Weekly Ocean News

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

WEEK THREE: 15-19 September 2014

For Your Information

Aspects of ocean water chemistry and marine life considered -- If you would like more background information concerning how marine organisms evolved in the ocean with a relatively narrow range of chemical and physical characteristics, please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News

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

In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Edouard formed late last week from a tropical depression that was moving across the waters near the Cape Verde Islands. Traveling to the northwest over the weekend, Edouard intensified to become the fourth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season early Sunday. Recent forecasts suggest that Hurricane Edouard could intensify to a possible major category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) during the upcoming week as it would begin a gradual curving toward the north and then northeast. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Edouard.

In the eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Norbert became a post-tropical cyclone off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula at the start of last week. Remnants of this former major category 3 hurricane brought high surf to coastal waters of Mexico and southern California, along with heavy rainfall to sections of the Southwest. Find more information and satellite images on Hurricane Norbert on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Tropical Storm Odile formed during the second half of last week from a tropical depression close to the southwestern coast of Mexico. Odile intensified as it traveled toward the northwest paralleling the Mexican coast. By the weekend, Odile became a hurricane and as of early Sunday, it intensified to become a major category 4 hurricane. Of the eleven hurricanes in the eastern Pacific in 2014, eight have become major (category 3 or greater). Forecasts on Sunday indicate that Hurricane Odile could make a close approach to the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula early Monday. Eventually, Odile would continue its travel toward the northwest close to the coast of Baja before weakening. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information on Hurricane Odile.
Tropical Depression 16-E formed late last week over the waters of the eastern Pacific nearly 800 miles to the southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Over the weekend, Tropical Depression 16-E curved toward the north and then to the east. This depression was expected to turn toward the northeast early during the upcoming week. Satellite images and additional information on Tropical Depression 16-E are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Kalmaegi formed near the end of last week from a tropical depression that traveled toward the west over the waters near Yap. Approaching the northern coast of Luzon in the Philippines, Kalmaegi intensified to become a typhoon. This typhoon should make a brief landfall on Luzon and then continue across the South China Sea, making another landfall along the southeastern China coast near Hainan Island. See the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information on Typhoon Kalmaegi.

