WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

15-19 May 2017

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2017 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 21 August 2017. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Item of Interest:

Hurricane season to begin in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2017 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin begins this Monday, 15 May 2017. The hurricane season in the central North Pacific basin and the North Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin in two weeks on 1 June. The official hurricane seasons in all of these basins end on 30 November 2017.
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2017 Campaign commences -- The fifth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2017 will commence this Wednesday (17 May) and continue through Friday, 26 May. 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 (Leo 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 2017 campaign is scheduled for 16-25 June 2017. [GLOBE at Night]
Zenithal Sun -- This week marks one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents on the Big Island on about 14 May at South Cape (Ka Lae at 18.9 deg North latitude and 155.68 degrees West longitude) and on 18-19 May at Hilo; those on Oahu (Honolulu metropolitan area) will experience the noon sun at the zenith in approximately two more weeks (25-27 May). The sun will again be over the Big Island during the last week of July. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]
European Maritime Day will be observed -- The annual European Maritime Day 2017 will be observed on 18 and 19 May 2017 as part of the annual meeting of Europe's maritime community in Poole, a community on the south coast of England in the county of Dorset. The European Maritime Day, which is celebrated annually around 20 May with the aim to raise awareness of the importance of the sea among the European citizens. The European Maritime Day was established jointly by the European Council, the European Parliament and European Commission in 2008 as part of the European Union's (EU) maritime policy. The theme of this year's conference is "The Future of our Seas." The Poole Maritime Festival 2017 will run from 15-21 May, coinciding with European Maritime Day.
North American Safe Boating Week -- On this upcoming Saturday (20 May), the 2017 National Safe Boating Week will start and run through Friday, 26 May. This week helps launch the 2017 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council. In addition, Friday 19 May has been designated as "Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day", followed by "Life Jacket World Record Day" on 20 May.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- During the last week tropical cyclone activity was found in the eastern North Pacific basin of the Northern Hemisphere as well as in the western South Pacific basin of the Southern Hemisphere:

In the eastern North Pacific basin, the first tropical depression of 2017 formed last Tuesday afternoon approximately 335 miles to the south-southwest of San Salvador, El Salvador. By late that evening, this tropical depression had strengthened to become Tropical Storm Adrian, the first named tropical cyclone of the 2017 in the eastern North Pacific and also the earliest tropical storm to have formed ever in that basin during the satellite era extending back to the late 1960s. Over the next two days, Tropical Storm Adrian traveled toward the west and then to the northwest as it began to weaken. On late Wednesday evening Adrian had weakened to a tropical depression, which eventually became a remnant low on Thursday morning approximately 350 miles to the south-southeast of Salina Cruz, Mexico. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Adrian.
In western South Pacific basin, Tropical Cyclone Donna strengthened to a major category 4 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at the start of last week as it passed several hundred miles to the west-northwest of Vanuatu. During the first half of last week Cyclone Donna traveled toward the south-southeast before passing just to the east of New Caledonia, where it dissipated by early Thursday. Additional information and satellite images on Cyclone Donna can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page. A blog was posted on the NOAA Climate.gov Events Tracker site by a NOAA meteorologist describing the unusual impacts involving flooding on Vanuatu from the torrential rains that accompanied Cyclone Donna. Apparently, Donna, which became a category 4 tropical cyclone, was the strongest tropical cyclone on record for the month of May in the Southern Hemisphere. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Another named tropical cyclone, Ella, formed as a tropical storm at the midpoint of last week approximately 165 miles to the west-southwest of Pago Pago, American Samoa. During the remainder of the week and into the weekend, Ella traveled to generally toward the west-northwest as it strengthened to become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale late in the week. As of early Monday (local time), Cyclone Ella had weakened and was becoming disorganized as it was located approximately 425 miles to the north-northwest of Suva, Fiji. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite imagery and additional information on Cyclone Ella.

Temperature data collected by the bucket -- Sea surface temperature observations prior to the mid 20th century were primarily obtained from measurements of the temperatures of sea water samples collected by scientists and sailors collected from the upper 10 feet of the sea using wooden buckets. Since the mid 20th century, sea surface temperatures have been taken from thermal sensors using water entering the engine room intakes or by drifting buoys. Many of these records extending back to the early 19th century are archived at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. [NOAA NCEI News]
Two recent reports reveal status of nation's fisheries continue rebuilding -- During the last week, two reports were released by NOAA on the nation's fisheries

NOAA News

According to NOAA’s Fisheries Economics of the United States U.S. commercial and recreational fishing generated $208 billion in sales, contributed $97 billion to the gross domestic product and supported 1.6 million full- and part-time jobs in 2015 — above the five-year average. [NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology]
According to the 2016 Status of Stocks report that NOAA Fisheries made to the US Congress on the status of US fisheries, the number of domestic fish stocks listed as overfished or subject to overfishing remain near all-time lows, with two new stocks (albacore in the North Atlantic and barndoor skate in Georges Bank/Southern New England) being rebuilt in 2016. [NOAA Fisheries]

