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monuments in the U.S. Virgin Islands. [NOAA News]
• More seafarers needed in the UK -- Researchers at Cardiff University in Britain are concerned that the maritime industry in the United Kingdom is losing qualified seafarers to land based jobs. [EurekAlert!]
• Decline in winter flounder linked to higher water temperatures -- Fishery biologists at the University of Rhode Island recently reported that the decline in the winter flounder populations off the East Coast during the last quarter century appear to be associated with increased water temperatures in many of the estuaries along the Atlantic Seaboard that serve as nurseries for the juvenile flounder. [EurekAlert!]
• The public agrees that we are hurting the oceans -- The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recently released the results of a national poll that indicate that while nearly 80 percent of those adults surveyed believe that human activity is endangering the world's oceans, less than one-third of the respondents think that they could cause a positive change. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek--Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: The Ocean and the Global Radiation Budget

The ocean is an important player in the radiational heating and cooling of Planet Earth. For one, covering about 71% of Earth's surface, the ocean is a primary control of how much solar radiation is absorbed (converted to heat) at the Earth's surface. Also, the ocean is the main source of the most important greenhouse gas (water vapor) and is an important regulator of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), another greenhouse gas.

On an annual average, the ocean absorbs about 92% of the solar radiation striking its surface; the balance is reflected to space. Most of this absorption takes place within about 200 m (650 ft) of the surface with the depth of penetration of sunlight limited by the amount of suspended particles and discoloration caused by dissolved substances. On the other hand, at high latitudes multi-year pack ice greatly reduces the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the ocean. The snow-covered surface of sea ice absorbs only about 15% of incident solar radiation and reflects away the rest. At present, multi-year pack ice covers about 7% of the ocean surface with greater coverage in the Arctic Ocean than the Southern Ocean (mostly in Antarctica's Weddell Sea).

The atmosphere is nearly transparent to incoming solar radiation but much less transparent to outgoing infrared (heat) radiation. This differential transparency with wavelength is the basis of the greenhouse effect. Certain trace gases in the atmosphere absorb outgoing infrared and radiate some of this energy back to Earth's surface thereby significantly elevating the planet's surface temperature. Most water vapor, the principal greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere via evaporation of seawater. Carbon dioxide, a lesser greenhouse gas, cycles into and out of the ocean depending on the sea surface temperature and photosynthesis/respiration by marine organisms in surface waters. Cold water can dissolve more carbon dioxide than warm water so that carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere where surface waters are chilled (at high latitudes and upwelling zones) and released to the atmosphere where surface waters are heated (at low latitudes). Photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and all organisms release carbon dioxide via cellular respiration.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. If the ocean's pack ice cover were to shrink, the ocean would absorb [(more)(less)] solar radiation.
2. All other factors being equal, if sea surface temperatures were to rise, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolved in surface ocean waters would likely [(increase) (decrease)].

• 23 February 1802...A great snowstorm raged along the New England coast producing 48 inches of snow north of Boston and 54 inches of snow piled up at Epping, NH. Three large (indiamen) ships from Salem were wrecked along Cape Cod by strong winds. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 24 February 1881...De Lesseps' Company began work on the Panamá Canal
• 25 February 1977...An oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spilled 31 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean.
• 26 February 1935...Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated RADAR (Radio Detection & Ranging) for the first time, using the BBC shortwave radio transmitter to successfully detect the distance and direction of a flying bomber during the so-called Daventry Experiment.
• 26 February 1938...The passenger ship was equipped with radar.
• 27 February 1949...Aerial ice observation flights by long-range aircraft operated from Argentia, Newfoundland. An International Ice Patrol by vessels was neither required nor established during the 1949 season, and it was the first time that aircraft alone conducted the ice observation service. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 27 February 1988...A major rain event occurred across Saudi Arabia's Foroson Islands in the Red Sea and on the adjacent mainland around Jizon when 1.15 in. fell. The monthly average rainfall is only 0.02 in. On the following day, flash flooding south of Riyadh killed 3 children. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 28 February 1849...Regular steamboat service to California via Cape Horn arrived in San Francisco for the first time. The SS California had left New York Harbor on 6 October 1848 on a trip that took 4 months and 21 days.
• 28 February 1964...A world 12-hour rainfall record was set at Belouve, La Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean when 52.76 inches of rain fell. World records for 9 hours and 18.5 hours were also set with 42.79 and 66.49 inches, respectively. (Accord's Weather Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)

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Prepared by AMS DataStreme Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2004 The American Meteorological Society.