WEEK EIGHT: 21-25 March 2016

Items of Interest:

• Tsunami Awareness Week in California -- Although National Tsunami Awareness Week will be observed during the week of 27 March - 2 April 2016, the state of California will be conducting its 2016 Tsunami Preparedness Week during this week (20-26 March) [The TsunamiZone]
• International observances -- Several days during this upcoming week have been designated as special days that are intended to focus public attention on the environment and earth science:
• "World Water Day" -- Tuesday, 22 March 2016, has been designated by the United Nations (UN) as the annual World Water Day. The theme for this year's World Water Day 2016 is "Water and Jobs." [UN-Water]
  
• "World Meteorology Day" -- A celebration will be held on Wednesday, 23 March 2016, for World Meteorology Day. This day is designated to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on 23 March 1950. The WMO is an agency within the United Nations. This year's theme for World Meteorological Day 2016 is "Hotter, drier, wetter. Face the Future,"which has been chosen "to illustrate the reality of climate change," a trend of increasing temperatures together with an accelerated frequency and intensity of extreme events in the future unless urgent action is taken to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
  
• Astronomical events of note --
• An early vernal equinox -- The vernal equinox that occurred early this past Sunday morning (officially at 0430Z or 12:30 AM EDT on 20 March 2016) was the earliest since 1896. This early occurrence was the result of the combined effects of the insertion of extra days in a leap year. In accordance with the Gregorian calendar reform, an extra day was included in 2000 (a century year divisible by 400), which makes the equinox occur earlier than in 1900 (a century year that is not a leap year). In addition, the added days in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 has also made the equinox earlier. The vernal equinox will occur earlier every leap year through the end of this 21st century, when it should be at 1402Z on 19 March 2096 (or 10:02 AM EDT on the 19th).
• A Pascal full moon, a lunar eclipse and religious celebrations-- The moon will reach the full moon phase on Wednesday, 23 March 2016 at 1201Z (8:01 AM EDT or 7:01 AM CDT, etc.). Since this full moon is the first following the spring equinox, it is called the "Pascal Moon," an event that is important to the timing of important religious observances in both the Jewish and Christian religions. Easter will be this coming Sunday (27 March).
  The full moon will pass through the Earth's shadow, creating a penumbral lunar eclipse that can be seen on Wednesday across a large section of North and South America, the Pacific basin, eastern Asia and Australia. The NASA Eclipse Page has particulars of this lunar eclipse.
• Marine and tropical weather statements -- This week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth identifies those National Weather Service Forecast Centers that monitor the weather, prepare weather forecasts, and issue event-specific warnings or advisories for marine and coastal interests. The terminology used to identify the particular warnings, watches and advisories for marine interests and for tropical weather events is also discussed.

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week several tropical cyclones were found in the ocean basins of the Southern Hemisphere, where autumn has begun::
• In the South Indian Ocean basin, a tropical storm developed by early last Wednesday nearly 900 miles to the east-southeast of Diego Garcia. This tropical storm, which was named Emeraude, quickly intensified into a major category 4 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled to the west-northwest and then to the east and east-southeast. Maximum sustained surface winds reached 140 mph and sea wave heights approached 30 feet. As of late Sunday (local time) Emeraude was located approximately 1100 miles to the the east-southeast of Diego Garcia, as it was heading to the south-southeast. Current forecasts have Emeraude curving to the southwest and weaken by the midpoint of this upcoming week. See the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite images on Cyclone Emeraude.
  
