WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

15-19 July 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.

Item of Interest:

Hurricane awareness week in New England -- During week of 15-19 July 2013, four of the five New England States will observe Hurricane Awareness Week. The fifth state, Vermont, recognizes Hurricane Flooding Awareness Day on Tuesday, 16 July 2013.
Zenithal Sun --Residents of Honolulu will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead late this week (15-17 Jul). This occurrence of a zenithal sun is one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The other time when Oahu experienced a zenithal sun was in late May. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week, tropical cyclone activity continued in the North Atlantic and North Pacific basins:

In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Chantal formed over the tropical North Atlantic well to the north of the coast of Brazil at the start of last week. Traveling to the west, this third-named tropical cyclone of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season moved into the eastern Caribbean Sea after passing the Lesser Antilles. At that time, Tropical Storm Chantal had reached its maximum intensity. Continuing to the west across the Caribbean, Chantal passed to Puerto Rico and eventually weakened to a remnant low to the south of Haiti. By late in the week this remnant low was affecting the weather across the southern Bahamas. For additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Chantal, refer to the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the eastern North Pacific basin, former Hurricane Erick continued to weaken early last week as this tropical storm traveled to the northwestward off the coast of western Mexico. By midweek, Erick had weakened to a tropical depression as it was off the southwestern coast of the Baja California Peninsula. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on former Hurricane Erick.
In the western North Pacific basin, a tropical depression developed at the start of last week over the waters of the western Pacific near the Mariana Islands. Traveling toward the west, this tropical depression quickly intensified into a tropical storm and then to a typhoon, which was identified as Typhoon Soulik. Turning gradually toward a west-northwest direction, Soulik intensified to become a super-typhoon as maximum sustained surface winds reached 140 mph; equivalently, Soulik was rated as a category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. By the end of the week, Super-typhoon Soulik had weakened slightly before passing across the northern sections of Taiwan, where at least two people died. Winds reached 86 mph on this island nation and some locations received between 27 and 31 inches of rain due to Soulik. On Saturday, this system had quickly weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical disturbance as it made landfall along the coast of southeastern China. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Typhoon Soulik.

New website tool to keep energy users informed during hurricane season -- The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently unveiled a new website tool designed to keep the public and other energy users informed of the status of the nation's energy infrastructure and the impact of a tropical cyclone during the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. Interactive maps are available from this website that combine real-time data from the National Hurricane Center with more than 20 map layers showing the nation's energy infrastructure and resources [US Energy Information Administration]
Proposal made to open long-time closure areas for New England groundfisheries -- During the last week NOAA Fisheries announced a proposal that would open approximately one third of the areas off the New England coast that have been off limits to fishing for groundfish for nearly 20 years. The nearly 20-year closure had been designed to protect groundfish and habitat. The new proposal includes protective safeguards designed to protect habitat and vulnerable species. [NOAA News]
Algal bloom seen off Iceland -- An image obtained last week from the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows a large phytoplankton bloom in the coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean off Iceland. The swirls in this bloom show the mixing of ocean waters associated with a branch of the Gulf Stream and cold Arctic currents. [NASA Earth Observatory]
New coral growth measuring approach provides valuable management tool -- US Geological Survey (USGS) researchers developed a new and more sensitive weight-based approach for monitoring coral growth, which appears to provide a better method for determining the status of coral reefs. This weight-based approach that involves determining the amount of calcification by the coral provides greater resolution than traditional linear measurements of coral growth. Surprising coral growth patterns were found in the Florida Keys, where colonies of the Massive Starlet coral calcified nearly 50 percent faster in the Dry Tortugas National Park at the west end of the Florida Keys compared with other sites in the upper and middle Keys. [USGS Newsroom]
Large iceberg calves from an Antarctic glacier -- During the last week images obtained from the European Earth-observing satellite confirmed that a large iceberg with a size that was nearly one-quarter that of Rhode Island broke off Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier. The 280-square-mile ice island broke along a rift in this glacier that was discovered in October 2011 during NASA's Operation IceBridge flights over Antarctica. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Large subglacial water system found under West Antarctic glacier -- Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics have used ice-penetrating radar to accurately image the vast subglacial water system under West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. They found that a large "swamp-like" canal system under the ice is several times larger than the canal system in Florida's Everglades. [University of Texas at Austin News]
Variations in sea level found around the globe -- NOAA's National Ocean Service identifies the differences between local sea level and global sea level and supplies a link to the "Sea Levels Online" page that provides access to sea level data collected by the tide stations of the National Water Level Observation Network operating on all US coasts. Trends in sea level is critical information concerning the impacts of the Earth's climate on our ocean and atmosphere. [NOAA National Ocean Service]
Length of day affected by processes in Earth's core -- Researchers at the United Kingdom's University of Liverpool have found that one to 10-year periodic variations in the length of day between 1962 and 2012 appear to be caused by dynamic processes in the Earth's fluid core, in addition to the small fluctuations due to those factors such as wind pressure upon mountain ranges. They suggest that the Earth's rotation has been slowing over time, with the length of the day being 21 hours approximately 300 million years ago. At that time, the year contained approximately 450 days. [University of Liverpool News]
US stream health reduced by streamflow modifications and contaminants -- A report, entitled "The quality of our Nation's waters--Ecological health in the Nation's streams, 1993-2005" was recently released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and describes how the health of the nation's streams is being degraded by streamflow modifications and the increased levels of nutrients and pesticides that are associated with human activity. This comprehensive report included assessments of multiple biological communities as well as streamflow modifications and measurements of over 100 chemical constituents in water and streambed sediments. [USGS Newsroom]
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]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

