WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

18-22 June 2018

Items of Interest:

Happy Summer Solstice! The summer solstice will occur early Thursday morning (officially, 21 June 2018 at 1007 Z, or 6:07 AM EDT on the 21st, 5:07 AM CDT, etc.). At that time, the earth's spin axis is oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest north in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical summer, the British call the day the "Midsummer Day", as the apparent sun will begin its southward descent again. For essentially all locations in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight on Thursday will be the longest and the night will be the shortest of the year. Starting Friday, the length of darkness will begin to increase as we head toward the winter solstice on 21 December 2018 at 2223 Z. However, because the sun is not as perfect a time-keeper as a clock, the latest sunsets of the year at many mid-latitude locations will continue through about the first week of July -- a consequence of the earth being near aphelion (on 6 July 2018) and the apparent sun moving across the sky well to the north of the celestial equator.
World Hydrography Day celebration -- The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) will celebrate its annual World Hydrography Day on Thursday, 21 June 2018, the 97th-anniversary date on which the IHO was created in 1921. The theme for this year's celebration is "Bathymetry - the foundation for sustainable seas, oceans and waterways," which is intended to focus the public's awareness that a better understanding of the depth and shape of the seafloor is key to the success of all human activities in, on or under the sea. [International Hydrographic Organization]
Watching for high ocean tides along nation's coasts this summer -- The NOAA National Ocean Service recently released its High Tide Bulletin for Summer 2018, which provides information on when higher than average astronomical tides can be expected along the nation's Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts during the three months of June through August that constitutes the Northern Hemisphere's meteorological summer. During the past week (especially between 12 and 17 June) higher than average astronomical tides were expected along the Atlantic Coast, running from Maine southward to Florida's East Coast, and for the Pacific Coast, stretching from Washington southward to California. Higher than average tides were also expected surrounding Hawaii and the US Pacific Islands. A new moon that occurred last Wednesday (13 June), coupled with lunar perigee (when the Moon is closest to Earth) that occurred slightly more than 24 hours later (on Thursday) was responsible for the perigean spring tide that creates higher than normal high tides. Furthermore, tides should tend to increase along most of the coasts during this week approaching the time of the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice (this Thursday), due to the position of the Sun relative to the Earth's equator. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- During the past week, tropical cyclones were reported in both the eastern and western sections of the North Pacific basin:

In the eastern North Pacific Basin, Tropical Storm Aletta, which had become a major category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale near Mexico's Socorro Island at the end of the previous week, continued its travels toward the west-northwest at the start of last week. At that time it was located nearly 600 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. During the hours after sunrise on Monday, Aletta weakened to a tropical depression and then to a remnant low during the afternoon as it was approximately 700 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on former Hurricane Aletta.
Hurricane Bud, a category 1 hurricane, was moving toward the northwest approximately 200 miles offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico early last Monday. During the day, Bud continued to intensify rapidly, reaching category 4 status during the predawn hours of Tuesday as maximum sustained surface winds reached 130 mph. At that time, the center of Bud was located approximately 230 miles to the southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. Over the next two days, Bud began curving toward the north-northwest, as it slowly began weakening to become a tropical storm early Wednesday morning. By Thursday evening Bud brushed by Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula as a weak tropical storm. On Friday Bud traveled along the eastern coast of Baja California Sur and then across the Gulf of California, where it became a tropical depression and then a remnant low. As of Friday afternoon this remnant low was located 75 miles to the east of Loreto, Mexico. Heavy rains accompanying Bud were spreading northward across the Mexican state of Sonora and into the Southwestern United States. Additional information and satellite images for Hurricane Bud can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
The fourth tropical depression of 2017 in the basin formed last Thursday afternoon over the coastal waters offshore of Mexico approximately 100 miles to the south of Acapulco. On early Friday afternoon, this tropical depression had strengthened to become Tropical Storm Carlotta as it was moving toward the northeast, approximately 60 miles to the south-southeast of Acapulco. Carlotta continued to strengthen as it approached the Mexican coast on Saturday, reaching to within 20 miles of Acapulco by late evening. On Sunday Carlotta traveled toward the northwest, hugging the coast, and bringing flood-producing rains along the coast. During this time, Carlotta weakened to a tropical depression by early afternoon. As of Sunday evening Tropical Depression Carlotta was located approximately 55 miles to the south of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. Carlotta was expected weaken and degenerate into a remnant low by early Monday as it would continue to head toward the west-northwest, paralleling the coast. Check the NASA Hurricane Page for a satellite image and additional information on Tropical Storm Carlotta.
In the western North Pacific Ocean basin, Tropical Storm Maliksi continued traveling toward the northeast, well off the southern and eastern coasts of the main Japanese Islands. By early Tuesday (local time) Maliksi was transitioning into an extratropical cyclone as it was located approximately 280 miles to the east of Yokosuka, Japan. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery for Tropical Storm Maliksi.
As of midweek, the seventh tropical depression of the year, identified as Tropical Depression 7W (TD-7W) formed to the southwest of Taiwan. TD-7W traveled toward the east and then to the northeast, passing to the south and east of Taiwan and Okinawa by late in the week. This tropical depression then curved toward the east-northeast as it continued out over the open waters of the western North Pacific before becoming an extratropical cyclone by late last week. By then, this system was passing near the island of Omami Oshima. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for more information on TD-7W.
Late last week, another tropical depression developed behind TD-7W over the waters of the East China Sea to the southwest of Taiwan. As it traveled toward the northeast, this tropical depression strengthened as it crossed Taiwan. Eventually, this eighth tropical depression became Tropical Storm Gaemi early Saturday morning (local time) as it continued to travel toward Okinawa. Gaemi passed Okinawa on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by torrential rains and strong winds. By early Sunday, this system was turning into an extratropical cyclone as it moved away from Okinawa. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite imagery and additional information on Gaemi.

