WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

14-18 July 2014

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2014 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2014. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

Hurricane awareness week in New England -- During week of 14-18 July 2014, four of the five New England States will observe Hurricane Awareness Week. The fifth state, Vermont, recognizes Hurricane Flooding Awareness Day on Wednesday, 16 July 2014.
Zenithal Sun -- Residents of Honolulu will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead late this week (15-17 July). This occurrence of a zenithal sun is one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The other time when Oahu experienced a zenithal sun was in late May. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]
Identifying ten dangers found at the beach -- As a public service, NOAA's National Ocean Service has identified ten dangers that can be encountered when going to the beach this summer. These hazards are: Rip currents, shorebreak, lightning, tsunamis, sharks, jellyfish, heat and sunburn, harmful algal blooms, water quality, marine debris. [NOAA National Ocean Service]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week, tropical cyclone activity continued over the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere.

In the eastern North Pacific basin, the sixth named tropical cyclone of the 2014 hurricane season in that basin formed at the start of this past week. Named Tropical Storm Fausto, developed from a tropical depression that was located approximately 1150 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. Fausto traveled to the west-northwest with some strengthening. However, Fausto weakened to a tropical depression and then dissipated less than 48 hours after forming. For additional information on Tropical Storm Fausto along with satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
In the western North Pacific basin, Super-typhoon Neoguri weakened slowly as it traveled northward across the western Pacific, passing near Okinawa, Japan before curving toward the east and passing across Kyushu, the southwestern main Japanese island, where heavy rain fell. By midweek, Neoguri weakened to a tropical storm and then lost its tropical characteristics and becoming a midlatitude storm. Earlier in the previous weekend, Neoguri had become a major category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained surface winds estimated to have reached 155 mph. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information concerning Super Typhoon Neoguri.
Tropical Storm 9W formed during the second half of last week approximately 400 miles to the east-southeast of Guam. This minimal tropical storm traveled toward the northwest and then west late in the week, passing near Guam before weakening to a tropical depression by the start of this past weekend. See the NASA Hurricane Page for more information concerning Tropical Storm 9W.
At the start of this past weekend, remnants of Tropical Storm 9W reformed into Tropical Storm Rammasun. Continuing to the west over the weekend, Tropical Storm Rammasun was beginning to intensify as it traveled toward the main Philippine island of Luzon.

Nautical charts updated -- NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has recently released new and improved nautical charts for several locations:
- One of the nautical charts extends coverage of the regional waters off the Charleston, SC Harbor where pilots board vessels heading into the harbor to ensure safe passage. This chart can be downloaded in pdf format. [NOAA News]
- A second nautical chart is for western Alaska's Delong Mountain Terminal, a shallow draft port along the Arctic Ocean servicing the Red Dog Mine. This mine is one of the world’s largest producers of zinc concentrate. [NOAA News]
Acquiring DNA from dolphins -- NOAA Fisheries scientists and colleagues are using biopsy darts to extract a small plug of skin and blubber from dolphins in order to obtain DNA samples from these marine mammals. The scientists are using the DNA to identify different breeding populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Identifying these populations can help protect the species. [NOAA Fisheries Feature Stories]
Weekend earthquake off Japan raised fear of tsunami -- Japan's Meteorological Agency reported that a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima, Japan during the early morning hours on Saturday morning. This earthquake was located along the northern Japanese coast near the location of the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled a nuclear power plant. Saturday's earthquake had an epicenter six miles below the ocean surface, triggered a small tsunami, injured at least one person and caused buildings to shake in Tokyo. A tsunami warning had been posted, but then changed to an advisory and finally cancelled within two hours as the height of the tsunami was only eight inches. [CNN News]
Unmanned aircraft tested for wildlife surveys and environmental research in Hawaii -- During this summer, scientists from NOAA Research are testing two types of unmanned aircraft in Hawaii as part of the research efforts designed to survey a variety of rare and endangered species, monitor remote marine areas, locate marine debris for removal and study fragile ecological features in the state's Marine National Monument. [NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
Critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles established in western North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico -- During the last week, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and the Department of Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced establishment of two final rules to designate marine critical habitat for the threatened loggerhead sea turtle in the Atlantic Ocean and on coastal beach habitat along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from North Carolina through Mississippi. [NOAA Fisheries Newsroom]
Hidden cyclic nature of sea winds revealed by satellite -- NASA is planning to dispatch an ocean wind-monitoring instrument called ISS-RapidScat to the International Space Station (ISS) in the near future. This ISS-RapidScat instrument, which stands for the International Space Station Rapid Scatterometer, is designed to observe daily or diurnal cycles of wind across the ocean surface created by solar heat for a two-year span. The scatterometer is a type of radar that sends microwaves toward the Earth's surface and measures the strength and direction of the reflected or "return" signals. Strong return signals received by scatterometers off ocean surfaces indicate large wind driven waves due to strong winds. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
Satellites catch start of ice breakup on Hudson Bay -- A natural color image made in mid-June from the MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows ice breaking up on Canada's Hudson Bay as part of the spring warming. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Ocean acidification studied in Alaska's Prince William Sound -- A team of scientists from NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, the University of Alaska and the Alaska Ocean Observing System is studying how melting glaciers surrounding Alaska's Prince William Sound may be intensifying ocean acidification in the sound and on the Gulf of Alaska continental shelf. The team is using new robotic tools that include surface wave gliders and submersible gliders that can collect ocean data down to depths of 200 meters. [ NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
Mauna Loa Observatory measures record high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide for three consecutive months -- NOAA scientists recently reported that the Mauna Loa Observatory located near the top of one of the volcanic peaks on Hawaii's Big Island has measured concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide gas that exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm) on every single day for three consecutive months. This benchmark of 400 ppm has never been exceeded previously at this observatory that has been making nearly continuous operations since the late 1950s. [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.

