WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

13-17 August 2007

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics ---
  • In the Eastern North Pacific, the sixth named tropical cyclone of the 2007 hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Flossie, formed at midweek well off the Mexican coast. As it traveled to the west, it intensified into a hurricane as it crossed 140 degrees west longitude and into the central Pacific basin. By the weekend, it had further intensified to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it moved along a projected path that should carry south of the Hawaiian Islands. [USA Today] An image from NOAA's GOES 11 satellite shows a characteristic cloud pattern and central eye surrounding Hurricane Flossie. [NOAA OSEI]
  • In the Western North Pacific, Typhoon Pabuk, the fifth typhoon of 2007 in that basin, made landfall in southern Taiwan then continued westward across South China Sea to make another landfall near Hong Kong over last weekend. Another tropical cyclone, Tropical Storm Wutip, developed in the western Pacific east of Philippines then traveled to northwest crossing Taiwan, making a second landfall on mainland China. An image from the Japanese MTSAT-II satellite at the middle of last week shows clouds associated with Tropical Storm Pabuk off the China coast east of Hong Kong and Tropical Storm Wutip approaching southern Taiwan. [NOAA OSEI]
    A new tropical cyclone, Tropical Storm Sepat, the ninth named tropical cyclone of 2007 in the western North Pacific, developed west of the Northern Marianna Islands at the start of this week and was slowly moving west with some strengthening anticipated.
• Another hurricane season outlook update -- NOAA scientists at the National Hurricane Center issued an update to their official NOAA Atlantic Hurricane Outlook late last week. This new NOAA Outlook suggests a season in the North Atlantic Basin (that includes the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico) that would be above the long-term average, but slightly less active than they anticipated in the initial outlook for this season issued in May. The number of forecasted named tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that are tropical storm or hurricane strength) in the new NOAA Outlook was reduced to between 13 and 16 from the 13 to 17 in the original May outlook. The NOAA scientists also predicted that seven to nine of these tropical cyclones could intensify into hurricanes, of which three to five could become "major" hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. For comparison, the earlier outlook had seven to ten hurricanes, with the same number of major hurricanes. The above-average activity could be associated the continuation of atmospheric and oceanic conditions associated with La Niña conditions, an ongoing signal of several decades that suggests increased tropical cyclone activity, along with above average sea surface temperatures across the basin. [NOAA News]
  This outlook follows the previous week's updated hurricane outlook by William Gray and Philip Klotzbach from Colorado State University. These forecasters also lowered the number of anticipated named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms) from 17 in their earlier forecasts to 15 named systems, eight of which could become hurricanes with four to be considered major, reaching Category 3 or higher status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, down from the nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes predicted earlier. [USA Today]
• More protection in the waters around California's Channel Islands -- NOAA officials recently have completed a network of federal water marine zones in those coastal waters of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off the southwestern California coastline that are under federal control so as to protect marine habitats and sensitive species. [NOAA News]
• Monitoring sea surface temperatures across the Pacific -- A map of the distribution of sea-surface temperature anomalies (the arithmetic difference between observed and long-term average temperature values) across the equatorial and subtropical sections of both the North and South Pacific Oceans was obtained at the start of August from data collected by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. This image shows a wide area of below-average sea surface temperatures extending westward from the South American coast, confirming the NOAA report of the development of a La Niña event. [NASA Earth Observatory] [Editor's note: A 30-day animation (QuickTime movie) shows a fine structure of instability waves in the temperature pattern develop and propagate westward across the basin. EJH]
• Unexpectedly rapid disappearance of coral reefs detected -- Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report that coral reefs across the central and western Pacific Ocean appear to be dying more rapidly than previously expected. [EurekAlert!]
• Summer lake surface temperatures on Lake Superior -- An image generated from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the lake surface temperature distribution across Lake Superior, highlighting some of the variations in water temperature caused by prevailing winds from the west that cause areas of upwelling of cold water along Minnesota's North Shore of the lake. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A hot decade foreseen -- Climate modelers at the United Kingdom's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research report that the output from their model indicates the next decade will be hot. Their model, which incorporates more data from the world's oceans, has indicated that cool ocean waters in the eastern and southern Pacific have retarded the large-scale increases in temperature during the recent decade. [USA Today]
• A big extinction event can provide a climate history lesson -- A paleobiologist at Stanford University and colleagues in the US and Asia claim that marine limestone fossil beds indicate that the Permian-Triassic extinction approximately 250 million years ago was followed by 4 million years of instability in the global carbon cycle as carbon appears to have been rapidly released due to this extinction, along with low levels of oxygen in the oceans. [EurekAlert!]
• Collapse of bluefin tuna fishery is documented -- Researchers with Census of Marine Life have described the collapse of the bluefin tuna fisheries off the coast of northern Europe in the second half of the 20th century following a rapid increase in fishing activity during the first half of the century. [EurekAlert!]
• The beach sand could be contaminated too -- A team of scientists from Stanford University caution that the high levels of microbes in seawater that result in health advisories and beach closures also are detected in the sand of the adjacent beaches. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

