WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

11-15 June 2018

Items of Interest:

Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2018 Campaign for June is underway -- The sixth in the series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2018 will continue through Wednesday, 13 June. 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 Hercules 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 seventh series in the 2018 campaign is scheduled for 4-13 July 2018. [GLOBE at Night]
Observing Global Wind Day -- This Friday, 15 June 2018, has been designated as Global Wind Day. Organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that is held annually on 15 June and it meant to be a day for discovering wind energy, its power and the possibilities that it holds to change the world. [Global Wind Day]
Nearly two decades of continuous satellite images document planetary change -- NASA scientists have collected and archived the images obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the NASA Terra satellite, launched in 1999, and the Aqua satellite that was launched in 2002. The scientists are now encouraging the public to interactively view these archived images using NASA's Worldview, an interface for browsing full-resolution, global satellite imagery. A two-minute YouTube video shows a collection of the MODIS images that can be used to see at least 18 years of planetary changes that have been associated with such events such as hurricanes, wildfires, volcanoes and calving glaciers. [NASA Global Climate Change News]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- Tropical cyclones were found during the past week in both the western and eastern sections of the North Pacific basin:

In the western North Pacific Ocean basin, Tropical Depression 5W (TD-5W) traveled northward across the waters of the South China Sea off the central coast of Vietnam at the start of last week. Curving slightly toward the northeast before returning to a northward track, TD-5W strengthened to become Tropical Storm Ewiniar as it approached the eastern coast of China's Hainan Island as of midweek. Tropical Storm Ewiniar made landfall along the southeastern coast of mainland China and then traveled toward the northeast along the coast accompanied by heavy rains and strong winds late in the week. Some locations received nearly one foot of rain, which resulted in flooding and landslides. At least five fatalities were reported in the city of Yungfu, China. Additional information and satellite images for Tropical Storm Ewiniar can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Late last Friday, Tropical Storm Maliksi formed over the waters of the Philippine Sea, approximately 500 miles to the northeast of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Maliksi intensified as it traveled initially toward the north and then to the northeast over this past weekend by early Sunday morning (local time). As Maliksi passed within 200 miles Okinawa, this island was hit by strong winds and torrential rains. As it continued to head toward the northeast on Sunday, Maliksi began weakening. By early Monday, Tropical Storm Maliksi was located approximately 460 miles to the south-southeast of Iwakuni, Japan. Current forecasts indicate that Maliksi should continue traveling toward the northeast, passing well off the southern and eastern coasts of the main Japanese Islands. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery for Tropical Storm Maliksi.
In the eastern North Pacific Basin, a tropical depression formed last Tuesday night offshore of the coast of Mexico before becoming Tropical Storm Aletta early Wednesday morning. At that time, Aletta, the first named tropical cyclone of 2018 for the eastern Pacific, was located approximately 370 miles to the southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Over the next several days Aletta strengthened as it traveled toward the west and west-northwest. On Thursday afternoon Aletta had become the first hurricane of 2018 as it was approximately 455 miles to the west-southwest of Manzanillo. By mid-Friday morning, Hurricane Aletta had intensified to become a major category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as the hurricane's central eye was located approximately 210 miles to the south of Mexico's Socorro Island. However, Aletta began weakening on Friday night and by Saturday night, winds surrounding Aletta's eye had dropped sufficiently to cause Aletta to be reclassified as a tropical storm. As of Sunday evening, Tropical Storm Aletta was heading toward the west-northwest as it was located approximately 585 miles to the southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. Aletta is forecast to continue weakening as it travels generally toward the west, becoming a remnant low by late Monday or early Tuesday. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Aletta.
Another tropical depression formed this past Saturday afternoon approximately 365 miles to the south of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. This tropical depression quickly intensified to become Tropical Storm Bud, the eastern Pacific's second named tropical cyclone of 2018, by late Saturday night. Bud continued to strengthen as it traveled toward the northwest on Sunday, becoming a hurricane during the late afternoon. As of late Sunday evening, Hurricane Bud was a category 1 hurricane as it was moving to the northwest approximately 210 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico. Bud could intensify rapidly on Monday as it would continue toward the northwest, but then weaken rapidly late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The main band of winds surrounding Bud are expected to remain offshore of the southwestern coast of mainland Mexico over the next several days.

