WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

23-27 May 2016

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2016 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 22 August 2016. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

• Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2016 Campaign resumes -- The sixth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2016 will commence on Sunday (29 May) and continue through 7 June. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of a constellation (Bootes in the Northern Hemisphere and Crux in the Southern Hemisphere) with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The next series in the 2016 campaign is scheduled for 27 June-6 July 2016. [GLOBE at Night]
• North American Safe Boating Week -- This week of 21-27 May has been declared 2016 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2016 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• Zenithal Sun -- The noontime sun should be at the zenith or directly over the heads of those on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu (Honolulu metropolitan area) this week (25-27 May). [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]
• Hurricane season to begin in the North Atlantic -- The 2016 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Ocean basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin next Wednesday, 1 June 2016. The 2016 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific began a week ago on 15 May. The official hurricane seasons in both basins end on 30 November 2016.
• A focus on hurricanes and their impacts -- In conjunction with National Hurricane Preparedness Week (15-21 May 2016) NOAA produced a five-part feature on hurricanes that includes the topics: "hurricane forecasting"; "hurricane impacts"; "hurricane hunters"; "Atlantic hurricanes and climate"; and "what can coastal residents do to prepare?" [NOAA News]
• Change in season -- Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the three-month span from March through May, concludes next Tuesday (31 May 2016), while meteorological summer (June, July and August) will commence on the following day.
• Exploring the nation's coastal wetlands -- The NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation has posted an interactive website that is designed to help the public explore the swamps and marshes in all of the nation's coastal states and find some of the fish found in these wetlands. [NOAA Fisheries Habitat Conservation]

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week tropical cyclone activity was limited to the North Indian Ocean basin, where Tropical Storm Roanu (also known as Tropical Cyclone 1B) formed at midweek over the waters of the southwestern Bay of Bengal off the southeastern coast of India. Although Roanu developed well to the north of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), this island nation received heavy rainfall that resulted in massive and deadly landslides, with more than 70 fatalities. This tropical storm traveled to the northeast as it paralleled the coast, finally making landfall near Chittagong, Bangladesh this past Saturday. A storm surge along with heavy rainfall that was responsible for devastating flooding and mudslides resulted in more than 21 deaths and numerous injuries in coastal Bangladesh [Accuweather] The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Roamu.
• Celebrating World Fish Migration Day 2016 -- This past Saturday (21 May 2016) was World Fish Migration Day 2016. In observance of this day, NOAA Fisheries has been working to promote fish passage, restore habitat and protect migratory fish, especially salmon, river herring and sturgeon. Beginning in 2014, World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) has been celebrated every second year on the third Saturday in May as a means to raise global attention to the need for restored river connections for migrating fish to achieve healthier fish stocks and more productive rivers. [NOAA Fisheries News]
• First federal vessel visits Cuba in more than five decades -- The oceanographic research vessel, NOAA Ship Nancy Foster made a port call in Havana, Cuba on 8-10 May, making it the first US government ship to visit Cuba since reestablishment of diplomatic relations. The vessel was just starting this year's part of an ongoing study of the role ocean currents that play in the distribution of fish larvae in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. [NOAA News]
• Draft of Northeast climate science action plan released for public comment -- At the start of last week NOAA Fisheries released its draft Northeast Regional Action Plan for public comment that is meant to help guide the agency to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information required to fulfill the NOAA Fisheries mission in the US Northeast region. Public comment will be open through late July. [NOAA Fisheries News]
• Beaufort Sea Ice has early start to breakup -- A sequence of four images of the ice cover on the Beaufort Sea (to the north of Alaska and Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories) obtained during this April from the MODIS instrument on board NASA's Terra satellite were compared with corresponding images made in 2014 and 2015 by the same sensor. An ice specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center pointed to the earlier breakup of the Beaufort Sea Ice, with noticeable areas of open water this year as compared with the previous two years. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Explaining differences in sea ice behavior in polar oceans of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres -- A team of scientists from NOAA, NASA and several research universities have found that geological differences appear to be responsible for the slight increase in the sea ice cover of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, while the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is concurrently experiencing a major loss in areal extent. The team based their findings upon analysis of the physical processes and properties affecting Antarctic sea ice using satellite radar, sea surface temperature, land form and bathymetry (ocean depth) data. They found that the topography of Antarctica and the depth of the surrounding ocean were influencing winds and ocean currents, respectively, to drive the formation, evolution and maintenance of Antarctica's sea ice cover. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
• Rate of New Orleans sinking mapped by airborne radar -- Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California Los Angeles and Louisiana State University constructed a map showing the region of sinking in the New Orleans (LA) metropolitan area between June 2009 and July 2012 based upon data collected from NASA airborne radar. This new study indicates that the subsidence rates across New Orleans were generally higher than previous studies made using different radar data. Some areas upriver were sinking at rates of up to two inches per year. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News]
• Sea level air pressure data from global drifters appear crucial for marine weather forecasts -- In a recently published report, sea level air pressure data collected from surface velocity drifters deployed by NOAA's Global Drifter Program and other international partners have contributed critical information for marine weather prediction especially in regions lacking in-situ pressure measurements. These drifters are equipped with barometers and float mostly on the waters in the extratropical regions of the planet. [NOAA Climate Program Office News]
• Warm ocean waters result in extensive coral bleaching -- .... A collection of maps displaying the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (or differences in observed and long-term average temperature) made from several satellite-borne sensors shows the above average temperatures across the Earth's tropical and subtropical ocean basins in the last seven months. Some areas had recent SST values that were at least two Celsius degrees above average. The coordinator for NOAA's Coral Reef Program claimed in February that the current global coral bleaching event was the longest ever observed, while Australia's Coral Bleaching Taskforce recently reported that nearly 93 percent of that continent's Great Barrier Reef has been affected by this bleaching event. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Global temperatures for April 2016 reviewed -- Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) report that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for April 2016 was the highest for any April since comprehensive global climate records began in 1880, or 1.98 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century (1901-2000) average. Furthermore, this temperature departure was the fourth highest monthly temperature departure for all 1636 months in the 137-year period of record. The scientists also reported that when considered separately, the April 2016 temperatures over the oceans and over the land surfaces were both the highest April temperature departures on record, with a sea surface temperature that was slightly more than 1.4 Fahrenheit degrees above the 20th century average and a land temperature departure of nearly 3.5 Fahrenheit degrees above average. Record sea-surface temperatures for the month were the result of the lingering effects of the strong El Niño event earlier this year across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. The April temperatures on all six continents were within the top nine, with South America, Africa, and Asia observing a record high average temperature for April. [NOAA/NCEI State of the Climate]
  According to data from the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent for April was the smallest in the 50-year period of record.
  April sea ice extent data for the Arctic Ocean and the waters around Antarctica are unavailable from the National Snow and Ice Data Center because of issues with the sensor onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 satellite. [National Snow & Ice Data Center]
  A global map of Selected Significant Climate Anomalies and Events for April 2016 is available from NCEI.
• Satellite detects a warm April on Greenland ice sheet -- A map showing the land surface temperature anomaly (or difference between observed and the corresponding 2001-2010 average) across Greenland during the month of April 2016 based on data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite reveals that a large section of Greenland's ice sheet had monthly temperatures that were as much as 20 Celsius degrees above average. These well above-average temperatures should result in extensive surface melting of the ice sheet. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Global atmospheric carbon dioxide influence increases by 50 percent in last 25 years -- According to NOAA's 10th Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, the direct warming effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 50 percent above pre-industrial levels during the past 25 years because of human activity. The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index is a measure of the annual change in the warming influence of greenhouse gases. The global average carbon dioxide concentration reached 399 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in 2015, which represented an annual increase by a record amount of almost 3 ppmv. At the beginning of the industrial era, atmospheric carbon dioxide was approximately 278 ppmv. [NOAA News]
  (Notes: Recent monthly average carbon dioxide concentration data observed at Mauna Loa can be obtained from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory site.
  Attention is directed also to NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index. EJH)
• 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]

