WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

30 April-4 May 2018

Items of Interest:

Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2018 Campaign for May commences -- The fifth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2018 will commence this Saturday (5 May) and continue through Monday, 14 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 with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. These constellations are Bootes in the Northern Hemisphere and Crux for the Southern Hemisphere. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The sixth series in the 2018 campaign is scheduled for 4-13 June 2018. [GLOBE at Night]
Between equinox and solstice -- Tuesday (1 May 2018) is May Day or Beltane, which has its origins as a great Celtic festival Beltane that included bonfires, May Poles and May Queens. This date is close to the traditional "cross quarter" day, roughly halfway between the vernal equinox (20 March 2018) and the summer solstice (21 June 2018). (Note that Sunday 6 May 2018 is closer to the halfway point between the equinox and solstice. EJH)

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- Tropical cyclone activity was found in the South Indian basin during the last week.
Tropical Cyclone Fakir formed at the start of last week over the southwestern waters of the basin to the northeast of Madagascar. Over the next 18 hours, this tropical storm had intensified to become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled toward the south-southeast, passing between La Réunion and Mauritius Islands. Torrential rains accompanying Fakir fell across La Réunion Island. However, Fakir began weakening as it continued toward the southeast away from La Réunion, dissipating by early Wednesday nearly 100 miles to the southeast of St. Denis, La Réunion. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Cyclone Fakir.
Another tropical cyclone, identified as Tropical Storm Flamboyan, formed over this past weekend over the eastern waters of the South Indian basin, approximately 1300 miles to the east of Diego Garcia. Traveling toward the west-southwest and southwest on Sunday, Flamboyan strengthened to just under the threshold for classification as a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. As of Monday morning (local time), Tropical Storm Flamboyan was traveling toward the southwest, as it was approximately 1000 miles to the southeast of Diego Garcia. Current forecasts indicate that Flamboyan would weaken as it would curve toward the south during the early part of this week.
Explaining how climate change affects coral reefs with graphics -- A downloadable infographic, or a graphic visual representation of information, was prepared by NOAA's National Ocean Service that explains how climate change is causing changes in the oceans, which dramatically affect coral reef ecosystems. Recommendations are made for how the public can mitigate some of the changes in climate. [NOAA Infographic]
Satellite sees swirls of spring sediments in the Great Lakes -- A natural-color image made from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite nearly two weeks ago shows large swirls of tawny-colored sediments spreading across the otherwise blue waters of Lakes Erie, Huron, Ontario and St. Clair. The sediments had been washed into the lakes from runoff of melting snow following a late-season snowstorm. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Many low-lying atoll islands could become uninhabitable by mid-century -- A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NOAA's National Ocean Service, the University of Hawaii and Deltares, an independent institute for applied research in the Netherlands, recently published a report that sea-level rise and wave-driven flooding will negatively impact freshwater resources on many low-lying atoll islands, potentially making many uninhabitable by the year 2050. In addition to damaging terrestrial infrastructure and habitats, this flooding of these islands in the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean would make the limited freshwater resources non-potable, thereby directly threatening the sustainability of human populations. In preparing their report, the scientists focused on Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands from November 2013 to May 2015. [USGS News]
Annual report for 2017 issued by National Seabird Program -- NOAA Fisheries' National Seabird Program recently released its 13-page Annual Report for 2017 that summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the Program during the last year. The NOAA Fisheries' National Seabird Program, which consists of scientists and managers from several crosscutting disciplines, works to protect and conserve seabirds at both the national and international level. The goals of this program are to mitigate bycatch and to promote seabirds as ecosystem indicators.[NOAA Fisheries]
Five new tools are becoming available to "Earth Watchers" during 2018 -- In recognition of Earth Day, NOAA's Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS) posted a list of five new tools that will be made available to Earth-watchers worldwide during this year: 1.) Real-time satellite data will be available to everyone with expanded NOAA satellite maps of Earth. 2.) Weather information across Western States will be available in high-def when the new NOAA GOES-17 satellite assumes role of GOES West and provides a stream of high definition observational data more quickly to the National Weather Service. 3.) Sea-level and sea-surface measuring capabilities will be continued as NOAA will be able to access data from the Sentinel-3B Land & Ocean-Sensing Satellite that was launched last week to become a part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Copernicus Earth Observation Constellation 4.) A new polar orbiting satellite will provide more weather data, as the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) will launch its newest polar-orbiting satellite, Metop-C, which will become a partner to the recently launched NOAA-20 satellite and its back-up, the NOAA/NASA Suomi-NPP satellite. 5.) Small satellites will be launched to collect continuous atmospheric data, as NOAA and its partners will launch the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) satellite mission, which is a network of six remote-sensing microsatellites. [NOAA NESDIS News]
European heat wave approximately 12,000 years ago could have been caused by sluggish ocean currents in Atlantic -- A team of researchers from the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom recently reported that their analysis of plant fossils and new high-resolution global climate simulations indicates that European summers approximately 20,000 years ago could have been warmer than previously suggested. These warm summers would have been during the Younger Dryas cold reversal, which was a sudden cooling that has been typically linked to an abrupt slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in response to meltwater discharges from ice sheets. The researchers claim that cold winds from the west were blocked from flowing over Fennoscandia as key mechanism counteracting the cooling impact of the slowing of the AMOC-slowdown during summer. Although short warm summers persisted, the Younger Dryas was dominated by a shift to a continental climate with extreme winter to spring cooling and short growing seasons. [Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory News]
NCEI highlights its outreach and educational activities -- Although NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) primary mission is the stewardship of environmental data, NCEI scientists and staff also go "outside the science" to communicate with many audiences, The NCEI Outside the Science series highlights their outreach and educational activities and engagement with data users, such as weather and climate data for Native American tribes, mentoring young scientists and "education in the Gulf." [NOAA NCEI 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] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

