DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 18-22 February 2013

For Your Information

• Light in the oceans -- If you would like information on the distribution of sunlight in the upper levels of the ocean has an impact upon the distribution of marine life and various processes such as photosynthesis in these layers, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.
• Celestial events over this past weekend -- Several hours before the anticipated close flyby of an asteroid last Friday, at least one meteorite crashed into the Earth's surface in Russia's western Siberia. According to calculations made by NASA, the meteor that entered the Earth's atmosphere had a diameter of approximately 55 feet and a mass of approximately 10,000 tons. After passing through the atmosphere, the meteor made an impact near Chelyabinsk, Russia, at 0320 UTC on 15 February (or 10:20 PM on 14 February). During its passage through the atmosphere, the meteor disintegrated, producing a bright contrail that was recorded by video equipment near Chelyabinsk. A shock wave or "sonic boom" was created, which broke numerous windows across the region. Over 1000 people were injured. [The Weather Channel] Based upon the meteor track, this event was not considered to be related to the asteroid flyby. [NASA JPL] Later, asteroid 2012 DA14 passed approximately 17,200 miles above the Earth's surface at approximately 11:25 AM PST on Friday 15 February. This asteroid, which had a diameter of approximately 150 feet, was observed by astronomers using telescopes from Australia; images are available. In addition, NASA scientists will use NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar, located in California's Mojave Desert, to take radar images of the asteroid to determine its precise size and shape for the first three days of this upcoming week. The NASA Near Earth Object Observation (NEOO) Program will continue to track the asteroid and predict its future orbit. [NASA JPL]
• Another viewing of "Earth from Space" set for this week -- Last week PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) television presented a two-hour panorama of the Earth system and of the atmospheric sciences as a premiere showing in its NOVA series. This program contains a large collection of satellite imagery revealing complex patterns of global interactions involving the atmosphere, ocean, vegetation, and land surfaces. Extensive consultation was made with NASA scientists in order to assemble numerous sequences of images obtained from data collected by sensors onboard Earth-observing satellites. The show is to be rebroadcast on Tuesday evening (19 February 2013) on many PBS channels. Check local listings. [PBS NOVA]

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week only two tropical cyclones were found across the South Pacific and South Indian basins as austral summer was beginning to wane:
  • In the western South Pacific, Tropical Storm Haley, which formed at the start of last week to the south of Bora Bora in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. This tropical storm was relatively short-lived as it traveled toward the southeast, dissipating slightly more than 24 hours after formation. Additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Haley can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page .
  • In the South Indian basin, Cyclone Gino developed early last week from an area of low pressure approximately 750 miles to the east-southeast of Diego Garcia. Gino intensified to become a category two tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale by midweek as it traveled to the south-southwest. and then to the south. By early last weekend, this system had weakened and then became an extratropical (or midlatitude) low pressure system as it curved toward the south-southeast. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Cyclone Gino.
• Final report upgrades strength of Hurricane Sandy -- NOAA's National Hurricane Center released its final report on last October's Hurricane Sandy. In this report, scientists with the Center upgraded Sandy to a major category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it approached eastern Cuba. However, they felt that Sandy had become a post tropical cyclone prior to making landfall along the New Jersey coast. The report also notes that because of its catastrophic storm surge, Sandy became the second-costliest cyclone to hit the United States since 1900, ranked behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As preliminary US damage estimates had approached $50 billion. At least 147 direct deaths were recorded across the Atlantic basin, with 72 of these fatalities occurring in the Northeastern United States, which represents the greatest number of U.S. direct fatalities related to a tropical cyclone outside of the Southern states since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. [National Hurricane Center]
• Listing of Alaskan cold-water corals as threatened/endangered species may not be warranted -- Officials with NOAA Fisheries recently announced that they do not feel that the petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to list 44 species of cold water corals off Alaska as threatened or endangered does not currently appear warranted. The petition had cited threats to the coral by ocean warming, ocean acidification, commercial fisheries, oil spills and other factors. [NOAA Fisheries News Releases]
• Monitoring harbor seals in Puget Sound described -- A video has been produced by NOAA Fisheries that shows how a Fisheries wildlife biologist tracks and identifies the harbor seals in western Washington's Puget Sound in an effort to collect long-term data on the longevity and other population statistics of these seals. [NOAA Fisheries Service]
• Modernized techniques used to measure height -- NOAA's National Ocean Service is using new techniques to measure reference elevations around the nation more accurately, faster and cheaper than ever before. In addition, changes in elevation of these areas can change due to a variety of reasons that include sea level rise, subsidence, earthquakes and even oil and gas extraction. Read about the various topics associated with the National Ocean Service's "Height Modernization." [NOAA's National Ocean Service]
• Feature stories told about illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing -- NOAA's Fisheries, together with its domestic and international partners, is committed to addressing the problem associated with Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing around the world, as it threatens ocean ecosystems and sustainable fisheries. Several feature stories involving IUU have appeared last week. [Huffington Post] In one story, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administration of NOAA and Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, wrote about how the United States and the European Union share a common vision for sustainable fisheries and how their governments are committed to continue their efforts to end IUU fishing. [Huffington Post] In the other article, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement describes how it works with international partners to protect fishers from IUU fishing that ultimately threatens their income and the sustainability of their fishery resources. [NOAA Fisheries Law Enforcement]
• Monitoring losses in Arctic sea ice volume -- A recent study produced by an international team of scientists combined Arctic sea ice measurement records from NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite, airborne surveys, including those from NASA's Operation IceBridge and ocean-based sensors. The researchers showed autumn Arctic sea ice volume to have declined by 36 percent over the last decade, while winter sea ice has diminished by nine. This study extends previous studies of sea ice based on submarine and NASA satellite data and confirms computer model estimates that indicate ice volume has decreased over the last decade, and builds a foundation for a multi-decadal record of sea ice volume changes. [NASA GSFC]
• Last summer's Arctic sea ice minimum created rapid changes in marine ecosystem -- A multidisciplinary team of researchers from twelve nations who participated in a research cruise onboard the Alfred Wegener Institute's research icebreaker Polarstern during late summer of 2012 reported that as the sea ice cover over the Arctic Ocean decreased to a minimum, rapid changes in the ocean's ecosystem occurred as the algae growing below the melting ice sank to the sea floor several thousand meters under the surface. Deep sea animals such as sea cucumbers and brittle stars fed on the algae, while bacteria would metabolize the remainder of the algae, thereby consuming the oxygen in the sea bed. [Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research]
• 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