15-16 July 1916...A dying South Atlantic Coast storm produced torrential rains in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Altapass, NC was drenched with 22.22 inches of rain, a 24-hour rainfall record for the Tarheel State, and at the time, a 24-hour record for the U.S. (The current 24-hour rainfall record for the US is 43 inches set 25-25 July 1979 at Alvin, TX). Flooding resulted in considerable damage, particularly to railroads. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
17 July 1858...The U.S. sloop Niagara departed Queenstown, Ireland to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. (Naval Historical Center)
17 July 1994...The Polar Sea departed from Victoria, BC on operation Arctic Ocean Section 1994 and became the first U.S. surface vessel to reach the North Pole. She then transited the Arctic Ocean back to her home port in Seattle, WA. (USCG Historian's Office)
17 July 1998...A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroyed 10 villages in Papua, New Guinea killing an estimated 1500 people, leaving 2000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless. (Wikipedia)
18 July 1986...Videotapes, taken by the deep-sea Alvin submersible, showing SS Titanic's remains were released. Looking like huge stalagmites, rusticles ("rust icicles") are a byproduct of the bacteria slowly converting the iron in the hull. The colony of iron-eating bacteria flourishes in the anaerobic (without oxygen) environment inside the hollow multi-layered rusticles while on the outside, porous layers support oxygen-dependent bacteria. In this eerie way, there is still life on the Titanic as the ship lies deep on the ocean floor. (Today in Science History)
18-19 July 1979...A 30-foot high tsunami wave leveled four Indonesian villages on the Sunda Islands during the night. The wave swept 1500 feet inland, causing 589 deaths among the sleeping villagers. A landslide from Mount Werung (Lomblen Island) caused the tsunami. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18-22 July 1997...Hurricane Danny, the only hurricane that made landfall in the continental US in 1997, moved inland into coastal Alabama at a snails pace. Radar storm total estimates of 43 inches over Mobile Bay. A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell on 19-20 July at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19 July 1843...The first all-metal liner, the SS Great Britain, was launched from Bristol, England. Designed by I. K. Brunel, the SS Great Britain was the first of the great steamships. She was the world's first screw-propeller driven (and first iron-hulled) steamship to cross the Atlantic (1845). The six-masted, single-screw, 3,270-ton vessel is 322 feet in length overall and carried a crew of 130 including 30 stewards for her 360-seat dining room. As the world's biggest ship of the time, she embarked on a varied career, first as a luxury liner carrying passengers to New York and Melbourne, then as a ferry carrying troops to the Crimea and India, and finally as a cargo ship, before being abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886. She was brought back to Bristol on this day in 1970, where she is now being restored by volunteers to her original appearance at the Great Western Dock in which she was built. (Today in Science History)
19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
19 July 1897...LT Robert E. Peary, USN, departed on a year long Arctic Expedition that made many important discoveries, including one of largest meteorites, Cape York. (Naval Historical Center)
19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category-5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)
20 July 1964...Four Navy divers entered Project SEALAB I capsule moored 192 feet on the ocean floor off Bermuda for an 11-day experiment. On the 22^nd they submerged and then surfaced on 31 July 1964. (Naval Historical Center)
20 July 1985...Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank approximately 40 miles off the coast of Key West, FL, in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver ingots. (InfoPlease.com)