WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

4-8 July 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:

• Weather in Philadelphia for the 4th of July 1776--This Monday is the 4th of July or Independence Day. Sean Potter, a consulting meteorologist who has an interest in history, wrote an article four years ago that describes the weather observations made during July 1776 in Philadelphia by Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. [Weatherwise Magazine] Have a happy and safe 4th of July! EJH
• Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2016 Campaign is underway -- The seventh in the series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2016 will continue through Wednesday, 6 July. 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 (Hercules in the Northern Hemisphere and Scropius 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 28 July-6 August 2016. [GLOBE at Night]
• Way out there!...The earth reaches aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun during the midday hours of today (officially at 1624Z on Monday,4 July 2016, which is equivalent to 12:24 PM EDT or 11:24 AM CDT, etc.). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,089,000 km, or 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year during the afternoon of 2 January 2016. [US Naval Observatory]
• A view of the International Space Station from above -- A sequence of images made by NASA's Landsat 8 satellite, orbiting Earth at an altitude of approximately 438 miles shows a brief glimpse of the International Space Station orbiting below the Landsat 8 satellite at an altitude of 250 miles. [NASA Earth Observatory]

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity was found across the northern Indian Ocean and in the North Pacific Ocean basins during the last week:
• In the North Indian Ocean basin Tropical Storm 2A formed at the start of last week over the waters of the Arabian Sea nearly 300 miles to the southwest of Karachi, Pakistan. However, this minimal tropical storm was relatively short-lived, weakening to a tropical depression approximately 285 miles east of Masirah Island, Oman and then dissipating less that 48 hours after formation. During its life, this tropical storm traveled generally to the west and southwest, accompanied by locally heavy rainfall rates. Satellite images and information concerning Tropical Storm 2A appear in the NASA Hurricane Page.
• In the eastern North Pacific basin, a tropical depression formed approximately 700 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula near the end of last week. By mid-Saturday morning, this tropical depression had strengthened to Tropical Storm Agatha, the first named tropical cyclone of 2016 for the eastern North Pacific. Over this past weekend, Tropical Storm Agatha continued to the west-northwest, traveling away from the coast of Mexico. As of Sunday afternoon, Tropical Storm Agatha was slightly more than 1000 miles to the west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas as it traveled toward the west-northwest. Gradual weakening of Agatha was anticipated during the early part of the week as it was forecast to travel westward.
  The second tropical depression to form during the week in the eastern North Pacific developed approximated 600 miles to the south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico on Saturday evening and intensified to become Tropical Storm Blas during the predawn hours of Sunday. As of Sunday afternoon, Tropical Storm Blas was continuing to strengthen as it traveled toward the west-northwest, roughly 665 miles to the southwest of Manzanillo. Current forecasts indicated that Blas could strengthen and become a hurricane on Monday of this week and potentially a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) on Tuesday.
  
• In the western North Pacific Ocean basin, Tropical Storm Nepartak formed during the past weekend in the waters south of Guam in the Mariana Islands. Nepartak represents the first named tropical cyclone of the 2016 North Pacific typhoon season and its development marks one of the latest times that a first named cyclone has formed in that basin. As of early Monday (local time), this tropical storm was located nearly 200 miles to the south-southwest of Guam. Current forecasts indicate Nepartak could intensify to become a typhoon early this upcoming week as it was expected to travel to the northwest toward the coastal waters of China.
• NOTE: Additional information and satellite images focusing on Tropical Storms Agatha, Blas and Nepartak will be posted on the NASA Hurricane Page early this week. EJH
• Regional fishery council appointments for 2016 announced -- Early last week the US Department of Commerce announced the appointment of 19 members to three-year terms on the nation's eight regional fishery management councils that partner with NOAA Fisheries Service to manage ocean fish stocks. The eight regional councils have 72 appointed members and some of this year's appointments will be new to these councils, while others are returning members. The terms for the recently appointed members begins on 11 August 2016. [NOAA Fisheries News]
• National archive of surface marine observations is updated -- Within the last week officials with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) unveiled the latest update to its International Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set Release 3.0 (ICOADS R3.0), which incorporates additional data and metadata. ICOADS now represents the most complete archive of surface marine meteorological and oceanographic observations, spanning five centuries and containing data from a variety of sources including observations from ships, moored buoys and surface drifters. For the first time, near-surface variables such as salinity, nutrients and dissolved carbonate chemistry are also included. The collected ICOADS data will be used in gridded analyses of sea surface temperature. [NOAA NCEI News]
• Meeting shark experts -- As part of the recent celebration of Shark Week, interviews were conducted with six NOAA Fisheries shark scientists about their work and interests concerning various shark species. [NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office Feature]
• New panel established to guide sustained National Climate Assessment -- Last week NOAA officials announced appointment of 15 members to Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, a new committee that will advise NOAA on sustained climate assessment activities and products across the nation, including engagement of stakeholders. In addition, NOAA will ensure that the committee's advice will be provided to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for use by the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). Members of this new advisory committee include experts in physical and social sciences, communication and education.[NOAA Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research News]
• Citizen scientists help observe sea ice conditions at North Pole -- Adventure travelers who pay their way to cruise on a ship to the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole over the last several years have been helping polar scientists collect sea ice data in the Arctic Ocean. These data have been used by a number of scientific organizations who are studying the decline in Arctic Sea Ice as it relates to global climate change. [EOS News]
• Saharan dust loads the atmosphere over Africa and surrounding waters -- NASA scientists have been monitoring the airborne dust from Africa's Sahara Desert from data collected by satellites. One satellite image of the aerosol loading was made from data collected slightly more two weeks ago by the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite onboard the NOAA-NASA Suomi-NPP satellite. Nearly simultaneously, a natural-color image of a section of the west coast of Africa, the eastern tropical Atlantic and the Cape Verde Islands was obtained from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite. These images show how far the wind carries the dust out over the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• 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]