• In the western sections of the South Pacific basin, Tropical Storm 16P developed during the middle of last week over the Gulf of Carpentaria offshore of Australia's Mornington Island. However, this tropical storm was short-lived as it traveled to the southeast and dissipated as it made landfall along the southwestern coast of Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia in less than one day after formation. Satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm 16P appear on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  
• Learning about marine debris from the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami -- As the fifth anniversary of the massive magnitude 9 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Japan's Tōhoku and subsequent tsunami approaches, the officials from the US, Canada and Japan continue to address the marine debris problem that was exacerbated by the estimated 5 million tons of marine debris generated by that tsunami. The Director of the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the lead US federal agency that is tackling this marine debris problem, has written a blog that describes the response and lessons learned from one of the far reaching consequences of this disaster. [NOAA News] A separate NOAA article entitled "What is marine debris?" describes the movement of marine debris, its threats and what can be done to help.
• Federal agencies collaborate to combat harmful algal blooms -- In a blog posted last week for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Assistant Administrator of NOAA's National Ocean Service, the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water and the Director of the National Ocean Council explained how NOAA along with 12 other federal agencies are working to improve research and communications about the risks of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, in the nation's waters. [NOAA News]
• New oceanography satellite detects El Niño event while mapping ocean heights -- During the last week the first complete map was released that displayed the global sea surface height generated from data collected over a 10-day span in mid-February by the new U.S./European Jason-3 satellite. The data collected by this satellite that was launched in January 2016 appears to correspond well with sea height data collected by its predecessor, Jason 2, which was launched in June 2008. Consequently, Jason 3 continues the record of sea surface height measurements made by satellites that was begun in 1992. The first global sea level map made by the Jason 3 mission also shows a distinct El Niño signal across the eastern equatorial Pacific associated with the current strong El Niño event. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Feature]
• New information to be discussed on US Navy tug that sank in 1921 -- On this coming Wednesday morning, officials from NOAA and the U.S. Navy will meet in Washington, DC to discuss recent findings concerning the mystery of the Navy tug USS Conestoga, which disappeared with 56 crew members on board in 1921 as it was steaming from Mare Island, CA to Pearl Harbor, HI. [NOAA News]
• Orbiting land-use satellite spots shipwrecks in murky coastal waters -- Researchers from Belgium, Flanders and Northern Ireland have been using data collected by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) onboard the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite to locate previously unknown shipwrecks that are submerged in shallow coastal waters. Locating these wrecks has entailed the researchers detecting sediment plumes that appear to extend as far as 4 kilometers downstream from these shallow shipwreck sites. Many of the shipwrecks that may be located by satellite would be those World War II-era ships that now are submerged in the North Atlantic and the North Sea. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
• Bronze bell from Japanese mega submarine recovered off Oahu -- The Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) recovered a bronze bell from the "Sen-Toku" class I-400, a World War II-era Imperial Japanese Navy mega-submarine, during a test dive slightly more than one week ago off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The bell, which was retrieved by the HURL's human-occupied submersibles, Pisces IV and Pisces V, has been lost since 1946 when the submarine was intentionally sunk by U.S. forces after its capture. [University of Hawai'i News]
• CORAL mission studies conditions of Earth's coral reefs -- NASA is beginning its planned three-year COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) mission that is a field expedition using advanced instruments on airplanes and in the water to survey the world's coral reefs in more detail than previously done. Entire reef systems in Florida, Hawaii, Palau, the Mariana Islands and Australia will be studied by the CORAL mission. The Portable Remote Imaging Spectrometer (PRISM), which was developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will be one of the airborne instruments used. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Feature]
• Ocean acidification has impact on California coast at night -- Scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of California Davis and the University of California Santa Cruz recently reported on their measurements made in tidal pools along the California coast. They warn that ocean acidification due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations associated with human activity will increasingly place many marine organisms at risk by exacerbating normal changes in ocean chemistry that occur during the overnight hours. They found that the most-vulnerable organisms are likely to be those with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons. [Carnegie Institution for Science Explore Our Science]
• Evaluating the global impact of bottom trawling -- Researchers from the US and Germany have developed a new, universal approach to calculate the amount of sediment that is resuspended into the ocean from bottom trawling. This approach gives marine management a new and important tool to assess the impact from bottom trawling. [USGS Newsroom]
• Large section of Northeast coast may be able to adapt to rising seas -- Researchers from the US Geological Survey, Columbia University's Earth Institute and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies report that their projections generated from a new version of an inundation model indicate that 70 percent of the Northeast Atlantic Coast is more likely to change than to simply drown in response to rising seas during the next seven decades. [USGS Newsroom]
• Review of global weather and climate for February 2016 -- Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have determined that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for February 2016 was 1.21 Celsius degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) average, which was not only the highest February temperature since comprehensive global climate records began in 1880, but also the largest temperature departure on record for any month. February 2016 represents the tenth consecutive month a monthly global temperature record has been broken. Individually, the global ocean surface temperature for this past month was the highest in the 137-year period of record, as was the average global land surface temperature for February 2016.
  Furthermore, the three-months running from December 2015 through February 2016 that constitute meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere (and meteorological summer in the Southern Hemisphere) had the highest three-month average combined global temperature for any such interval since 1880/81. The Northern Hemisphere experiencing its warmest winter for both land and ocean, while the Southern Hemisphere had its warmest summer. Individually, both the global land surface temperature and the global ocean surface temperatures for these last three months were the highest on record. [State of the Climate/NCEI]
  According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Arctic sea ice was the smallest monthly extent for any February since satellite surveillance began in 1979. Furthermore, the Arctic sea ice extent appeared to have reached its annual maximum extent during late February 2016 ahead of the typical peak extent in mid-March. This size would represent the lowest maximum seasonal extent in the satellite-era. Sea ice extent around Antarctica was the sixth smallest February sea ice extent on record.
  The extent of the Northern Hemisphere snow cover during February 2016 was the third smallest for the period of record that started in 1967. [NOAA/NCEI Global Snow & Ice]
  NCEI also provides a map showing the Global Significant Weather and Climate Events map for February 2016.
  A global map of the global mean surface temperature anomalies for February 2016 is available. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) produced a graph of the monthly temperature anomalies for each month since 1980. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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]