Hurricane outlook issued for the eastern North Pacific -- Several weeks ago, NOAA released its outlook for the upcoming 2018 hurricane season in the Eastern North Pacific basin (east of 140 degrees West longitude). The outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center suggests an 80% chance of a near-average or above-average season. Specifically, the chance of an above-average season is most likely (45 percent chance), while the chance of a near-average season has been set at 35 percent. The forecasters give a 20% chance of a below-average season. This outlook would call for a 70-percent chance of the formation of between 14 and 20 named tropical cyclones (hurricanes or tropical storms), with seven to twelve hurricanes. Between three and seven major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) were also envisioned. These anticipated numbers compare with the 30-year (1981-2010) averages of 15 named tropical cyclones per year that include eight hurricanes and as many as four major hurricanes. The forecasters base their outlook upon their feeling of a greater likelihood of ENSO-neutral conditions than El Niño throughout the hurricane season. In addition, they noted that near- or above-average sea-surface temperatures were to persist in the main hurricane formation region in the eastern waters of the tropical North Pacific. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
Report made on recurrent "nuisance" coastal flooding across nation during 2017 -- Scientists from NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services and from NCEI recently prepared an annual report entitled "2017 State of U.S. High Tide Flooding and a 2018 Outlook" that provides a review of the state of recurrent coastal tidal flooding in the U.S. considered "nuisance flooding." Nuisance flooding is defined as a situation when a water level measured at a NOAA water level gauge exceeds the local elevation threshold for minor impacts. The report indicates that in the 2017 meteorological year running from May 2017 through April 2018 the nationwide average number of high tide flooding days was the highest measured at 98 NOAA tide gauges, with a record of six flood days. In addition, more than 25 percent of the coastal locations tied or set new individual records for high tide flood days, with the most prevalent flooding found along the Northeast Atlantic and Western Gulf of Mexico Coasts. All-time records for annual-flood days were broken in 2017 at five cities (Boston, MA; Atlantic City, NJ; Sandy Hook, NJ; Sabine Pass, TX; and Galveston, TX), the result of active nor’easter and hurricane seasons and sea level rise. The portion of the report focusing upon the outlook for this upcoming year ending in April 2019 indicates that the frequency of daily flooding is expected to increase because of anticipated El Niño conditions and from long-term sea level rise trends. The forecasters envision that their projected increase in high tide flooding in 2018 may be as much as 60 percent higher across U.S. coastlines as compared to typical flooding approximately 20 years ago. [NOAA News]
El Niño watch is posted with updated El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion -- Forecasters at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) released their monthly El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion this past week. They reported an ENSO-neutral situation continued through May 2018, as sea surface temperatures (SST) were close to average across the east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. However, some warming of the subsurface waters have occurred. The other oceanic and atmospheric conditions also close to average, meaning a continuation of the ENSO-neutral status with neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions prevailing. The majority of the CPC and IRI models tend to favor a continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions through the remainder of Northern Hemisphere meteorological summer (June, July and August), while El Niño conditions were likely to develop during boreal autumn. The forecasters gave the chance for an El Niño during the fall at 50 percent, followed by an approximately 65 percent chance for development during Northern Hemisphere winter of 2018-19. Consequently, the CPC/IRI forecasters issued an El Niño watch as part of its ENSO Alert System Status. [NOAA Climate Prediction Center]
An ENSO blog was written by a contractor with CPC describing the ENSO-neutral conditions that have been found across the Pacific in May. why CPC and IRI forecasters are anticipating a continuation of through this Northern Hemisphere summer. She describes how the various models used by the forecasters are tending to suggest that a transition toward El Niño conditions were possible during this upcoming meteorological autumn season in the Northern Hemisphere (September through November). [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued their updated ENSO forecast, in which they reported that oceanic and atmospheric conditions during the last month suggested continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions. They noted that most of the international climate models that they use were indicating a continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions through Southern Hemisphere winter (June, July and August), with three of the eight models suggesting development of a possible El Niño during austral spring (September-November). Consequently, the Australian forecasters are keeping the Bureau's ENSO Outlook status as "Inactive" at this time. [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]
