WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

28 May-1 June 2012

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2012 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2012. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

Change in season -- Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the three-month span from March through May, concludes on Thursday (31 May 2012), while meteorological summer (June, July and August) will commence on the following day.
Atlantic Hurricane Season begins -- The hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin this coming Friday, 1 June. In the Eastern North Pacific basin, the hurricane season began on 15 May. The season will run until 30 November 2012 in both basins. NOAA has declared the week of 27 May-2 June 2012 to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- Tropical cyclone activity across the world's ocean basins began to increase this past week as the waters of the tropical ocean basins within the Northern Hemisphere begin to heat with the approach of boreal summer. (Tropical cyclones are low-pressure systems over tropical waters.)
In the North Atlantic Basin, Tropical Storm Alberto became a post-tropical cyclone off the South Carolina coast last Tuesday morning. Alberto was the first named tropical cyclone of 2012 in the North Atlantic, having formed early on the previous weekend, nearly two weeks prior to the start of the official Atlantic hurricane season on 1 June. Tropical Storm Alberto traveled initially to the southwest, paralleling the South Carolina and Georgia coasts at the start of last week, before reversing course and heading to the northeast. Additional information on Tropical Storm Alberto along with satellite images and a movie can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
At the start of this past weekend, a subtropical tropical cyclone formed approximately 300 miles off the South Carolina coast. This system was identified as Subtropical Storm Beryl, the second named tropical (or subtropical) cyclone of the 2012 Atlantic season. Beryl was called subtropical as it had some non-tropical characteristics, such as a pool of cold air aloft, as well as the tropical characteristics typically associated with tropical storms or hurricanes. Subtropical Storm Beryl was forecast to travel to the southwest and reach northern Florida by the Memorial Day holiday.
In the eastern North Pacific Basin, the second named tropical cyclone of 2012 in that basin formed early last week from a tropical depression that was off the southwestern coast of Mexico. Initially, this system identified as Tropical Storm Bud moved westward before turning to the northwest. Late in the week, Bud intensified to a hurricane and became a major category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled to the north-northeast toward the coast of central Mexico near Manzanillo. By early Saturday morning, the former Tropical Storm Bud degenerated into a remnant low pressure system just off the western coast of Mexico. Check the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite images on former Hurricane Bud.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Sanvu formed early last week from a tropical depression that was located near Guam. Intensifying into a typhoon, Sanvu traveled toward the north-northwest and then to the north. By the end of the week, Typhoon Sanvu, which was a category 1 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, began to turn toward the northeast as it approached Iwo To, Japan. For satellite imagery and additional information on Typhoon Sanvu, see the NASA Hurricane Page.
Hurricane outlooks issued -- Scientists with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center have released their outlooks for the upcoming hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, the eastern Pacific and central Pacific Basins last week:

For the North Atlantic basin, the outlook indicates a near normal hurricane season in 2012. Specifically, the outlook calls for a 70 percent chance that the basin could experience 9 to 15 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms), which would exceed the long-term average of 11 named tropical cyclones. Of the 9 to 15 named systems, four to eight hurricanes could develop, of which one to three could become major hurricanes (Category 3 hurricanes or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale). Based upon long-term averages,12 named tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin each season, with an average of six hurricanes that would form. Two of these hurricanes typically become major hurricanes. The forecasters anticipate a near normal Atlantic hurricane season because of a combination of factors favoring tropical cyclone development that include near average sea surface temperatures across the western tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and a continuation of the 15-year trend toward more active Atlantic hurricane seasons. On the other hand, factors that would limit tropical cyclone formation would involve strong wind shear through the lower atmosphere across the basin and lower than average sea surface temperatures in the far eastern Atlantic. [NOAA News]
For comparison, Phil Klotzbach and Bill Gray at Colorado State University released a forecast of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season in early April calling for a season with slightly below average activity as they envision 10 named tropical cyclones, of which four could reach hurricane status. Two of these hurricanes could become major hurricanes. [The Tropical Meteorology Project]
In addition, forecasters at the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office have also produced a forecast of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season that estimates between 7 and 13 named tropical cyclones, with a most likely value of 10. They base their estimates on the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, which measures the number of storms and their combined strength.
For the Eastern North Pacific basin (east of 140 degrees West longitude), the outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center suggests a near-normal hurricane season. This outlook would call for a 70 percent chance of 12 to 18 named tropical cyclones, with five to nine hurricanes. Two to five major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) were also envisioned. These anticipated numbers compare with the 45-year average of 15 named cyclones per year that include eight hurricanes and as many as four major hurricanes. The forecasters point to two competing climate factors that would keep projected numbers in 2012 close to the long-term average: increased wind shear that continue to suppress activity across the basin since 1995 and to the potential for the development of El Niño conditions during the season that would follow decrease vertical wind shear and help increase hurricane activity. [NOAA News]
For the Central North Pacific basin (between 180 degrees and 140 degrees West longitude), forecasters at NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center in collaboration with their colleagues at the Climate Prediction Center expect that the upcoming hurricane season would have an even chance (50 percent) of below normal activity. They called for two to four tropical cyclones to affect the central North Pacific in 2012, either forming with in the basin or entering it from the east. On average, four to five tropical cyclones (including tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes) travel across the basin that stretches from 140 degrees west longitude to the International Dateline. [NOAA News]