• 13 August 1979...Fifteen yachtsmen died and 23 boats sank or were abandoned as storm-force winds, along with high seas, raked a fleet of yachts participating in an annual race between southwestern England and Fastnet Rock off southwestern Ireland. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 August 1987...Thunderstorms deluged the Central Gulf Coast States with torrential rains. Thunderstorms in Mississippi drenched Marion County with up to 15 inches of rain during the morning hours, with 12.2 inches reported at Columbia. Floodwaters swept cars away in the Lakeview subdivision of Columbia when the Lakeview Dam broke. Flash flooding caused more than three million dollars damage in Marion County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 August 2004...Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 tropical low-pressure system on the Saffir-Simpson scale, struck the Gulf Coast of southwest Florida, making landfall north of Captiva, FL. At landfall, sustained winds of 145 mph, along with an unofficial gust of 173 mph on a medical building tower in Punta Gorda near Fort Myers. The greatest destruction occurring at Punta Gorda. Fifteen fatalities were directly attributed to the hurricane, with another 20 indirect deaths. Damage estimates were approximately $14 billion. A gust of 104 mph hit Arcadia, where a storm shelter with 1200 people inside lost a wall and part of a roof. (Wikipedia) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 15 August 1281...The Divine Wind, the Kamikaze, struck down the Chinese fleet attempting an invasion of Japan at Kyushu. This wind was likely due to a typhoon crossing the Sea of Japan. (The Weather Doctor)
• 15 August 1914...The Panama Canal was officially opened to traffic as the American ship SS Ancon completed its first transit of the canal, sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. (Wikipedia)
• 15 August 1934...After a series of earlier dives since June 1930, each progressively deeper, American zoologist William Beebe and Otis Barton made their pioneering, record-breaking ocean descent of 3028 feet in a bathysphere designed by Barton, withstanding over 1360 pounds of pressure. (Today in Science History)
• 15 August 1971...Hurricane Beth soaked Nova Scotia with up to 12 inches of rain. The deluge caused considerable crop damage and swamped highways and bridges, temporarily isolating communities on the eastern mainland of Nova Scotia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 16 August 1858...U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal would force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks. (Wikipedia)
• 17 August 1915...A hurricane hit Galveston, TX with wind gusts to 120 mph and a twelve-foot storm surge which inundated the city. The storm claimed 275 lives, including forty-two on Galveston Island, with most deaths due to drowning. Of 250 homes built outside the seawall (which was constructed after the catastrophic hurricane of 1900), just ten percent were left standing. (The Weather Channel)
• 17 August 1969...Camille, a Category 5 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) and the second worst hurricane in U.S. history, smashed into the Mississippi coast, making landfall at Pass Christian, MS with sustained winds of 190 mph and gusts well over 200 mph. The hurricane produced winds to 200 mph, and a storm surge of 24.6 feet. Winds gusted to 172 mph at Main Pass Block, LA, and to 190 mph near Bay Saint Louis, MS. The hurricane claimed 256 lives, and caused 1.3 billion dollars damage. Several ocean going ships were carried over seven miles inland by the hurricane. Complete destruction occurred in some coastal areas near the eye of the hurricane. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 18 August 1904...The Belle Isle Aquarium opened in Detroit, MI. This facility is the oldest, continuously running aquarium in America. Several other institutions opened earlier but since have closed or moved to multiple different buildings. Belle Isle Aquarium is still in its original building and site as the one in which it opened. (Today in Science History)
• 18 August 1983...Hurricane Alicia (a category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) ravaged southeastern Texas. The hurricane caused more than three billion dollars property damage, making it one of the costliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S. Just thirteen persons were killed, but 1800 others were injured. The hurricane packed winds to 130 mph as it crossed Galveston Island, created a storm surge of 12 feet and spawned twenty-two tornadoes in less than 24 hours as it made landfall. (The Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 19 August 1559...First recorded U.S. hurricane drove five Spanish ships ashore in Pensacola Harbor along the Florida coast. (Intellicast)
• 19 August 1788...A small but powerful hurricane inflicted great havoc upon forests along a narrow track from Delaware Bay northeastward across New Jersey along the coast to Maine. A similar storm track today would cause extreme disaster in the now populated area. (David Ludlum)
• 19-20 August 1969...'Never say die' Camille, an exceptionally strong hurricane that had weakened to a tropical depression as it drifted slowly across the mid-Atlantic states, let loose a cloudburst in Virginia resulting in flash floods and landslides that killed 151 persons and caused 140 million dollars damage. Massies Hill in Nelson County, Virginia received an estimated 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. This amount is an unofficial record for the state, while the official 24-hour maximum precipitation record is 14.28 inches at Williamsburg on 16 September 1999. It was said to rain so hard that birds drowned while perched on tree branches. The James and York River basins in Virginia were especially hard hit. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum) (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 19 August 1991...Hurricane Bob slammed into New England with 90 mph sustained winds and gusts of 125 mph (at Block Island, RI) and 105 mph (at Newport, RI). It made landfall first at Newport, RI and then final US landfall as a tropical storm at Rockland, ME. A storm surge of 15 feet occurred in Upper Buzzards Bay. Portland, ME had a 24-hour record rainfall of 7.83 inches. Total damage exceeded $1.5 billion dollars and 17 people were killed. This was the worst Hurricane in the Northeast since Donna in 1960. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.