Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 30 January-3 February 2006

Welcome to earth science educators and other attendees at the Annual American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA this week (29 Jan- 3 Feb 2006)

Ocean in the News

(Thurs.) Life of krill studied -- A researcher with the Australian Division of the American Institute of Biological Sciences has created a model of the life cycle of krill, a critical organism in the Southern Ocean biological system. [EurekAlert!]
(Thurs.) Which one smallest? An announcement of the smallest fish found recently in peat swamps of Sumatra has ignited a war over the smallest species known. Other candidates have surfaced from studies over the past few years. The limit seems to be about 7 mm? [BBC News]
(Tues.) Lake Erie is ice-free -- An unusually warm January has resulted in essentially no ice cover on Lake Erie, which is also unusual. While people who enjoy winter sports activity such as ice fishing may complain, others find that the continuation of the ferry service to Ohio's two islands in the Lake is less expensive than using airplanes. [USA Today]
(Tues.) 2005 may have been warmest year on record - NASA scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently announced that according to their data and analysis techniques, the recently- concluded calendar year of 2005 had the highest globally averaged annual surface temperature in more than 100 years of record. [NASA]
Scientists from the National Climatic Data Center have released a statement indicating that according to their current data sets and averaging techniques that the global annual average temperature for 2005 essentially tied that for 1998 as being the highest on record. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Alaskan ice surge gets attention -- A combination of strong winds and ocean currents have pushed up piles of sea ice along Alaska's Arctic coast near Barrow, resulting in some of the largest ice surges in more than 30 years. These surges can prove deadly to people unaware of the dangers. [USA Today]
East Coast city ready for a tsunami - NOAA officials recently announced that Norfolk, VA has become the first East Coast city to become a NOAA TsunamiReady community following the preparing and filing of an appropriate tsunami emergency response plan. [NOAA News]
Satellites help save lives at sea - NOAA satellites, along with their Russian counterparts, have been participating in the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System or COSPAS-SARSAT. During 2005, more than 220 people were rescued from life-threatening situations because of the NOAA satellites; most of those rescued were at sea before being rescued. [NOAA News]
Why did the whale head for the Thames - Marine biologists have begun a post-mortem exam of the bottle nosed whale that died after swimming up Britain’s River Thames to central London in an effort to understand why it made the ill-fated trip. [The New Scientist]
Mock hurricane exercise was too realistic - Documents released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week indicate that a mock exercise involving a mock Category 3 (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) Hurricane Pam conducted during the early summer 2005 indicated the potential for a catastrophe in New Orleans of proportions similar to those that occurred when the Category 3 Hurricane Katrina made landfall just to the east of the city in late August. [USA Today]
Nature as well as humans disrupted by Gulf hurricanes - Scientists from various disciplines who have been assessing the damage wrought by the four powerful hurricanes that swept across the Gulf of Mexico last summer disrupted more than human lives and livelihoods, but did immense damage to the marine plant and animal light along the coast and out of the Gulf. [USA Today]
Why is Rita forgotten? Residents and local officials from southwestern Louisiana and east Texas that suffered considerable damage from last season’s Hurricane Rita have been wondering why the attention of federal officials has not included their plight, but focused primarily on those to the east that were struck by Hurricane Katrina. [USA Today]
A new hurricane found -- Post-storm analysis of Tropical Storm Cindy by scientists at the National Hurricane Center indicate that Cindy had intensified to become a short-lived Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale prior to landfall along the Gulf coast last July. With the upgrading of Cindy to hurricane status, the 2005 hurricane season in the North Atlantic now has a record high number of 15 hurricanes. [USA Today] A detailed final report on Cindy was issued by NHC in pdf format
If levees cannot be fixed, build floodgates - The US Army Corps of Engineers are planning to construct floodgates as a means for preventing a storm surge from building in the major drainage canals in New Orleans, where levees were breached by water from Hurricane Katrina last summer. [US Water News]
Accelerated sea level rises noted - Using data from tidal gauges around the world, scientists from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have found that worldwide sea level has increased during the last 135 years, with largest rates of increase appearing during the last 50 years. [BBC News]
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 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.

The 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 the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock in 100 years or so. 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 a NASA topographical image of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/islands/surtsey/. This image was 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)] plate boundary.
At present on Surtsey, erosive forces [(are)(are not)] prevailing over volcanic activity.

Historical Events

30 January 1790...The Original, the first boat specialized as a lifeboat to rescue people from stormy seas was tested on the River Tyne. This 30-foot long self-righting craft went out to shipwrecks for 40 years, saving hundreds of lives. William Wouldhave and Lionel Lukin both claimed to be the inventor of the first lifeboat. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
30 January 1997...Surf up to 12 feet, with sets to 15 feet, pounded the north and west shores of Hawaii. A wave swept 8 people into the ocean at Keane Point on Maui. Four tourists who were taking pictures of the waves drowned. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1788...A patent for a steamboat was issued by the state of Georgia to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet. The patent was the only one ever to be issued by Georgia, and first in the U.S. for a steamboat. Much development had to follow before the steamboat would be commercially viable. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1838...A U.S. patent (No. 588) was issued for the screw propeller to John Ericsson, (1803-89), a Swedish American engineer, who later designed and built the Monitor for the Union Navy in the War of the Rebellion. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1811...The Bell Rock Lighthouse was lit for the first time eleven miles off the east coast of Scotland. Using 24 lanterns, it began flashing its warning light atop a 100-foot white stone tower. As the oldest sea-washed lighthouse in existence, it was built by Robert Stevenson on a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies submerged just beneath the waves. In the centuries before, the dangerous Bell Rock had claimed thousands of lives, as vessels were wrecked on its razor-sharp serrated rocks. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1953...An intense low-pressure system 966 millibars (29.52 inches of mercury) swept across the North Sea. Wind speeds at Aberdeen, Scotland exceeded 125 mph. A storm surge of 13 feet, aided by a high spring tide, breached the dams in as many as 100 places along the Zuider Zee in The Netherlands, flooding 3.95 million acres or one-sixth of the country. More than 1800 deaths were attributed to drowning and 50,000 people were evacuated. In addition, this storm was responsible for the loss of 100,000 poultry, 25,00 pigs and 35,000 cattle. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2-3 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Florida on the 3rd ; it also represents the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin. The storm produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1976...Groundhog Day Storm, one of the fiercest Maritimes storms ever battered Bay of Fundy region around Saint John, New Brunswick with winds clocked at 118 mph, generating 39 foot waves with swells of 32.5 feet. (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1488...The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Diaz landed at Mossal Bay, Cape of Good Hope, the first European known to have landed on the southern extremity of Africa. He was also the first known European to have traveled this far south and round the Cape. (Wikipedia)
3 February 1880...Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the wreck of the George Taulane. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1943...The torpedoing of the transport Dorchester saw USCGC Comanche and Escanaba respond. The crew of the Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. Although Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97, over 600 men were lost, including the Four Chaplains. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1953...The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau published his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World, which was made into a film three years later. (The History Channel)
5 February 1924...Hourly time signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were broadcast for the first time. (Wikipedia)
5 February 1997...High winds pushed mountains of ice against the northern shore of Lake Erie crushing several houses and cottages in Colchester, Ontario. (The Weather Doctor)
5 February 2004 - Nineteen Chinese cockle-pickers from a group of 35 drowned after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. (Wikipedia)
6 February 1933...The highest reliably observed ocean wave was seen by crew of the US Navy oiler, USS Ramapo, in the North Pacific during the night on its way from Manila to San Diego. The wave was estimated (by triangulation) to have a height of 112 feet. Average winds at the time were 78 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)