Weekly Ocean News

Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK THREE: 9-13 February 2015

For Your Information

Aspects of ocean water chemistry and marine life considered -- If you would like more background information concerning how marine organisms evolved in the ocean with a relatively narrow range of chemical and physical characteristics, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics --- As Southern Hemisphere summer continues, organized tropical cyclone (low pressure systems such as tropical storms and hurricanes that form over tropical oceans) activity continued in the South Indian and western Pacific Basins last week:

In the South Indian Ocean Basin, Cyclone Eunice continued traveling to the southeast across the open waters of the South Indian Ocean after becoming a major category 5 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at the end of the previous week. Eventually, Eunice lost its tropical characteristics and became a midlatitude storm approximately 1500 miles west-southwest of Learmonth, Australia. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information for Cyclone Eunice.
Late last week, Tropical Storm Fundi formed off the southwest coast of Madagascar. Over the weekend, Fundi traveled southward across the western South Indian Ocean away from landmasses. This relatively weak tropical storm should become a tropical depression and dissipate early this week well away from any landmasses.

In the South Pacific basin Tropical Cyclone Ola continued traveling southward across the waters of the western South Pacific to the west of Nouba, New Caledonia at the start of last week. Ola, which was a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at the start of last week, weakened to become a tropical storm early in the week and then disintegrated approximately 500 miles to the south of Nouba. Additional information on Cyclone Ola is available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Higos formed over this past weekend from a tropical depression to the east-northeast of Chuuk, one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia. Moving to the north and then to the west-northwest, Higos intensified to become a typhoon at the end of the weekend. By the start of this new week (local time), Typhoon Higos, a category 1 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, was located 800 miles east of Guam. Current forecasts indicate this typhoon would move toward the northwest.

Ruling to be made on captive killer whale -- NOAA Fisheries will make a final ruling on the status of captive members of an endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act. One of the more famous of these captive animals is Lolita, a killer whale that was captured more than 40 years ago prior to endangered species listing from the Southern Resident killer whale population that spend much of the year in the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia. Lolita has resided at the Miami Seaquarium since 1970. [NOAA News] [NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region]
Inaugural national Mussel Watch report released ..-- During the last week NOAA released its first report on the national distribution of parasites and disease in mussel and oyster populations over a time span running from 1995 through 2009. This report was based upon samples taken from more than 300 sites along the coastal US and the Great Lakes as part of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science's National Status and Trends Mussel Watch program. The report is designed for a baseline dataset that can be used for coastal resource management. Furthermore, the occurrence and severity of disease and parasite infections to these populations can be detected, along with national and regional trends over this time span. Currently, the severity of disease and infection is generally low nationwide. [NOAA News]
Public comment invited on setting boundaries for national marine sanctuary in Gulf -- NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries currently is inviting public comment on the proposed mollifications to the current boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located approximately 100 miles off the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The proposed modifications ultimately would include expansion of the sanctuary. The period of submitting public comment runs through the first week of April 2015. [NOAA News]
Program documents traditional knowledge of Alaska native hunters -- Researchers at the University of Alaska have been documenting the marine mammal hunting experiences of members of three communities in southwestern Alaska. These researchers are using funding from Alaska Sea Grant to document these experiences as changing climate are affecting the harvesting of marine mammals in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. They are looking for more information about local resources and habitat quality to conserve the marine environment. [NOAA Sea Grant Program News]
NOAA Administrator makes statement on agency's budget request for Fiscal Year 2016 -- The NOAA Administrator, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, during the last week issued a statement outlining her agency's budget request for Fiscal Year 2016. She notes that the nearly $6 billion requested is to be used to support NOAA's priorities that include 1) community and economic resilience; 2) National Weather Service (NWS) evolution; 3) observational infrastructure; and 4) organizational excellence. She also noted the increased demand for products and services that NOAA provides, ranging from daily weather forecasts to seasonal drought outlooks and to decadal sea level rise projections. [NOAA News]
Satellites witness large iceberg break from West Antarctica ice shelf -- Sensors onboard NASA's Landsat 8 and the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites recently captured the calving of a large iceberg from West Antarctica's King Baudouin Ice Shelf. This large iceberg, which is currently drifting in Breid Bay off of Queen Maud Land, is the largest iceberg to calve from the King Baudouin Ice Shelf since the 1960s. [NASA Earth Observatory]
The "Pineapple Express" brings much needed rain to parched California -- Beginning last week, a plume of humid air called an atmospheric river developed across the North Pacific Ocean that was directed toward the northern California and southern Oregon coasts. Since the source of this atmospheric river was over the central North Pacific near the Hawaiian Islands, it has been dubbed the "Pineapple Express." With abundant quantities of subtropical water vapor being carried onshore along the West Coast, locally heavy rain fall fallen across sections of northern California and the Pacific Northwest, with some locations receiving between eight and thirteen inches of rain between early Wednesday morning and midday Sunday. A video made from data collected by the sensors onboard NOAA's GOES-West satellite shows the Pineapple Express' stream of clouds reaching the Pacific Northwest. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
In addition to the surveillance of the current atmospheric river across the North Pacific Ocean provided by the GOES-West satellite, NASA and NOAA research aircraft and a NOAA research ship will be used in a massive research effort called CalWater 2015 focused on the study of how the atmospheric rivers contribute to supplying water to California, which is in a historic drought. The multi agency, interdisciplinary CalWater 2015 field campaign will run through late February. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory] Additional information on CalWater 2015 and atmospheric rivers is available. [NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
Helping improve the quality of communicating storm surge risks to the public in hurricane prone areas -- NOAA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have been sponsoring studies designed to improve the quality of emergency communications through the use of storm surge information in areas of the nation that are prone to tropical cyclones (including tropical storms and hurricanes). The effort involves how storm surge risks can be communicated to the public in an understandable way that will result in appropriate and timely responses made by he public. [National Science Foundation News]
Sea turtles stranded by cold New England weather make transition to warm Gulf of Mexico -- Several dozen of the 1200 young and endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles that were "cold-stunned" in the North Atlantic waters off the Massachusetts coast during last winter's cold winter have successfully been rehabilitated and released into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico by members of the Audubon Nature Institute and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. [The Washington Post]
Volcanoes acting on a 100,000-year cycle may play role in Earth's long-term climate -- A researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory claims that the intensity of volcanic activity at deeply submerged mid-ocean ridges varies on an approximately 100,000-year cycle, which is approximately the same length as the 100,000-year cycle in the Earth's orbital eccentricity (or roundness of orbit), one of the three long-term cycles in the Milankovitch cycles used to explain long-term rhythmic variations in Earth's climate. This new finding is based upon profiles of the sea-floor elevation in the East Pacific Rise in the Pacific Ocean. Changes to the Earth's orbit eccentricity could alter the gravitational force on Earth from the Sun, flexing the planet's crust and intensifying volcanic activity when the already thin, undersea crust stretches. Changes in sea level from periodic melting and rebuilding of ice caps and glaciers could also contribute to a varying frequency of eruptions. [American Geophysical Union Newsroom]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Sea Water Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