Concept of the Week: Loss of Louisiana's Coast

According to the Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force, Louisiana has been losing its coastal wetlands (bayous, marshes, and swamps) to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate of about 65 to 100 square km (25 to 38 square mi) per year for the past several decades. This loss adversely affects fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and makes the coastal zone more vulnerable to storm surges such as that produced by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Since the early 1930s, the state's coastal wetlands have shrunk by an area equivalent to the state of Delaware. According to USGS estimates, an additional 1800 square km (700 square mi) could be lost by mid-century. The price tag for reversing this trend, restoring some marshes, and protecting the remaining 15,000 square km (5800 square mi) of wetlands could top $14 billion and take decades to complete. Many people argue that the value of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is well worth the expense.

As much as 75% of the fish and other marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico depend on Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetlands are a nursery for commercially important catches of shrimp, crawfish, blue crab, and oysters. It is a food source for larger fish including yellow fin tuna, red snapper, and swordfish. In 2003, about three-quarters of the nation's fish and shellfish catch by weight came from Louisiana's waters. In addition, the wetlands are a stopover for millions of birds migrating between North and Central/South America. Furthermore, wetlands and associated barrier islands protect the ports, buildings, and other coastal zone structures from storm surges. Wetlands are particularly important in buffering the levees surrounding New Orleans, much of which is below sea level.

Many factors contribute to the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. Thousands of kilometers of pipelines transporting oil and natural gas through the marshes plus the extensive network of navigation channels allow saltwater to intrude the wetlands. Increased salinity of the originally fresh or brackish waters kill wetland grasses, shrubs, and other vegetation that anchor soil in place. The canals also allow tidal currents to flow farther inland, accelerating erosion of wetland soils. The most important factor, however, is the consequence of flood control structures (levees) constructed along the banks of the Mississippi River. Levees constrict the flow of the river so that waters and suspended sediment discharge rapidly into the Gulf. Deprived of a continuous input of sediments and vegetation-supporting nutrients, existing sediments compact, wetlands subside and Gulf waters invade the wetlands. With the anticipated continued rise in sea level due to global climate change (discussed in Chapter 12 of your textbook), erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetland may accelerate in the future.

Plans to reverse the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands (the Coast 2005 plan and the Louisiana Coastal Area plan) seek to restore the structure and function of coastal wetlands. One proposal is to breach some levees along the lower Mississippi. This partial diversion of the Mississippi would increase the supply of sediments to the wetlands. Closing or installing locks on some navigation canals would reduce saltwater intrusion. In addition, dredged sediment would be used to re-build wetlands and restore barrier islands.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The most important factor contributing to erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is [(saltwater intrusion)(levees along the banks of the Mississippi River)].
2. Global climate change that is accompanied by a rise in sea level is likely to [(accelerate)(have no effect on)] the rate of erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetlands.