Fact sheet issued on Atlantic hurricanes and changing climate -- A new State of the Science Fact Sheet entitled "Atlantic Hurricanes, Climate Variability and Global Warming" has been posted that summarizes and assesses the relationship between Atlantic hurricanes and climate change. [NOAA Research Council]
Arctic shipping made safer with new Alaska navigation chart -- Last week, Kathryn D. Sullivan, PhD, deputy NOAA administrator and assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction formally presented Alaska officials with a new navigational chart for Kotzebue Sound in the Alaskan Arctic. This new nautical chart, which depicts depth measurements of the Sound, replaces a chart made in the late 19th century and should help make the increased Arctic shipping in these water safer. [NOAA News]
NOAA Commissioned Corps honored on 95th Anniversary -- Recently, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere addressed the 95th Anniversary Ball of the NOAA Commissioned Corps. She highlighted some of the accomplishments of this organization, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. [NOAA News]
NOAA Administrator addresses global oceans conference -- Early last week, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere, was the keynote speaker at the international Global Oceans, Climate, and Security Conference held in Boston, MA. In her address, entitled "Wealth and Health of a Nation," she highlighted the importance of several issues involving climate change and ocean acidification that could pose serious social, economic and health risks to the nation. She also described the activities that NOAA and its partners have been conducting to address these issues. [NOAA News]
Seagrass beds are vital at sequestering carbon -- Researchers from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Greece have found that coastal seagrass beds can store as much as twice the amount of carbon per unit area as the terrestrial temperate and tropical forests. The researchers claim that seagrasses are a vital part of the solution to climate change. [NSF News]
Survival of baby sea turtles could be threatened by El Niño and climate change -- Researchers at Drexel University warn that future climate conditions at beaches where the critically endangered leatherback turtles nest could adversely affect the early survival of turtle eggs and hatchlings, with their survival possibly being cut in half within the next 100 years based upon current projections from multiple climate models. The researchers also found that the turtles' hatching success was significantly correlated with weather patterns associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). [Drexel University]
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]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

28 May 1963...A cyclone killed about 22,000 people along the coast of East Pakistan.
28 May 1987...A robot probe found the wreckage of the USS Monitor off Cape Hatteras, NC. (Wikipedia)
29 May 1827...The first nautical school was opened in Nantucket, MA, under the name Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin's Lancasterian School.
29 May 1914...Shallow river fog along the St. Lawrence River approximately 185 miles from Quebec City, Quebec contributed to the collision of the CP Liner Empress of Ireland and a Norwegian coal ship, The Storstad. Although the two ships had spotted each other several minutes before the collision, altered courses and confused signals contributed to the crash. In one of the worst ship disasters in history, the liner sank in 25 minutes drowning 1024 passengers of the 1477 people on board. Only seven lifeboats escaped the rapidly sinking vessel. (The Weather Doctor) (The History Channel)
29 May 1950...A Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, RCMPV St. Roch, became the first ship to circumnavigate North America, when it arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Wikipedia)
30 May 1767...The first stone of the tower for the Charleston Lighthouse on Morris Island, SC was laid on this date. (USCG Historian's Office)
30-31 May 1997...As many as 140 people had to be rescued from rip currents off Dayton Beach Shores, FL. One man died in a rip current while trying to save his wife. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
31 May 1911...The hull of the ill-fated Titanic was launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, "Not even God himself could sink this ship." (Information Please)
31 May 1997...The Confederation Bridge, also dubbed the "Fixed Link," was officially opened, linking Canada's Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick. This 8-mile long bridge that crosses the Northumberland Strait is the longest bridge in the world that spans waters that freeze. (Wikipedia)
1-17 June 2001...The deadliest and costliest tropical storm in US history, Tropical Storm Allison, wandered westward across the tropical Atlantic and crossed over into the Pacific before reversing direction and moving back into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. On 1 June the tropical wave, which eventually evolved into TS Allison, moved into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast of Mexico after moving westward across the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean from off the west coast of Africa on 21 May. On the 2^nd, a cyclonic (counterclockwise) circulation developed to the south-southeast of Salma Cruz, Mexico, but the low-level circulation became ill defined as the system moved inland on the 3^rd over southeastern Mexico and western Guatemala. This system intensified again and eventually moved northward to the Texas Gulf Coast and then eastward to the Atlantic before turning into an extratropical storm in mid-June. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2-4 June 1986...A tropical disturbance brought flooding rains to parts of the Greater Antilles. The flooding caused 59 deaths in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. As many as 240,000 people lost their homes to this disturbance. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
3 June 1979...The world's worst oil spill occurred when an exploratory oil well, Ixtoc 1, blew out, spilling over 140 million gallons of crude oil into the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico. Although it is the largest known oil spill, it had a relatively low environmental impact. The well was finally capped in March 1980. Booms were placed along the Texas coast to protect major inlets from the oil that was carried northward by prevailing surface currents in the Gulf of Mexico. (Information Please) (Wikipedia)