WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

29 May - 2 June 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.

Items of Interest:

Centennial of NOAA Corps celebrated -- The start of last week (22 May 2017) marked the 100th anniversary of the NOAA Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. In 1917, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which can be traced back to 1807, was commissioned with America's entry into World War I to ensure the assimilation of technical skills for defense purposes. With the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970, the NOAA Corps was formed, a direct descendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. [NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center Press Release]
Change in season -- Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the three-month span from March through May, concludes next Wednesday (31 May 2017), while meteorological summer (June, July and August) will commence on the following day.
Hurricane season to begin in the North Atlantic and Central North Pacific -- The 2017 hurricane seasons in the North Atlantic Ocean basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, along with the central North Pacific will begin this Thursday, 1 June 2017. The 2017 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific began two weeks ago on 15 May. The official hurricane seasons in all three basins will end on 30 November 2017.
Puerto Rico Hurricane Safety Preparedness during week of 29 May-2 Jun 2017
Three hurricane-related terms that need to be known -- With the approach of the 2017 hurricane season, NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) posted a feature that identifies and defines three key terms that are commonly used to describe features of a hurricane. These three terms are: the eye, the eye wall and the rainbands. [NOAA NESDIS News]

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 Cyclone 2B formed this past weekend over the waters of the western Bay of Bengal off the coast of India, approximately 600 miles to the south of Calcutta. This system had tropical-storm force winds as it traveled toward the east before curving toward northeast over the weekend. As of late Sunday (local time) Tropical Cyclone 02B was located approximately 450 miles south of Chittagong, Bangladesh. At this time, this system was heading to the north-northeast toward the coast of Bangladesh or northwestern Myanmar (Burma). Forecasts indicate that this tropical storm could become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale before making landfall near Chittagong, Bangladesh on Tuesday. Once gaining category 1 strength, this system would be given the name "Mora." Torrential rain, strong winds and a storm surge were expected across Bangladesh and Myanmar.
New weather prediction tool will be implemented to improve hurricane forecasts -- A new weather prediction tool identified as "Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core" (FV3) will be used by NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) during the upcoming 2017 hurricane season to power experimental hurricane forecast models that run parallel to the operational forecast models used by NHC. Developed at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, FV3 is a "dynamic core" that is scalable and flexible with more sophisticated physics, a new level of accuracy, and greater numeric efficiency. The transition of the FV3 to operational weather forecasting should be completed in 2019. [NOAA Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research News]
ENSO forecasters from US and Peru discuss recent "coastal El Niño" event -- A meteorologist in the Development Branch of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) recently interviewed a colleague at the Instituto Geofísico del Perú concerning the development of what has called a "coastal El Niño" from February through April 2017. While the temperatures of the near-surface waters in the central equatorial Pacific remained either at or slightly below long-term averages, which would suggest ENSO-neutral conditions, those waters in the eastern Pacific along the west coast of South America had well above-average temperatures, indicative of a strong coastal El Niño. This coastal El Niño brought rain to coastal Peru and Ecuador. The potential for a new El Niño in 2017 was also discussed. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Hurricane outlooks issued -- During the last week, scientists with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released their outlook for the upcoming hurricane seasons in the North Atlantic basin, which includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and the central North Pacific basin, which lies between the 140 degree West meridian of longitude and the International Dateline.

Their outlook for the North Atlantic basin indicates a 45 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 35 percent chance of a near-normal season, and only a 20 percent chance of a below-normal season in 2017. The forecasters predict a 70-percent likelihood of 11 to 17 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms with sustained surface winds of at least 39 mph), including five to nine of these tropical cyclones becoming hurricanes (maximum sustained surface winds of 74 mph or higher). Between two and four of these hurricanes could become major hurricanes (Category 3 hurricanes or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale). The forecasted numbers include Tropical Storm Arlene, a rare pre-season storm that formed over the eastern Atlantic in April. (Based upon long-term statistics, an average Atlantic season consists of 12 named tropical cyclones per year and the six hurricanes that normally form during each year. Three of these hurricanes typically become major hurricanes.) The forecasters based their above-normal forecast in the frequency of named tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic basin upon this year upon the possibility of weak El Niño conditions this summer, near- or above-average sea-surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and average or weaker-than-average vertical wind shear in the basin. NOAA will update this Atlantic hurricane outlook in early August, just before the peak in the season. [NOAA News]
For comparison, Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University had released a forecast of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season in early April that called for a slightly below-average season. They envisioned eleven named tropical cyclones, which would include four hurricanes. Of these hurricanes, the forecasters foresee two major hurricanes. [The Tropical Meteorology Project]
The CPC outlook for the central North Pacific basin suggests that this basin should experience an 80-percent chance of a near- or above-normal hurricane season in 2017. A 70 percent probability exists that five to eight tropical cyclones could form, as compared with the long-term average of four to five tropical cyclones. The indication of an above average season is based upon a possible transition to weak El Niño conditions during the hurricane season, along with near- or above-average ocean temperatures in the main hurricane formation region, and near- or weaker-than-average vertical wind shear. [NOAA News]

