Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 3-7 February 2014

Items of Interest

• Demystifying the Bermuda Triangle -- A fact sheet prepared by NOAA's Ocean Service is designed to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions that have risen about the Bermuda Triangle in the western North Atlantic Ocean and the unexplained and mysterious loss of ships, planes and humans. Environmental considerations such as frequent tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms) and human error are invoked as possible explanations. [NOAA Ocean Service Facts]
• Remote sensing of the oceans by satellites -- Please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth for a description of how oceanographers have employed orbiting satellites as observation platforms to make remote observations of the world's oceans.

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week, organized tropical cyclone (low pressure systems such as tropical storms and hurricanes that form over tropical oceans) activity developed in western Pacific Ocean in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres:
• In western South Pacific basin, Tropical Cyclone Dylan developed during the middle of last week over the Coral Sea approximately 250 miles to the east-northeast of Willis Island, Australia. Dylan traveled toward the southwest and then south, making landfall along the coast of Queensland, Australia late in the week. Up to 18 inches of rainfall fell in northeastern Australia, resulting in localized flooding. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite imagery and additional information on Tropical Cyclone Dylan.
• In western North Pacific basin a tropical depression formed over the Philippine Sea to the east of the central islands in the Philippines and became Tropical Storm Kajiki as it traveled westward. Passing across some of the Philippine Islands over this past weekend, Kajiki continued to cross the South China Sea. Forecasts indicate that this tropical storm would approach the central coast of Vietnam early this upcoming week (local time). A satellite image and additional information on Tropical Storm Kajiki can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Boaters enlisted to help track whale movements in national marine sanctuaries -- Officials with NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and its sister sanctuaries have asked boaters to help marine scientists track the movements of the endangered humpback whales in a new a new international citizen science effort called Carib Tails. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary lies off the Massachusetts coast and the sister sanctuaries and partners are at the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic, Agoa Marine Mammal Sanctuary/French Antilles, Bermuda Marine Mammal Sanctuary, the marine mammal sanctuaries of the Windward and Leeward Dutch Antilles, and the United Nations Caribbean Environment Programme's Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Programme (UNEP/SPAW). [NOAA News]
• Fisheries disaster declared in Washington salmon fishery -- During the last week, US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker declared a commercial fishery failure for the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Fishery in Washington state due to the low return of sockeye salmon to the Fraser River. The closure of the fishery for the 2013 fishing season resulted in significant revenue losses for tribal and non-tribal fishermen. [NOAA News]
• A virtual tour can be made of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands -- The NOAA and US Fish & Wildlife Service staff at Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument have assembled panoramic images from five sites in this national monument that have been added to Google Street View. The public can view these images in a virtual tour using the Google Street View Trekker. The monument located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is operated jointly by the US Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, and the State of Hawaii. [NOAA Ocean Service News]
• Popular pan-fried fish on Lake Erie could be doomed by climate change -- Researchers at Ohio State University warn that yellow perch, a popular pan fish found in Lake Erie could become a causality to increased lake temperatures and an increase in extreme precipitation events due to anticipated changing climate. The loss of this fishery would have a major economic and social impact on the area around the Lake. [NOAA News]
• Rapid rises in sea level found along eastern Gulf of Mexico coast -- Researchers from the University of South Florida and their colleagues from England had found that the cyclic seasonal variations in sea level along the eastern Gulf Coast from the Florida Keys to southern Alabama have increased in range over the last 20 years (from 1993 to 2011). Summer peaks in sea level have increased, while winter minima have deepened. These changes would potentially increase coastal flooding from tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms) and stress delicate ecosystems found along the coast. The increased range is ascribed to increased temperatures and lower sea level pressure in summer that lead to higher water levels, while in winter, lower temperatures and higher air pressure would result in lower heights. [American Geophysical Union Press Release]
• Winter pace of Icelandic glaciers mapped by airborne radar -- A NASA research aircraft carrying the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), which is a high-precision radar instrument developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was deployed to Iceland last week to create detailed maps of how glaciers move during the middle of winter. These maps should help provide better understanding of processes in melting glaciers, which contribute to rising sea levels. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
• Research on next generation of high-performance weather and climate models launched -- Scientists from NOAA and the US Navy along with their colleagues in other governmental agencies and academia began four projects to design the next generation of powerful supercomputer models intended to predict weather, ocean conditions and regional climate change. Rewritten computer models would create faster and lower-cost integrated models. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
• Carbon emission mitigation could slow Arctic temperature increases according to climate models -- A researcher from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory reported that climate model projections indicates carbon emission mitigation could slow major warming of the Arctic climate in the second half of the 21st century. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 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]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

A request: If you have some ocean-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme Ocean participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

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 in a hundred years or so the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock. 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 NASA topographical images of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/garvin/surtsey.html . These images were obtained using a scanning airborne laser altimeter.

1. The volcanism responsible for the formation of Surtsey was associated with a [(divergent)(convergent)] tectonic plate boundary.
2. At present on Surtsey, erosive forces [(are)(are not)] prevailing over volcanic activity.

Historical Events

• 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. This phenomenon is known as ice shove. (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 observed 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) (See additional discussion on highest ocean waves)
• 7 February 1969...USCGC Tern, commissioned on this date and stationed in New York, embodied an advanced concept in servicing aids to navigation. Her over-the-stern gantry system of handling buoys is unique. The automation and modernization of over-age, isolated lighthouses and light stations showed significant progress this year. A new, more effective version of the LAMP (Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project) plan was promulgated in this year. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 7 February 1978...The worst winter storm of record struck coastal New England. The storm produced 27.5 inches of snow at Boston, and nearly 50 inches in northeastern Rhode Island. The fourteen-foot tide at Portland, ME was probably the highest of the century. Winds gusted to 79 mph at Boston, and reached 92 mph at Chatham, MA. A hurricane-size surf caused 75 deaths and 500 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
• 8 February 1987...A powerful storm produced blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes Region. North winds of 50 to 70 mph raised the water level of southern Lake Michigan two feet, and produced waves 12 to 18 feet high, causing seven million dollars damage along the Chicago area shoreline. It was the most damage caused by shoreline flooding and erosion in the history of the city of Chicago. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 8 January 2001...The log-carrying ship, Leo Forest, lost much of its cargo as over 2300 logs went overboard approximately 400 miles north of Adak, AK. The ship lost power in waves that were greater than 35 feet and the loss of the logs caused the ship to list 10 degrees to port (left) with the bow three feet down. Fortunately, the ship made safe passage to Dutch Harbor for repairs. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 9 February 1942...The French Liner Normandie, a 79,280-ton luxury ocean liner, burned and capsized in New York Harbor during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship. (The History Channel)

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2014, The American Meteorological Society.