"NOAA Extreme Weather Information Sheets" becoming popular -- Following the 2015 Hurricane Katrina disaster, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information have been developing a set of 22 "NOAA Extreme Weather Information Sheets" containing important contact information for coastal regions that can be downloaded as a pdf file or as a free app for Apple devices. These sheets, which appear in an easy-to-read format, have been developed for those selected regions that are at high risk from tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes) along the nation's coasts, including the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from North Carolina to Texas, the Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. A yearly update of the sheets is planned. The goal of these information sheets is to help the public increase their weather readiness as part of NOAA's Weather-Ready Nation" initiative. [NOAA NCEI News]
Updated El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion is released -- Late last week forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) released their monthly El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion. They reported an ENSO-neutral situation continued through April 2017 featuring near-average sea surface temperatures (SST) across the central equatorial Pacific Ocean, and above-average SST values in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Both the atmospheric and oceanic system remain consistent with ENSO-neutral as neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions prevailed. Many of the prediction models used by the forecasters indicate an onset of an El Niño during Northern Hemisphere summer (June, July and August). However, some of the models suggest SST values across the Pacific that would not be sufficiently elevated to warrant entry into a significant or lengthy El Niño event at this time. Since ENSO-neutral and El Niño conditions are nearly equally favored through boreal summer and fall 2017, the CPC's ENSO Alert System Status remained not activate. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
An ENSO blog was written by a contractor with CPC describing the difficulty that the CPC and IRI forecasters are having detecting a clear signal as to when an El Niño would develop across the equatorial Pacific in the next three to six months from the current ENSO-neutral conditions. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
An El Niño forecast from Down Under -- Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued an updated forecast, in which they reported that although ENSO-neutral conditions were continuing currently, they foresaw possible development of an El Niño event in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during this calendar year of 2017. Therefore, the Bureau's ENSO Outlook status remains as an El Niño WATCH, meaning the likelihood of El Niño forming in 2017 is approximately 50%. [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]
Absorption of carbon dioxide by oceans exceeds methane emissions from seafloor seeps -- In a study conducted by researchers with the USGS (US Geological Survey) Gas Hydrates Project and collaborators in Germany and Norway, near-surface waters of the Arctic Ocean have been found to absorb 2000 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the amount of methane that escaped into the atmosphere from seafloor methane seeps in these same waters. [USGS News]
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]

Historical Events:

15 May 1934...Lightship No. 117, occupying the Nantucket Shoals Station, in a dense fog, was struck by the RMS Olympic and sank on station with the loss of seven crew members. (USCG Historian's Office)
15-24 May 1951...Hurricane Able did a "loop-the-loop" north of the Bahamas and reached category 3 strength on the Saffir-Simpson Scale off Cape Hatteras, NC. (The Weather Doctor)
16 May 1917...Marquette, MI had its latest opening of navigation on Lake Superior in history. (Intellicast)
16 May 1951...Hurricane Able performed a loop north of the Bahamas and reached Category 3 strength off Cape Hatteras, NC. (National Weather Service files)
17-21 May 1887...An early season tropical storm raked Cuba and The Bahamas. (The Weather Doctor)
17 May 1970...The Norwegian ethnologist, Thor Heyerdahl, and a multinational crew set sail on a trans-Atlantic voyage from Morocco on Ra II, a papyrus sailing craft modeled after the ancient Egyptian vessels in an effort to prove his theory that Mediterranean sailors reached the Americas in ancient times. After 57 days, the Ra II reached Barbados. (The History Channel)
19 May 1535...French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail on his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage). (Wikipedia)
19 May 1912...The US Navy established the North Atlantic Ice Patrol following the RMS Titanic disaster. (Naval Historical Center)
20 May 1497...John Cabot set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date). (Wikipedia)
20 May 1498...The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama became the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) on the Malabar Coast, after departing Lisbon, Portugal in July 1497. (The History Channel) (Wikipedia)
20 May 1570...Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas. (Wikipedia)
20 May 1845...HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sailed from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands were lost. (Wikipedia)
20 May 1964...The first U.S. atomic-powered lighthouse was put into operation in the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore Harbor, MD. Designed to supply a continuous flow of electricity for ten years without refueling, the 60-watt nuclear generator generated heat from strontium-90 in the form of strontium titinate, a safe radioisotope. The heat was converted to electricity by 120 pairs of lead telluride thermocouples. Complete with shielding, the unit was only 34.5 inches high and 22 inches in diameter. It was designed and produced by the nuclear division of Martin-Marietta Corp. (Today in Science History)
20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)