• 18 February 1828...More than 100 vessels were destroyed in a storm at Gibraltar.
• 18 February 1846...A General Order was issued by the Secretary of the US Department of Navy "on Port and Starboard," in which the term "port" replaced "larboard." (Naval Historical Center)
• 19 February 1473...Nicolaus Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy, was born in Torun in north central Poland. He was the first modern European scientist to propose that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. (The History Channel)
• 19 February 1845...The Lighthouse Establishment was transferred to the Revenue Marine Bureau. Metal buoys were first put into service. They were riveted iron barrels that replaced the older wooden stave construction. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 19 February 1972...A vicious coastal storm dumped 10 to 20 inches of snow over interior sections of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states and caused some of the worst coastal damage of the century in New England. Storm surges up to 4.5 ft and winds gusting over 80 mph along coastal Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine resulted in extensive property damage and tremendous beach erosion. Twenty-seven houses were destroyed and 3000 damaged in Massachusetts alone. (Intellicast)
• 19 February 1977...Using the research submersible Alvin, deep-ocean researchers John B. Corliss and John M. Elmond found an extraordinary oasis of life on the Pacific Ocean floor off the Galapagos Islands, including new types of worms, clams and crabs around geothermal hot water vents. These organisms appeared to depend upon bacteria oxidizing hydrogen sulfide contained in the volcanic gases spewing out of the hot springs. (Today in Science History)
• 20 February 1823...English Captain James Weddell and the brig Jane reached 74 deg 15 min S, or 940 mi (1520 km) from the South Pole. His voyage reached farther south than anyone had ventured until the 1850s, as it was 214 mi south of the latitude that Captain James Cook had sailed.
• 20 February 1835...While in Chile, Charles Darwin experienced a strong earthquake and shortly thereafter saw evidence of uplift in the region. From measurements, he determined that the land rose several feet, and later hypothesized that coral reefs in the Pacific could develop along margins of subsiding landmasses. (Today in Science History)
• 20 February 1856...The John Rutledge, an American steamer that sailed from Liverpool, England for New York, hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Most of the 155 people onboard were lost.
• 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 Panama Canal

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2013, The American Meteorological Society.