• 4 July 1687...An early experience of a tropical revolving storm was made by Captain William Dampier, whose ship survived what he called a "tuffoon" off the coast of China. In New Voyage Round the World, (published in 1697) Dampier wrote that this violent whirlwind storm had a calm central eye, and its winds moved from opposite directions as the storm moved passed. This was one of the earliest known European descriptions of a typhoon, which also presented a new understanding that storms somehow move, rather than remain stationary. During his ocean travels, he kept a detailed journal, noting native cultures, and made careful descriptions of natural history which in effect made him an early contributor to scientific exploration. (Today in Science History)
• 4 July 1840...The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer, RMS Britannia, departed from Liverpool, England bound for Halifax, NS on its first transatlantic passenger cruise. (Wikipedia)
• 4 July 1903...President Theodore Roosevelt sent the first official message over the new cable across the Pacific Ocean between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila. (Today in Science History)
• 5 July 1805...Robert FitzRoy, British naval officer, hydrographer and meteorologist, was born. He was also commanded the voyage of HMS Beagle aboard which Charles Darwin sailed around the world as the ship's naturalist. That voyage provided Darwin with much of the material on which he based his theory of evolution. FitzRoy retired from active duty in 1850 and from 1854 devoted himself to meteorology. He devised a storm warning system that was the prototype of the daily weather forecast, invented a barometer, and published The Weather Book (1863). His death on 30 April 1865 was by suicide, during a bout of depression. (Today in Science History)
• 5 July 1916...An early season hurricane produced 82-mph winds, an 11.6-foot tide, and a barometric pressure of 28.92 inches at Mobile, AL. (David Ludlum)
• 5 July 1989...Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Middle Atlantic Coast Region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to ten inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in seventy years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 6 July 1484...Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão located the mouth of the Congo River. (Wikipedia)
• 6 July 1988...The world's worst offshore accident occurred when 167 oil workers were killed by explosions and fires that destroyed the Piper Alpha drilling platform in the British sector of the North Sea.
• 7 July 1901...First three-day weather forecast issued for the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
• 7 July 1952...The liner SS United States made the fastest-ever eastbound crossing of the Atlantic of 3 days, 17 hours and 48 minutes on her maiden voyage from Nantucket Light Ship off New York's Long Island to Bishop Rock Lighthouse in western England.
• 7 July 1994...The remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto finally departed, having drowned parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida under several feet of water. Enterprise, AL recorded an incredible 21.58 inches of rain from 1-7 July. At its peak, flood waters covered a total of 900,000 acres. (National Weather Service files)
  
• 8 July 1497...The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, set sail from Lisbon, Portugal with four ships on the first direct European voyage to India, first rounding Africa's Cape of Good Hope and reaching Calicut on India's southwest coast on 20 May 1498. (Wikipedia)
• 8 July 1879...The first ship to use electric lights departed from San Francisco, CA.
• 9-10 July 1979...Hurricane Bob was born in the Gulf of Mexico, becoming the first Atlantic Hurricane to be given a male name by the 10th. It brought up to 5" to Indiana as the remnants moved across southern parts of the Hoosier State. (National Weather Service files)

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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.