WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

28 April- 2 May 2014

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2014 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2014. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

"True color" portrait of planet on Earth Day 2014 -- Two true color images were made of planet Earth from data collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite on Earth Day (Tuesday, 22 April 2014). One of the images (left) shows North and South America along with the North Atlantic Ocean in the Western Hemisphere, while the other image shows Eurasia, Australia and the Indian Ocean. A true color image uses several wavelength bands to closely approximate what the human eye would see. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
Postage stamp celebrates Earth Day 2014 -- As part of last week's celebration of Earth Day 2014, the US Postal Service issued The Global: Sea Surface Temperatures Forever Stamp that depicts sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic basins generated by a numerical climate model run at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. [US Postal Service News] A YouTube video shows how the NOAA climate model used sea surface temperature data obtained from satellites to produce the final image for the stamp. [NOAA Research]
NOAA Administrator honored as one of Time's 100 most influential people -- NOAA's Administrator and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Kathryn Sullivan, was recently recognized by Time magazine as being one of its 100 Most Influential People that include leaders, pioneers, icons and artists. She was a former astronaut, having flown on three Space Shuttle missions. Senator John Glenn, one of the nation's original astronauts, called Dr. Sullivan "the world's weatherwoman." [Time.com]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- During the last week tropical cyclone activity was limited to the Indian and the western Pacific basins of the Southern Hemisphere:.

In the South Indian basin Cyclone Jack traveled to the southeast over the open waters of the South Indian Ocean early last week after having intensified to a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at the start of the week. Jack weakened to a tropical depression and eventually dissipated approximately 400 miles to the southwest of Cocos Island, or well to the northwest of Australia. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on the Cyclone Jack.
In the western North Pacific basin, the sixth tropical depression of 2014 formed late Sunday (local time) several hundred miles to the southeast of Guam. Forecasts indicate that this tropical depression could become a tropical storm by late Monday as it travels to the north and then to the northwest. This system should pass well to the east and then to the northeast of Guam.

Ice cover persists on Lake Superior -- A natural-image made at the start of last week by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite showed that 63.5 percent of Lake Superior remained covered by ice as of 20 April 2014. According to a researcher at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the extent of the ice cover is significantly more than average and that the ice remains abnormally thick. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Golden Gate shipwreck rediscovered -- Officials from NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries recently announced that a team conducting a multi-beam sonar survey has located the underwater wreck of the 202-ft long passenger steamer City of Chester that sank nearly under San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1888 following a collision with the RMS Oceanic in dense fog. The wreck had been previously located in 1890 by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. [NOAA News]
NOAA expedition discovers ship's timepiece after two centuries --During the last week, marine archeologists conducting an expedition of the Gulf of Mexico from onboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer discovered a ship's chronometer that appears to have been on the seafloor off Galveston, TX for approximately 200 years. The discovery was made by camera-equipped undersea robotic vehicles and could be viewed by the public using live video. [NOAA Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research News]
New England fishway helps improve habitat for herring -- A 3:43-minute video entitled "Renewed Passage: Buzzards Bay to the Acushnet River" documents how a "nature-like" fishway that NOAA Fisheries and its partners installed on the Acushnet River in Massachusetts has helped improve the habitat and improve access for herring migrating to prime spawning grounds. [NOAA Fisheries News]
Report on deep-sea coral research made to Congress -- NOAA's Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program recently submitted its report to Congress that provides an overview of the program's three-year field studies designed to develop methods that would help Regional Fishery Management Councils manage potential impacts of fisheries on the nation's deep-sea coral areas. [NOAA Fisheries Habitat Conservation]
First instrument readied for nation's next polar orbiting environmental satellite -- During the past week the first of five instruments that will be used onboard NOAA's next polar orbiting environmental satellite successfully completed a pre-shipment review. This instrument, called the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), will measure reflected sunlight and infrared radiation emitted by the Earth from the NOAA/NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1 satellite scheduled for launch in early 2017. Data from CERES would be used to monitor the Earth's energy balance and improve monitoring of large-scale events such as El Niño and La Niña. Weather and climate forecasts should also be improved by the CERES data. [NOAA News]
NOAA's Arctic Action Plan released -- During the last week, NOAA officials released the agency's "Arctic Action Plan," a document designed as a road map to NOAA scientists and colleagues for monitoring, understanding and protecting the Arctic environment, especially as a changing climate is impacting the region. An integrated overview of NOAA's diverse Arctic programs is also provided that details how the goals set forth in the President's National Strategy for the Arctic Region are supported. [NOAA Arctic Theme Page]
Review of global weather and climate for March 2014 -- 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 March 2014 was the fourth highest for any March since sufficiently detailed global climate records began in 1880. The global temperature for March 2014 was 1.28 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) average. When considered separately, the average land temperature was the fifth highest for any March since 1880, while the temperature over the oceans tied 2004 for the fifth highest for March. ENSO-neutral conditions (ENSO = El Niño/Southern Oscillation), which began in early 2012, continued through March, with slightly below average sea surface temperatures across the eastern equatorial Pacific. These ENSO-neutral conditions should continue through the remainder of boreal spring, with a 50 percent chance of the development of an El Niño event by June.
The researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center noted the areal extent of the Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent near the end of the third week of March. The areal extent of this sea ice for March 2014 was the fifth smallest since satellite surveillance began in 1979. Conversely, the extent of the Antarctic sea ice was the third largest in the 36-season record. According to data from the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent for March was the sixth smallest in the 48-year period of record. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate] A global map of Selected Significant Climate Anomalies and Events for March 2013 is available from NCDC.
Increased infrastructure required to address oil spills in US Arctic waters -- A new report produced by the National Research Council entitled "Responding to Oil Spills in the U.S. Arctic Marine Environment" claims that a full suite of current oil response tools would be needed to address potential oil spills in US Arctic waters, but warns that some of these tools may not be readily available. [News from the National Academies]
Some corals are adjusting to rising ocean temperatures -- Researchers from Stanford University have found that some corals can quickly adjust their internal functions to tolerate hot water by being able to switch on or off certain genes that would allow them to survive. [Stanford News Service]
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.