Sea ice coverage of Chukchi Sea off Alaska is unusually small this spring -- The climate sciences and services manager for the National Weather Service's Alaska region recently wrote a news item that reveals the sea ice covering the Chukchi Sea off the coast of northwestern Alaska is breaking up and melting earlier this May than typically found. He provided a map of sea ice concentration across the waters surrounding Alaska in mid-May 2017 based on satellite and surface observations that shows the amount of open water in sections of the Chukchi Sea to be unprecedented for the satellite era. A mild winter and warm spring appear to be responsible for this large patch of open water. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Nation's newest geosynchronous environmental satellite to be positioned over western Atlantic to becomes GOES-East -- NOAA officials recently announced that its new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 will be positioned as GOES-East along the Equator at 75 degrees west longitude after becoming operational in November, approximately one year after it was launched. The current GOES-East satellite (also known as GOES-13) will be placed into orbital storage in its geosynchronous orbit at an altitude of 22,300 miles over the Equator. The GOES-16 satellite's field of view will include all the 48 contiguous United States, along with a large section of Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and significant portions of the Atlantic Basin, especially those areas were tropical cyclones form that could affect the US. [NOAA News]
Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month is being celebrated in Sanctuaries -- Three units within the National Marine Sanctuary System with Polynesian ties have been celebrating the month of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. These units are National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (including Rose Atoll Marine National Monument), Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
Make virtual dives into the National Marine Sanctuaries using your personal computer or smart phone -- NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries recently launched a web-based virtual dive gallery that allows the public to view 360-degree views of the underwater environment in five national marine sanctuaries. These sanctuaries are: American Samoa, Florida Keys, Flower Garden Banks, Gray's Reef, and Thunder Bay. Additional virtual dives will become available in the gallery for other sanctuaries. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
An expanded Operation IceBridge in Arctic concludes for the season -- Slightly more than two weeks ago, NASA's annual Operation IceBridge in the Arctic concluded for the 10-week season after conducting a series of 40 flights that expanding the region covered. Operation IceBridge represents an annual airborne survey made by NASA scientists and their colleagues of the Arctic ice cover. This spring, a rapid-response flight was made to inspect a new crack that had developed in the Petermann Glacier, one of the largest and fastest-changing glaciers in Greenland. IceBridge hosted a high school science teacher from Florida. She wrote a blog describing her experiences and participated in 65 live chats from the airplane with 1414 students from K-12 classes in 14 states, along with Mexico and Canada. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Research on rockfish species provides information that could help ensure healthy populations -- Scientists at NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center have been studying three deepwater rockfish species (rougheye, blackspotted, and shortraker rockfish), learning about how long some rockfish live and how often they spawn. Some rockfish may live for 100 to 200 years. This research should help scientists ensure healthy population of these fish in the future. [NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center News]
Prey "hot spots" are remembered by sea lions to maximize hunting efficiency -- A scientist at NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center and his colleagues have found that Steller sea lions have a foraging behavior that has them find prey "hot spots," or areas in the ocean with high numbers of prey, but which may change seasonally. The sea lions then repeat the circuit year after year, guided by memory to return to the same areas. [NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center News]
University of Michigan named to host cooperative institute for Great Lakes region -- NOAA officials recently announced that the University of Michigan will continue to receive funding needed to host NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR), formerly called the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research. This institute will conduct research that encompasses the entire Great Lakes region, focusing on four major areas that directly align with the scientific research at NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. [NOAA Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research News]
Video shows seasonal changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide -- An 80-second video was prepared showing a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over one year (September 2014 through August 2015) from observational data collected by NASA's second Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) spacecraft, supplemented by numerical simulations produced by NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) modeling system. The animation shows a buildup of carbon dioxide in the Northern Hemisphere that reaches a peak in late spring before land plants become active and use carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. By the end of the growing season in the Northern Hemisphere, this gas has been drawn down. [NASA Global Climate Change Resources]
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:

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)
Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84 degrees Fahrenheit. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
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)
3 June 1979...The world's worst oil spill occurred when an exploratory oil well, Ixtoc 1, blew out, spilling over 140 million gallons of crude oil into the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico. Although it is the largest known oil spill, it had a relatively low environmental impact. The well was finally capped in March 1980. Booms were placed along the Texas coast to protect major inlets from the oil that was carried northward by prevailing surface currents in the Gulf of Mexico. (Information Please) (Wikipedia)
4 June 1825...A hurricane struck Long Island, NY leveling trees and causing damage to ships. The early season hurricane, which originated near Cuba, caused major damage along the Atlantic coast from Charleston, SC to New York City. Many were lost at sea. (David Ludlum)
4 June 1871...The United States' 15-minute rainfall record was set in Galveston, TX at 3.95 inches as the season's first tropical storm came onshore. Galveston would be struck by another tropical storm just five days later. (National Weather Service files)
4 June 1944...Weather conditions across the English Channel forced Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower to postpone the invasion of France that had been scheduled for 5 June. (National Weather Service files)
4 June 1976...Forty-foot waves from a tropical cyclone smashed Gogha (port), India. Excellent warnings limited the death toll to approximately 70. Dredging of the harbor at Bhavnnagar ceased for several years as storm runoff from the Kansa River washed away accumulated sand and silt. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)