Historical Events:

15-16 July 1916...A dying South Atlantic Coast storm produced torrential rains in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Altapass, NC was drenched with 22.22 inches of rain, a 24-hour rainfall record for the Tarheel State, and at the time, a 24-hour record for the U.S. (The current 24-hour rainfall record for the US is 43 inches set 25-25 July 1979 at Alvin, TX). Flooding resulted in considerable damage, particularly to railroads. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
17 July 1858...The U.S. sloop Niagara departed Queenstown, Ireland to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. (Naval Historical Center)
17 July 1994...The Polar Sea departed from Victoria, BC on operation Arctic Ocean Section 1994 and became the first U.S. surface vessel to reach the North Pole. She then transited the Arctic Ocean back to her home port in Seattle, WA. (USCG Historian's Office)
17 July 1998...A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroyed 10 villages in Papua, New Guinea killing an estimated 1500 people, leaving 2000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless. (Wikipedia)
18 July 1986...Videotapes, taken by the deep-sea Alvin submersible, showing SS Titanic's remains were released. Looking like huge stalagmites, rusticles ("rust icicles") are a byproduct of the bacteria slowly converting the iron in the hull. The colony of iron-eating bacteria flourishes in the anaerobic (without oxygen) environment inside the hollow multi-layered rusticles while on the outside, porous layers support oxygen-dependent bacteria. In this eerie way, there is still life on the Titanic as the ship lies deep on the ocean floor. (Today in Science History)
18-19 July 1979...A 30-foot high tsunami wave leveled four Indonesian villages on the Sunda Islands during the night. The wave swept 1500 feet inland, causing 589 deaths among the sleeping villagers. A landslide from Mount Werung (Lomblen Island) caused the tsunami. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18-22 July 1997...Hurricane Danny, the only hurricane that made landfall in the continental US in 1997, moved inland into coastal Alabama at a snails pace. Radar storm total estimates of 43 inches over Mobile Bay. A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell on 19-20 July at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19 July 1843...The first all-metal liner, the SS Great Britain, was launched from Bristol, England. Designed by I. K. Brunel, the SS Great Britain was the first of the great steamships. She was the world's first screw-propeller driven (and first iron-hulled) steamship to cross the Atlantic (1845). The six-masted, single-screw, 3,270-ton vessel is 322 feet in length overall and carried a crew of 130 including 30 stewards for her 360-seat dining room. As the world's biggest ship of the time, she embarked on a varied career, first as a luxury liner carrying passengers to New York and Melbourne, then as a ferry carrying troops to the Crimea and India, and finally as a cargo ship, before being abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886. She was brought back to Bristol on this day in 1970, where she is now being restored by volunteers to her original appearance at the Great Western Dock in which she was built. (Today in Science History)
19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
19 July 1897...LT Robert E. Peary, USN, departed on a year long Arctic Expedition that made many important discoveries, including one of largest meteorites, Cape York. (Naval Historical Center)
19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category-5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)
20 July 1964...Four Navy divers entered Project SEALAB I capsule moored 192 feet on the ocean floor off Bermuda for an 11-day experiment. On the 22^nd they submerged and then surfaced on 31 July 1964. (Naval Historical Center)
20 July 1985...Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank approximately 40 miles off the coast of Key West, FL, in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver ingots. (InfoPlease.com)