Public invited to help protect West Coast whales with new apps for smart phones and tablets -- NOAA is encouraging mariners and the public to download a free mobile application (or app) for use in their an iPad™ and iPhone™ devices to help decrease the risk of injury or death to whales along the nation's West Coast from accidental ship strikes. This app uses GPS, Automatic Identification System, Internet and NOAA nautical charts to provide mariners with a single source of information about whale locations and conservation measures that are active in their immediate vicinity. Information about California Marine Protected Areas, PORTS® (Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System) tide and weather data and the ability for the public to report whale sightings to databases is also included. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Press Release]
Follow deepwater exploration in near real-time -- The public is invited to follow the deep sea investigation of Atlantic submarine canyons, the New England Seamount Chain and other features on the ocean floor from August through October 2014. The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will be exploring this underwater region explore the largely unknown deep-sea ecosystems of the U.S. Atlantic coast. Resources are available including live video, photographs and daily updates from researchers on board the Okeanos Explorer. Educational modules are available. [NOAA Okeanos Explorer ]
Wind-watching satellite readied for launch -- Engineers and scientists from NASA are readying a cargo mission that is scheduled to be carried to the International Space Station this coming Saturday on a rocket that is to be launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The fourth SpaceX cargo mission to the Space Station will carry the ISS-RapidScat scatterometer instrument that will be used to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction and help improve weather forecasts. The instrument was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A schedule of NASA-TV broadcasts covering the launch of this mission is available. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory] Background information is available on the ISS-RapidScat instrument. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Constellation of eight small satellites planned to study tropical cyclones --NASA officials recently announced that the agency has funded the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (or CYGNSS), which is a constellation of eight small satellites that will be in a low-Earth orbit and make accurate measurements of ocean surface winds in and near the eye of a tropical cyclone (tropical storm, hurricane or typhoon) throughout its life cycle. This constellation of microsatellites is scheduled to be launched in 2016 from a single launch vehicle. [NASA Langley Research Center]
Data collected by unmanned aircraft help improve weather forecast operations -- NOAA and NASA have been collaborating in an attempt to improve weather forecasts, especially those involving hurricanes, through the NASA-led project called the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission that involves use of NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. Last Thursday, , pilots from NASA and NOAA launched Global Hawk from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops on a 26-hour flight that collected weather data off the coast of West Africa where disturbed tropical weather was found that eventually could lead to formation of a tropical cyclone. A three-year experiment called Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology, or SHOUT, will start next year that will study whether the Global Hawk observations help improve weather forecasting of storms at sea. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
Draft recovery plan for elkhorn and staghorn corals is filed -- NOAA Fisheries recently released a draft recovery plan for the threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals. This new draft plan identifies criteria that would allow these two coral species that are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act to be removed from the list of endangered and threatened species. [NOAA Fisheries News]
Florida coral reefs affected by increased ocean temperatures -- A new study conducted by the US Geological Survey entitled "A century of ocean warming on Florida Keys coral reefs: Historic in-situ observations" reports that increased ocean water temperature near the Florida Keys over the last several decades are stressing corals and increasing the number of bleaching events that could ultimately result in the deaths of the coral. [USGS Newsroom]
Spring weather and climate may play major role in Lake Erie algae blooms -- Scientists from NOAA's National Ocean Service claim that the runoff from rain in spring of 2014 appears to be linked to the explosion of algae blooms on western Lake Erie in early August that curtailed water use across northeastern Ohio. The blooms are the result of excess fertilizer, especially phosphorus, that washes from agricultural land and then into the streams and rivers that flow into Lake Erie. The wet spring of 2014 caused an increase in runoff with resultant large algae blooms. Comparisons were made with the dry spring of 2005 and a wet spring of 2011. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Arabian Sea fisheries may be threatened by shift in plankton -- Scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and their colleagues warn that a species of plankton in the Arabian Sea is capturing the base of the food chain in these waters and could ultimately be disastrous for the fisheries that sustain nearly 120 million people surrounding the Arabian Sea. The plankton, Noctiluca scintillans, is an unusual dinoflagellate that appears capable of surviving in the growing "dead zone" of low oxygen seawater in the Arabian Sea. [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory News]
Stratospheric ozone layer appears to be recovering -- A new scientific report was released last week by the United Nations stating that according to recent assessments of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, this protective layer may be showing signs of recovery from the low levels of ozone in the 1980s that resulted in the international agreement to reduce emissions of ozone-depleting substances through the 1987 Montreal Protocol. An international team of researchers, including those from NOAA and NASA performed the analysis of the stratospheric ozone layer, finding that the concentrations of most ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere since the last assessment in 2010. [ NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News] A plot of the minimum concentration of ozone in the Southern Hemisphere for each year from 1979 through 2013 is available. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Federal grant awarded for study of Southern Ocean's role in climate and ocean health -- The National Science Foundation along with support from NOAA and NASA is providing a $21 million federal grant designed to fund a six-year study designed to create an improved understanding of the importance of the Southern Ocean to the planetary climate and to ocean health. This federal grant will be used to fund the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling program, or SOCCOM, that is designed to create a physical and biogeochemical portrayal of the Southern Ocean using robotic floats deployed around Antarctica. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
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.

Concept of the Week: Sea Water Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

In view of the contemporary concern regarding global climate change, scientists are studying the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are on the rise primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (an atmospheric gas that absorbs and radiates infrared radiation) so that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

As noted in Chapter 3 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. As noted in Chapter 1 of your textbook, photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question.

Since the late 1980s, scientists have been recording ocean conditions at a site (dubbed ALOHA) about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, in 2001, the rate of CO₂ uptake was only about 15% of what it was in 1989. Why the change in CO₂ uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's CO₂ uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Concept of the Week: Questions

With rising sea surface temperatures, the rate of evaporation of sea water [(increases)(decreases)].
With increasing salinity and constant temperature, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is taken up by ocean water [(increases)(decreases)].