In view of the contemporary concern regarding global climate change, scientists are studying the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are on the rise primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (an atmospheric gas that absorbs and radiates infrared radiation) so that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

As noted in Chapter 3 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. As noted in Chapter 1 of your textbook, photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question.

Since the late 1980s, scientists have been recording ocean conditions at a site (dubbed ALOHA) about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, in 2001, the rate of CO₂ uptake was only about 15% of what it was in 1989. Why the change in CO₂ uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's CO₂ uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Concept of the Week: Questions

With rising sea surface temperatures, the rate of evaporation of sea water [(increases)(decreases)].
With increasing salinity and constant temperature, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is taken up by ocean water [(increases)(decreases)].

Historical Events

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)
10 February 1807...With the backing of President Thomas Jefferson, the US Coast Survey was authorized by Congress "to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States." The Coast Survey represents the oldest U.S. scientific organization to encourage commerce and to support a growing economy in a safe and efficient manner. (NOAA History)
10 February 1940...USCGC Bibb and Duane made the first transmissions as weather stations as part of the Atlantic Weather Patrol. (USCG Historian's Office)
11 February 1809...The American inventor, Robert Fulton patented his steamboat, the Clermont, for the first time, although he had made the first successful steamboat trip up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, NY in 1807. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science)
11 February 1862...The Secretary of the Navy directed the formation of an organization to evaluate new inventions and technical development, which eventually led to the National Academy of Science. (Naval Historical Center)
11 February 1971...The US and the USSR, along with other nations, signed the multilateral Seabed Treaty outlawing the emplacement of nuclear weapons (or "weapons of mass destruction") on the ocean floor in international waters, or beyond a 12-mile coastal zone. (Wikipedia)
12 February 1907...A collision of the steamer Larchmont and a large schooner, the Harris Knowlton, during a blizzard resulted in the deaths of 332 people. Only nine survivors were rescued. The incident occurred off Rhode Island's Block Island and was the worst disaster in New England maritime history. (RMS Titanic History)
12 February 1997...A combination of heavy surf and high winds contributed to the overturning of a U.S. Coast Guard motor life boat (MLB 44363) on a search and rescue mission when responding to a distress call from the sailing vessel Gale Runner in the stormy North Pacific Ocean off Washington State's Quillayute River Bar. Three of four crew members lost their lives in the first fatal sinking of this type of ship in its 35-year history. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (USCG Historian's Office)
13 February 1784...Ice floes blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans, then passed into the Gulf of Mexico. The only other time this occurred was during the "Great Arctic Outbreak" of 1899. (David Ludlum)
13 February 1969...The National Transportation Safety Board issued its "Study of Recreational Boat Accidents, Boating Safety Programs, and Preventive Recommendations". (USCG Historian's Office)
13 February 1997...Ocean swells generated by a storm well to the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands generated surf with heights to 20 feet and some sets to 25 feet along the northern shores of the islands. A professional surfer was killed by 25-foot surf at Alligator Rock on Oahu's North Shore. Lifeguards aided more than thirty people. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
14 February 1779...The famous British scientific navigator, Captain James Cook, Royal Navy, was killed by natives of the Sandwich Islands on the Kona coast of what is now the state of Hawaii's Big Island. His geographic discoveries and three scientific expeditions of the Pacific made him the most famous navigator since Magellan. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
14 February 1840...Officers from the USS Vincennes made the first landing in Antarctica on floating ice. (Naval Historical Center)
14 February 1903...An Act of Congress (31 Stat. L., 826, 827) that created the Department of Commerce and Labor provided for the transfer of the Lighthouse Service from the Treasury Department. This allowed the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to succeed to the authority vested in the Secretary of the Treasury under the existing legislation. (USCG Historian's Office)
14 February 1912...The first diesel-powered submarine was commissioned in Groton, CT. (Wikipedia)
14 February 1954...A waterspout was observed two miles east of Baranof, AK, an unusual occurrence for Alaska, particularly in winter. Just prior to the formation of the waterspout, a "terrific wind from the south out of a bay inside Warm Springs Bay" lifted water 20 feet and looked "as if it were boiling". (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)