30 April 1492...Spain gave Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. (Wikipedia)
30 April 1894...An Antarctic iceberg fragment was sighted at a latitude comparable to Rio de Janeiro. Reported by the ship Dochra, this sighting remains the nearest to the equator that an iceberg has been seen. (Today in Science History)
30 April 1991...Southeast Bangladesh was devastated by a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of approximately 150 mph during the early morning. A 20-foot storm surge inundated offshore islands south of Chittagong, taking water from the Bay of Bengal inland for miles. This cyclone resulted in up to 200,000 deaths and $1.4 billion damage. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
1 May 1683...A patent was awarded in England for the extraction of salt from seawater. (Today in Science History)
1 May 1883...At Cape Lookout, NC, a storm tide swept over the island drowning sheep and cattle. (Intellicast)
1 May 1921...The first radio fog signals in the United States were placed in commission on Ambrose Lightship, Fire Island Lightship, and Sea Girt Light Station, NJ. These signals installed by the US Lighthouse Service were meant to guide ships approaching New York Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 May 1936...The Whaling Treaty Act outlawed the taking of right whales or calves of any whale. This law was enforced by the Coast Guard. (USCG Historian's Office)
2 May 1775...Benjamin Franklin completed the first scientific study of the Gulf Stream. His observations began in 1769 when as deputy postmaster of the British Colonies he found ships took two weeks longer to bring mail from England than was required in the opposite direction. Thus, Franklin became the first to chart the Gulf Stream. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1880...The first U.S. steamboat to successfully employ electric lights was the Columbia, a 309-ft long vessel which operated between San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. An "A" type dynamo was placed in operation to illuminate the passenger rooms and main salons. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1932...After a Convention with Canada, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act re-enacted the Act of 7 June 1924 and made it unlawful to catch halibut between 1 November and 15 February of each year in territorial waters of United States and Canada, as well as on the high seas, extending westerly from there, including the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard enforced this act. (USCG Historian's Office)
2-3 May 1998...Ocean swells from storms in the South Pacific caused surf heights of 7 to 9 feet, with sets to 12 feet along the southern California coast. A man fishing on rocks at Rancho Palos Verdes, CA was swept away. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
3 May 1494...The explorer Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Jamaica in the West Indies. He named the island Santa Gloria. On the following day, he landed on Jamaica. (Library of Congress)
3 May 1761...Large tornadoes swept the Charleston, SC harbor when a British Fleet of 40 sails was at anchor. It raised a wave 12 feet high, leaving many vessels on their beam-ends. Four people drowned. (Intellicast)
4 May 1869...The first U.S. patent for an offshore oil-drill rig was issued to T.F. Rowland for his "submarine drilling apparatus" (No. 89,794). (Today in Science History)
4 May 1904...Construction began on the Panama Canal. (Wikipedia)
4 May 1910...Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States to be equipped with radio (100-mi radius) and a qualified operator. (USCG Historian's Office)
5 May 1990...A strong Pacific cold front moving rapidly inland caused weather conditions at the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State to quickly change from sunny and calm to westerly winds of 60 mph and ten-foot waves. Three recreational fishing boats capsized in heavy seas off Port Angeles resulting in five deaths. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
6 May 1994...The rail tunnel under the English Channel, or "Chunnel," that connects Folkestone, England, with Sangatte, France was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President Mitterrand. (The History Channel)