WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

27-31 May 2013

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 2 September 2013. 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 Friday (31 May 2013), 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 next Saturday, 1 June. In the Eastern North Pacific basin, the hurricane season began on 15 May. The season will run until 30 November 2013 in both basins. NOAA has declared the week of 26 May-1 June 2013 to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.
GOES-15 covers for GOES-13 -- Late last Tuesday (Eastern Time), NOAA's GOES-13 satellite, which is also known as GOES-East as its primary view is of the eastern two-thirds of the nation and the Atlantic basin, lost its ability to keep its sensors pointed toward Earth. NOAA engineers were able to quickly place the agency's NOAA's GOES-15 satellite (or GOES-West) into a mode that would permit continued coverage of the weather across the continental United States without interruption. The European Metosat-10 satellite will provide coverage across the Atlantic basin. The backup satellite GOES-14 has resumed the area of coverage provided by GOES-13 as of this past Friday. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]

CIMSS Blog, Space Science and Engineering Center

Redesigned climate website unveiled to build a "climate-smart nation" -- NOAA officials announced this past week that they have unveiled a redesigned Climate.gov website that includes expanded content and simplifying access to new data tools, imagery and educational resources. This site is meant to be a one-stop resource containing climate data from NOAA and other federal agencies. The new tools include the Global Climate Dashboard and the Integrated Map Application.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- No organized tropical cyclones were found across any of the globe's ocean basins during the last week.
Hurricane outlooks issued -- In anticipation of the start of Hurricane Awareness Week, scientists with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center released their outlooks for the upcoming hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, the eastern Pacific and central Pacific Basins:

For the North Atlantic basin, the outlook indicates an active hurricane season in 2013. Specifically, the outlook calls for a 70-percent chance that the basin could experience 13 to 20 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms with sustained surface winds of at least 39 mph). These numbers would exceed the long-term average of 12 named tropical cyclones per year in the North Atlantic, which includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Of these 13 to 20 named systems, seven to eleven hurricanes could develop, of which three to six could become major hurricanes (Category 3 hurricanes or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale). Based upon long-term averages, six hurricanes normally form during each year. Three of these hurricanes typically become major hurricanes. The forecasters anticipate a very active Atlantic hurricane season because of a combination of three factors favoring tropical cyclone development: warmer than average sea surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; a summer and early autumn in which an El Niño event was not expect to develop that would suppress Atlantic hurricane formation; and a continuation of the 18-year long atmospheric climate pattern that includes a strong west African monsoon which appears responsible for an ongoing era of highly active Atlantic hurricane seasons. NOAA will issue an updated outlook for the Atlantic hurricane season in early August, just before the historical peak of the season. [NOAA News]
An image of the sea-surface temperature anomalies (differences between observed and long-term average temperatures) made from data collected by NOAA/NASA satellites late last week shows above average temperatures across the eastern tropical Atlantic, a breeding ground for tropical cyclones. [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
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 the formation of between 11 and 16 named tropical cyclones, with five to eight hurricanes. One to four major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) were also envisioned. These anticipated numbers compare with the 45-year average of 15 named tropical cyclones per year that include eight hurricanes and as many as four major hurricanes. [Note: Tropical Storm Alvin, the season’s first named storm, developed on 15 May, the first day of the official eastern North Pacific hurricane season.] The forecasters point to two climate factors that would keep projected numbers in 2013 below the long-term average: a continuation of the climate pattern, which began in 1995, responsible for the current era of low hurricane activity in the eastern Pacific and to the anticipated continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions, with near or slowly below average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. [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 a better than even chance (70 percent) of below normal activity. They called for one to three tropical cyclones to affect the central North Pacific in 2013, either forming with in the basin or entering it from the Eastern Pacific. 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. The forecasters claim that the anticipated continuation of neutral ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) conditions coupled with the continuation of low activity in the Central Pacific Basin that began more than 15 years ago. [NOAA News]
For comparison, Phil Klotzbach and Bill Gray at Colorado State University released a forecast of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season in early April that also called for an active season. They envision 18 named tropical cyclones, of which nine could reach hurricane status. As many as four 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 2013 Atlantic hurricane season that estimates between 10 and 18 named tropical cyclones could form, with a most likely value of 14. The forecasters feel that 4 and 14 hurricanes could form, with 9 being the most likely value. They base their estimates on the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, which measures the number of storms and their combined strength.