Historical Events:

• 22 March 1778...Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy sighted Cape Flattery, in present day Washington State.
• 22 March 1999...Tropical Cyclone Vance produced Australia's highest measured wind speed of 166 mph at Learmonth, West Australia. Gusts reaching 185 mph were estimated in the eyewall in the Exmouth Gulf. All homes in the village of Exmouth were either damaged or destroyed. The storm surge was greater than 15 ft, and as much as 12" of rain fell. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (National Weather Service files)
• 24 March 1955...The first seagoing oil drill rig (for drilling in over 100 feet of water) was placed in service by the U.S. company C.G. Glasscock Drilling Co. The rig was able to drive piles with a force of 827 tons and pull a pile with the force of 942 tons. (Today in Science History)
• 24 March 1989...The tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef in Prince William Sound, AK, spilling 10.1 million gallons of crude oil, resulting in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Coast Guard units responded and prevented the entire cargo from spilling, cleaned up the oil which did spill, and conducted an investigation into the causes of the accident. The spill provided the impetus for the passage of the Oil Protection Act in 1990. (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
• 25 March 2000...A rouge wave near Shelter Cove, CA swept a lady from a Canadian school group into the ocean. Four members of the group tried to rescue her, but were overcome by the waves and currents. A fishing vessel and the US Coast Guard rescued two of the rescuers. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 26 March 1845...Joseph Francis of New York City patented a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat. (Today in Science History)
• 26 March 1946...The International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended during World War II. (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
• 26-28 March 2004…The first ever confirmed hurricane in the South Atlantic Ocean, named Catarina, struck the coast of the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul with heavy rains and winds, before dissipating over land late on the 28th. (The Weather Doctor)
• 27 March 1513...Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida (and the continent of North America) for the first time, mistaking it for another island. (Wikipedia)
• 27 March 1827...At the age of 18, Charles Darwin submitted his first report of an original scientific discovery to the Plinian Society in Edinburgh, Scotland. Darwin had made several discoveries about the biology of tiny marine organisms found along the Scottish coast. (Today in Science History)
• 27 March 1899...The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
• 27 March 1930...The first US radio broadcast was made from a ship at sea.
• 27-28 March 1964...The most powerful earthquake in US history, the Good Friday Earthquake, rocked south central Alaska, killing 125 people and causing $311 million in property damage, especially to the city of Anchorage. The earthquake in Prince William Sound, which had a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale, caused some landmasses to be thrust upward locally as high as 80 feet, while elsewhere land sank as much as 8 feet. This earthquake and submarine landslides also created a tsunami that also produced extensive coastal damage. A landslide at Valdez Inlet in Alaska generated a tsunami that reached a height of 220 feet in the inlet. A major surge wave that was approximately 100 ft above low tide caused major damage to Whittier (where 13 died) and other coastal communities in Alaska. The first wave took more than 5 hours to reach the Hawaiian Islands where a 10-foot wave was detected, while a wave that was 14.8 feet above high tide level traveled along portions of the West Coast, reaching northern California 4 hours after the earthquake. Nearly 10,000 people jammed beaches at San Francisco to view the possible tsunami, but no high-amplitude waves hit those beaches. Tsunami damage reached Crescent City in northern California. Tens of thousands of aftershocks indicated that the region of faulting extended a distance of about 600 miles. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center was established because of this disaster, with a mission to warn Alaskan communities of the threat from tsunamis. [See the 1964 Prince William Sound Tsunami page from the University of Washington.] (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
• 27 March 1980...Waves to 20 feet and winds to 58 mph in the North Sea southwest of Stavanger, Norway led to the collapse of an oil rig accommodation platform. The deaths of 123 of the 212 people on the platform were the world's worst drilling catastrophe. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.,
email hopkins@aos.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2016, The American Meteorological Society.