• 23 May 1850...The US Navy sent USS Advance and USS Rescue to attempt rescue of Sir John Franklin's expedition, lost in Arctic. (Naval Historical Center)
• 23 May 1946...Commodore Edward M. Webster, USCG, headed the U.S. Delegation to the International Meeting on Radio Aids to Marine Navigation, which was held in London, England. As a result of this meeting, the principal maritime nations of the world would make an intensive study of the World War II-developed devices of radar, LORAN, radar beacons, and other navigational aids with a view to adapt them to peacetime use. This meeting was the first time that the wartime technical secrets of radar and LORAN were generally disclosed to the public. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 23 May 1960...Tsunami waves from Chilean earthquakes the previous day began to affect the Alaska's coast along the Gulf of Alaska from Prince of Wales Island to Montague Island for as long as one week. The tsunami waves on the 23rd were up to 14 feet high near Yakutat. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) The tsunami killed killed 61 people in Hilo, HI. An additional 180 people were killed in on the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan. (National Weather Service files)
  
• 24 May 1500...The 13 ships in the fleet of Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral were hit by a huge ice storm that sank four ships. The rest of the ships were separated as they sailed south of the Cape of Good Hope and continued their journey to India.
• 24 May 1901...The relative humidity at Parkstone, Dorset in England at 4 PM was reported to be 9.5 percent. This low relative humidity is not typical of the British Islands, which are surrounded by ocean water and have no large high mountain barriers or plateaus. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 May 1951...Northeast gales generated waves to 15 feet high in the harbor of Newport, RI. A 50-ft. Navy launch with about 142 men on board capsized. Nineteen of the men drowned in the incident. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 May 1992...Winds up to 40 knots and seas to 18 feet in the northern Gulf of Alaska, approximately 30 miles southwest of Alaska's Cape Cleare, sent three waves crashing over the Cajun Mama. The 80-ft fishing boat sank, but the crew of five was rescued. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 25 May 1953...In 1953, tropical storms began being named after women. Tropical Storm Alice, which formed near Nicaragua on this date, was the first Atlantic cyclone to be named in this way. (National Weather Service files)
• 25 May 1985...The Meghna River delta in Bangladesh was hit with a tropical cyclone with winds of over 100 mph that created a 15-to 20-foot high storm surge that flooded a 400-square-mile area, mainly islands located in the mouth of the river. More than 11,000 people and 500,000 head of cattle died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless because of this cyclone.
• 26 May 1967...A slow moving nor'easter battered New England with high winds, heavy rain, and record late season snow on this day and into the 26th. Winds 70 to 90 mph in gusts occurred along the coast. Over 7 inches of rain fell at Nantucket, MA with 6.57 inches falling in 24 hours to set a new 24-hour rainfall record. Severe damage occurred along the coast from very high tides. The 24.9 inches of snow that fell at Mount Washington, NH set a new May snowfall record. Other locations in New Hampshire received 10 inches of snow near Keene and 6 inches at Dublin. (Intellicast)
• 28 May 1963...A tropical cyclone struck Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) killing 11,500 people along the coast. (National Weather Service files)
• 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)

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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.