Historical Events:

28 April 1947...Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and five others set out in a balsa wood craft known as Kon Tiki to prove that Peruvian Indians could have settled in Polynesia. The trip took 101 days.
29 April 1770...The British explorer, Captain James Cook, arrived at and named Botany Bay, Australia. (Wikipedia)
30 April 1492...Spain gave Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. (Wikipedia)
30 April 1894...An Antarctic iceberg fragment was sighted at a latitude comparable to Rio de Janeiro. Reported by the ship Dochra, this sighting remains the nearest to the equator that an iceberg has been seen. (Today in Science History)
30 April 1991...Southeast Bangladesh was devastated by a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of approximately 150 mph during the early morning. A 20-foot storm surge inundated offshore islands south of Chittagong, taking water from the Bay of Bengal inland for miles. This cyclone resulted in up to 200,000 deaths and $1.4 billion damage. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
1 May 1683...A patent was awarded in England for the extraction of salt from seawater. (Today in Science History)
1 May 1883...At Cape Lookout, NC, a storm tide swept over the island drowning sheep and cattle. (Intellicast)
1 May 1921...The first radio fog signals in the United States were placed in commission on Ambrose Lightship, Fire Island Lightship, and Sea Girt Light Station, NJ. These signals installed by the US Lighthouse Service were meant to guide ships approaching New York Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 May 1936...The Whaling Treaty Act outlawed the taking of right whales or calves of any whale. This law was enforced by the Coast Guard. (USCG Historian's Office)
2 May 1775...Benjamin Franklin completed the first scientific study of the Gulf Stream. His observations began in 1769 when as deputy postmaster of the British Colonies he found ships took two weeks longer to bring mail from England than was required in the opposite direction. Thus, Franklin became the first to chart the Gulf Stream. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1880...The first U.S. steamboat to successfully employ electric lights was the Columbia, a 309-ft long vessel which operated between San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. An "A" type dynamo was placed in operation to illuminate the passenger rooms and main salons. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1932...After a Convention with Canada, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act re-enacted the Act of 7 June 1924 and made it unlawful to catch halibut between 1 November and 15 February of each year in territorial waters of United States and Canada, as well as on the high seas, extending westerly from there, including the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard enforced this act. (USCG Historian's Office)
2-3 May 1998...Ocean swells from storms in the South Pacific caused surf heights of 7 to 9 feet, with sets to 12 feet along the southern California coast. A man fishing on rocks at Rancho Palos Verdes, CA was swept away. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
3 May 1494...The explorer Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Jamaica in the West Indies. He named the island Santa Gloria. On the following day, he landed on Jamaica. (Library of Congress)
3 May 1761...Large tornadoes swept the Charleston, SC harbor when a British Fleet of 40 sails was at anchor. It raised a wave 12 feet high, leaving many vessels on their beam-ends. Four people drowned. (Intellicast)
4 May 1869...The first U.S. patent for an offshore oil-drill rig was issued to T.F. Rowland for his "submarine drilling apparatus" (No. 89,794). (Today in Science History)
4 May 1904...Construction began on the Panama Canal. (Wikipedia)
4 May 1910...Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States to be equipped with radio (100-mi radius) and a qualified operator. (USCG Historian's Office)