DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 21-25 February 2011

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics ---
During the last week tropical cyclone activity was found in the South Indian and South Pacific basins.
In South Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Diane formed off the northwestern coast of Australia early last week. During the week, Diane traveled to the southwest off the coast of Australia, intensifying to a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale over the past weekend. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Dianne.
Tropical Storm Carlos formed early last week over the waters of the Timor Sea off the northwest coast of Australia. This tropical storm moved along the coast, producing heavy rains over northern Australia. Additional information and satellite imagery are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Tropical Cyclone Bingiza, which had become a category 3 cyclone over the waters of the western South Indian Ocean, made landfall on the northeastern coast of Madagascar at the start of last week. Bingiza was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved west and then south across northern and western Madagascar. See the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite images on this system.
In the South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Atu formed at the end of last week near the island nation of Vanuatu. This system intensified into a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled southward on Sunday.
• Regulations for naval training activities issued for the Gulf --
NOAA’s Fisheries Service issued a set of regulations along with a letter of authorization to the US Navy this past week that involves measured designed to protect marine mammals while the Navy's Atlantic fleet conducts training operations at the Gulf of Mexico Range Complex. [NOAA News]
• Planned closure of coastal waters off Southeast coast is questioned --
Based upon scientific data indicating the planned closure of the area in the coastal waters off northern Florida and southern Georgia for all snapper and grouper skies is unnecessary, NOAA's Fisheries Service is seeking public comment on a proposal to repeal the area closure that would become effective in June. [NOAA News]
• Next year's NOAA budget is announced --
At the start of last week, President Obama requested $5.5 billion for NOAA as part of the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2012. While this proposed budget is $56.8 million less than the 2011 budget, it includes investments to strengthen NOAA’s most critical programs and initiatives including improved predictability in weather and water forecasts; support of sustainable oceans and fisheries; and investments in satellites and other sensor systems. The administration’s goals are addressed including long-term economic growth, promoting innovation and American competitiveness and reducing government spending. [NOAA News]
• Review of global weather and climate for January 2011--
Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center have determined that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for January 2011 was the seventeenth highest for any January since global climate records began in 1880. The average global ocean surface temperature for January was the eleventh highest on record, while the global land surface temperature for January 2011 was 29th highest. The scientists claim that the moderate-to-strong La Niña conditions were responsible for below average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial surface waters of the eastern and central Pacific.
The areal coverage of Arctic sea ice was smallest January Arctic sea ice extent since satellite surveillance began in 1979. The extent of Antarctic sea ice was the eighth smallest January extent on record.
The extent of the Northern Hemisphere snow cover during January was above the long-term average and marked the fourth consecutive January with above-average snow cover extent for the period of record that started in the late 1960s. [NOAA News]
• Current La Niña event could persist into June --
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center continues to maintain a La Niña advisory since La Niña conditions or ENSO-neutral conditions were expected to persist through May and June 2011. A La Niña event is an anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime that is often associated with colder than normal waters across the eastern and central equatorial Pacific. An ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) -neutral event would have near normal surface temperatures.
• Cloud streets out over the North Atlantic --
An image made from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows streamers of clouds, or cloud streets, oriented in a direction parallel to the winds that were flowing from off New England and the eastern Canada over the western North Atlantic during an arctic outbreak in late January. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Mystery ship remnants found along the Outer Banks --
Recent storms along North Carolina's Outer Banks have uncovered the remnants of a ship that had been buried in a sand dune on Hatteras Island. Marine archaeologists are attempting to determine if this ship could have been a barge that would have been dated back to sometime between 1850 and 1920. [The Virginian-Pilot] [Editor's note: Special thanks are extended to Terri Kirby Hathaway, AMS Oceans LIT Leader and Marine Education Specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant, for forwarding this article. EJH]
• Changes in the fish population seen over past century --
A research team led by a University of British Columbia scientist has found that between 1880 and 2007, the population of predatory fish such as cod, tuna, and groupers has declined by two-thirds, while the number of small forage fish such as sardine and anchovy has doubled. [University of British Columbia]
• Genetic resistance mechanism in coastal fish triggered by pollution --
Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found that certain types of fish, including the tomcod from coastal waterways along the East Coast have developed a variant protein that makes the fish less sensitive to the toxic effects of PCBs, a pollutant found in many of the coastal waters. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
• Marine fossils may reveal history of oxygen in an ancient ocean --
Scientists at Virginia Tech and colleagues from China have analyzed fossils of seaweed and worm-like marine animals that flourished in the sea in what is now present-day south China nearly 600 million years ago. The researchers believe that these fossils could provide information as to the amount of oxygen in the ancient sea just prior to the Cambrian explosion when numerous marine life forms appeared. [Virginia Tech News]
• An All-Hazards Monitor --
This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes --
A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include 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 a major 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 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)].

Historical Events

• 21 February 1835...The HMS Beagle, along with Charles Darwin left Valdivia, Chile.
• 21 February 1907...During an exceptionally heavy gale, the British-owned mail ship Berlin hit dangerous shoals and broke up while attempting to navigate around the Hook of Holland in the English Channel. Only 14 on board survived, while 127 were killed or drowned.
• 22-26 February 1995...Cyclone Bobby slammed into the Western Australia coast causing widespread flooding. Some areas reported up to 12 in. of rain from the storm. (The Weather Doctor)
• 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 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 and 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 first 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 three children. (Accord's Weather Calendar)

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.