Free nautical charts for recreational boating available with new mobile app -- NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has made available to the public a new mobile application (or app) called "MyNOAACharts" that allows users to download NOAA nautical charts and editions of the U.S. Coast Pilot for free. Currently this app is in the beta test phase and is only designed for Android tablets for the testing period, which will expire on Labor Day (2 September 2013). MyNOAACharts has GPS built-in capabilities that allow users find their positions either on water or land upon a NOAA nautical chart. [NOAA News]
National oil pollution threat from shipwrecks examined --NOAA officials recently presented a report to the US Coast Guard that details the oil pollution threat to the nation's coastal marine resources posed by 36 sunken vessels found along US seafloor. Some of these vessels sank over a century ago. The report recommended further assessment of 17 vessels, with potential removal of fuel oil and oil cargo. [NOAA News]
Global temperatures for April 2013 reviewed -- Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center report that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for April 2013 was approximately 0.94 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) average, making the month the 13th highest for any April since global climate records began in 1880. While many locations across Greenland, southern Europe, central Asia, Far East Russia southwestern Australia and southern Argentina experienced above average April temperatures, below average temperatures were reported across North America, northern and western Europe, northeastern Asia, central South America, and most of equatorial Africa. The scientists also reported that when considered separately, the average land temperature was the 17th highest for any April since 1880, while the temperature over the oceans tied 2001 and 2009 for the ninth highest April temperature. Although sea-surface temperatures for the month were generally above average, neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean resulted in sea surface temperatures that were below average in the far eastern equatorial Pacific. Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center indicated that the average Arctic sea ice extent was the seventh smallest monthly April extent on record, while the Antarctic sea ice extent was the fifth largest April Antarctic sea ice extent on record. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
Historic ocean data collected by Challenger expedition reveals climate change -- Researchers from Australia's University of Tasmania and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have combined measurements of ocean temperatures made at various depths by the HMS Challenger during its oceanographic expedition in the early 1870s with modern observations obtained from the international Argo array of ocean profiling floats. These two data sets were used in state-of-the-art climate models to see how the world's oceans have changed since the Challenger voyage. The researchers claim that warming of Earth can be clearly detected since 1873, with the ocean absorbing the majority of the heat. They also mention that thermal expansion of sea water caused by global warming contributed about 40 percent of the total sea level rise seen in tide gauges from 1873 to 1955, with the remaining 60 percent was likely to have come from the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
Sensors for new seafaring satellite sent to France -- During the previous week, three instruments built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA that are integral components of the next series of U.S./European ocean altimetry satellites have arrived in France for integration with their Jason-3 spacecraft. The three instruments are a microwave radiometer and two location-finding systems. The Jason-3 satellite, which is scheduled to be launched in 2015 launch, will extend the two-decade series of satellites that track global sea level changes and enable more accurate weather, ocean and climate forecasts. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
Future tropical rainfall patterns pondered -- Researchers from of the University of Hawaii and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution analyzed various proxy records of rainfall patterns back to the last Ice Age approximately 26,000 years ago and compared their climate reconstruction with numerical climate simulations from 12 different mathematical climate models. The researchers found that only one of these computer models reproduced rainfall patterns similar to those found from geological evidence. They are concerned about the ability of most of the climate models to simulate tropical climate change. Possible shortcomings in the models could involve the handling convection and the modeling of the region in Indonesia including the submerged Sunda Shelf. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
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)