Satellite altimetry observations of sea surface height indicate warm water spreading across central Pacific -- Data collected by the sensors onboard the NASA /European Jason-3 satellite indicate that the neutral or near-average ocean heights across the equatorial Pacific during this past April have begun to increase during May. This increase in ocean heights typically are caused by intrusions of warmer water at or below the sea surface. A patch of high sea levels was traveling slowly to the east along the Equator, which would represent a downwelling Kelvin wave, often taken as a precursor of an El Nino event. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Translational speeds of tropical cyclones are slowing globally -- A scientist with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) recently reported that his analysis of the tracks of tropical cyclones over water and land around the world between 1949 and 2016 shows a general slowing of the forward speed of tropical cyclones over the 66-year period by approximately ten percent. This slowdown has occurred in all the world's ocean basins, except for the North Indian Ocean. The largest slowdown was found in the western North Pacific, which had a 20 percent reduction. The North Atlantic had a six percent decrease in translational speed. A slower movement of tropical cyclones can lead to higher rainfall totals and devastating flooding, especially when these systems approach the coast and make landfall. The reasons for this global slowing of tropical cyclones may involve complex interactions of environmental factors, such as the strength of atmospheric circulation patterns. [NOAA NCEI News]
Another milestone is reached at the Mauna Loa Observatory -- Late last week scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and Scripps Institution of Oceanography announced that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA's Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory had averaged more than 410 parts per million (by volume) in April and May 2018. These monthly averages were the highest monthly averages ever recorded at the Observatory, which commenced nearly continuous carbon dioxide measurements in 1958. The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been accelerating, from 1.6 ppm per year in the 1980s to 2.2 ppm per year during the last decade; the global carbon dioxide average increased by 2.3 ppm between 2016 and 2017. Increasing carbon dioxide levels appear to be associated with human activity, especially with the combustion of fossil fuels. [NOAA Research News]
Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program grant applications are available -- NOAA Fisheries recently announced that competition is now open for its 2019 Saltonstall-Kennedy (SK) Grant Program as part of the agency's goal to address the needs of the nation's fishing communities, to optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and to increase other opportunities designed to keep working waterfronts viable. Applications for this coming fiscal year should be applications fall into one of three priorities: 1.) Promotion, Development, and Marketing; 2.) Marine Aquaculture; and 3.) Support of Science that Maximizes Fishing Opportunities, Revenue and Jobs in U.S. Fisheries While Ensuring the Long-Term Sustainability of Marine Resources. Applications need to be submitted by 23 July 2018. [NOAA Fisheries 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:

12 June 1925...Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes. (USCG Historian's Office)
12 June 1991...On the same day that Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines awakened from its 635-year slumber, Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon province. Mudslides and flooding caused many deaths and when added to the impacts of Pinatubo left more than a million homeless. (The Weather Doctor)
13 June 1415...Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.
13 June 1881...The steamer USS Jeannette was crushed in Arctic ice pack north of Siberia as the 1879-1881 Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition under the command of Lieutenant Commander George Washington DeLong, USN, attempted to reach the North Pole by ship. (Naval Historical Center)
13 June 1972...Severe weather conditions over the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico began to converge and form a tropical depression that would become Hurricane Agnes over the next two weeks. This hurricane affected most of the eastern United States with the northeast being the hardest hit with heavy rainfall. (National Weather Service files)
13 June 1977...A tropical cyclone crossed the Arabian Sea from near the Laccadive Islands off southwest India and slammed into the island of Masirah, sultanate of Oman. Winds reached at least 104 mph and the 24-hour rainfall total was 16.95 inches. About 99% of buildings were damaged. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
14 June 1834...The first US patent for a practical underwater diving suit was issued to Leonard Norcross of Dixfield, ME. One month earlier, he tested his suit, an airtight leather outfit with a brass helmet connected via a rubber hose to an air bellows pump on a boat, in the Webb River. (Today in Science History)
15 June 1744...British Admiral George Anson returned to England after circumnavigating the globe in an expedition that lasted nearly four years.
15 June 1990...The first use of bioremediation in open waters was to treat an oil slick from the supertanker Mega Borg following an explosion and fire on 8 June 1990 approximately 70 miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX. The 3-day bioremediation tests were conducted using oil-metabolizing bacteria and nutrients. The results of the tests were inconclusive. (Today in Science History)
16 June 1896...A tsunami ravaged the coast of Japan killing between 22,000 and 27,000 people. (National Weather Service files)
16 June 1903...The famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen, began the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by leaving Oslo, Norway on the ship Gjøa. Amundsen and six others spent two winters exploring over land and ice from the place currently called Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada. (Wikipedia)
16-18 June 1972...The greatest three-day rainfall in Hong Kong since 1889 produced 25.68 inches and resulted in disastrous landslides and building collapses. More than 100 people died, while thousands were made homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
17 June 1579...During his "Famous Voyage," Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, claimed San Francisco Bay for England, calling the region along the northern California coast "Nova Albion" (meaning, New England). (Wikipedia)
17 June 1971...Hurricane Bridget sank the flagship of the Admiral of the Mexican Navy as it passed off the coast of Mexico near Acapulco. (National Weather Service files)