Historical Events

16 September 1928...Hurricane San Felipe, a monster hurricane, which left 600 dead in Guadeloupe and 300 dead in Puerto Rico, struck West Palm Beach, FL causing enormous damage, and then headed for Lake Okeechobee. Peak winds were near 150 mph. The high winds produced storm waves that breached the eastern dike on Lake Okeechobee, inundating flat farmland. When the storm was over, the lake covered an area the size of the state of Delaware, and beneath its waters were 1836 victims. The only survivors were those who reached large hotels for safety, and a group of fifty people who got onto a raft to take their chances out in the middle of the lake. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
16 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert made landfall 120 miles south of Brownsville, TX in Mexico during the early evening. Winds gusted to 61 mph at Brownsville, and reached 82 mph at Padre Island. Six-foot tides eroded three to four feet of beach along the Lower Texas Coast, leaving the waterline seventy-five feet farther inland. Rainfall totals ranged up to 8.71 in. at Lamark, TX. Gilbert caused $3 million in property damage along the Lower Texas Coast, but less than a million dollars damage along the Middle Texas Coast. During its life span, Gilbert established an all-time record for the Western Hemisphere with a sea-level barometric pressure reading of 26.13 inches (888 millibars). Winds approached 200 mph, with higher gusts. Gilbert devastated Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
17-23 September 1989...Hurricane Hugo hit the Virgin Islands on the 17^th, producing wind gusts to 97 mph at Saint Croix. Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island of Saint Croix causing complete devastation and essentially cutting off the island's communications systems. A storm surge of five to seven feet occurred at Saint Croix. The only rain gauge left operating, at Caneel Bay, indicated 9.40 in. in 24 hrs. Hurricane Hugo claimed the lives of three persons at Saint Croix, and caused more than $500 million in damage. A ship, Nightcap, in the harbor of Culebra, measured wind gusts as high as 170 mph. On the 18^th, Hugo hit Puerto Rico, producing a storm surge of four to six feet, and northeastern sections of the island were deluged with more than ten inches of rain. Hugo claimed the lives of a dozen persons in Puerto Rico, and caused $1 billion in property damage, including $100 million in crop losses. On the 21^st, Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at about 11 PM, making landfall near Sullivans Island. Hurricane Hugo was directly responsible for thirteen deaths, and indirectly responsible for twenty-two others. A total of 420 persons were injured in the hurricane, and damage was estimated at $8 billion including $2 billion damage to crops. Sustained winds reached 85 mph at Folly Beach SC, with wind gusts as high was 138 mph. Wind gusts reached 98 mph at Charleston, and 109 mph at Shaw AFB. The highest storm surge occurred in the McClellanville and Bulls Bay area of Charleston County, with a storm surge of 20.2 ft reported at Seewee Bay. Shrimp boats were found one half-mile inland at McClellanville. On the 22^nd, Hugo quickly lost strength over South Carolina, but still was a tropical storm as it crossed into North Carolina, just west of Charlotte, at about 7 AM. Winds around Charlotte reached 69 mph, with gusts to 99 mph. Eighty percent of the power was knocked out to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Property damage in North Carolina was $210 million and damage to crops was $97 million. The greatest storm surge occurred along the southern coast shortly after midnight, reaching nine feet above sea level at Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach. Hugo killed one person and injured fifteen others in North Carolina. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
17 September 1996...Remnants of Hurricane Fausto that had initially formed over the eastern Pacific and moved northeastward from Mexico reformed into a powerful coastal storm in Atlantic waters off the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula, before passing Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts. Winds gusted to 50 mph and rainfall was up to four inches. Minor coastal flooding in the New York City metropolitan area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
18 September 1926...The great "Miami Hurricane" produced winds reaching 138 mph, which drove ocean waters into Biscayne Bay drowning 135 persons. The eye of the hurricane passed over Miami, at which time the barometric pressure dropped to 935.0 millibars (27.61 inches of mercury). Tides up to twelve feet high accompanied the hurricane, which claimed 372 lives. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
19 September 1957...Bathyscaph Trieste, in a dive sponsored by the Office of Naval Research in the Mediterranean, reached a record depth of 2 miles. (Naval Historical Center)
19 September 1967...Hurricane Beulah deluged Brownsville, TX with 12.19 in. of rain in 24 hrs, to establish a record for that location. Hurricane Beulah made landfall on the 20^th near the mouth of the Rio Grande River, where a wind gust of 135 mph was reported by a ship in the port. (19^th-20^th) (The Weather Channel)
20 September 1519...Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In October 1520, he passed through the straits that now bear his name separating Tierra del Fuego and the South American mainland and became the first known European explorer to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. In September 1522 one remaining ship from the original five that set sail returned to Spain, to become the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521. (The History Channel)
20 September 1909...A strong hurricane made landfall in southeastern Louisiana. A 15-ft storm surge flooded the Timbalier Bay area. Some 350 people perished. (Intellicast)
21 September 1938...The "Great New England Hurricane" smashed into Long Island and bisected New England from New Haven, CT across Massachusetts and Vermont, causing a massive forest blowdown and widespread flooding. Winds gusted to 186 mph at Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, MA, and a storm surge of nearly 30 ft caused extensive flooding along the coast of Rhode Island. The hurricane killed over 600 persons and caused $500 million damage. The hurricane, which lasted twelve days, destroyed 275 million trees. Hardest hit were Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island NY. The "Long Island Express" produced gargantuan waves with its 150 mph winds. Waves smashed against the New England shore with such force that earthquake-recording machines on the Pacific coast clearly showed the shock of each wave. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)