Major mission to explore deep waters off U.S. Southeast coast commences -- At the start of last week, the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer began the second leg of its telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition to collect critical baseline information about unknown and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Southeastern United States. This leg of the expedition, which will run through 2 July, is part of the “Windows to the Deep 2018: Exploration of the Southeast U.S. Continental Margin expedition.” Mapping will be made of the seafloor. Remotely operated vehicle dives will be conducted offshore Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina to depths ranging between approximately 800 to 13,000 feet). [NOAA News]
Team of U.S. and Indian scientists making oceanic and atmospheric observations in Indian Ocean -- During the last week a team of 20 NOAA scientists traveled to Goa, India to participate in the Second India-United States Colloquium on Earth Observations and Sciences for Society and Economy, and work with India's leading ocean, atmosphere, and fisheries scientists. During the last decade, the collaboration has resulted in the deployment of instrumented buoys as part of the "Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA)" that was designed to study the Indian Ocean’s role in the monsoons. These buoys have helped provide data on the Madden-Julian Oscillation that NOAA relies on for U.S. weather prediction with a two- to four-week lead time. [NOAA News]
World Ocean Database is a treasure trove of information on the oceans -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) through its Ocean Climate Laboratory is a major player in the development and maintenance of the World Ocean Database (WOD) that contains records about the ocean as far back as the ship logs and records of British Naval explorer Capt. James Cook in 1772. The archived digital data that can be accessed from WOD provide a good source of quality-controlled historical ocean profile data to the public as well as researchers in oceanography, meteorology, and climatology. The most recent version of this database, identified as the World Ocean Database 2013 (WOD13), contains a full set of quality controlled data that was used to create World Ocean Atlas 2013 (WOA13) and all updates to the database (April 2013 to present) with only initial quality control. The data, archived by NCEI, provide a broad array of records of temperature, salinity, nutrients, plankton, pH, and oxygen data, as well as several other oceanic and atmospheric variables. Availability of these WOD data has been expanded recently through cooperation with the International Oceanographic Data Exchange of UNESCO. [NOAA NCEI News]
Experience the nation's Marine Protected Areas -- The National Marine Protected Areas Center, a partnership between NOAA and the U.S. Department of the Interior that was established in 2000 to strengthen and connect the nation's diverse marine protected areas. A "marine protected area," or MPA, is a broad term for a park or other protected area that includes some marine or Great Lakes area. The public is encouraged to visit, explore and connect with the ocean in any MPA that can be located on the MPA Viewer, multimedia page and blog. [NOAA National Marine Protected Areas]
North-south transect of the Atlantic Ocean by repeated ship cruises show changes of anthropogenic carbon in ocean column since the 1980s -- Approximately one third of the carbon dioxide released by fossil fuel burning ultimately is sequestered in the global ocean. Over the last four decades, research cruises have been undertaken along a north-south transect in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean from Iceland southward to the Southern Ocean to measure the concentration of carbon dioxide generated by fossil fuel combustion absorbed in the Atlantic. Recent analysis of the data reveals the largest increases in absorbed carbon since the late 1980s have been in near surface waters of the middle and polar latitudes of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with smaller increases in tropical waters. Some of the largest increases were in the Northern Hemisphere, where the increases extended downward to a greater depth in the column. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Moon has helped lengthen Earth’s day over time -- Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory recently reported on their reconstruction of the history of the solar system characteristics, including the distance between the Earth and Moon over the last billion years. They used a statistical method that links astronomical theory with geological observation captured in the rock record to extend the record of ancient climate change associated with the Milankovitch cycles billions of years ago during Earth’s geologic past. (Milankovitch cycles are the periodic variations in the orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession of the equinox over thousands of years that are responsible for cyclic variations in solar radiation intercepted by Earth, which are responsible for rhythmic changes in global climate, such as the Ice Ages during the Pleistocene.) One of their discoveries was finding that a day on Earth approximately 1.4 billion years ago lasted just over 18 hours. This shorter day was caused in part because the Moon was closer than at present, which changed the way the Earth spun around its axis. [University of Wisconsin-Madison 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:

18 June 1903...Alaska's first coastal lighthouse, Scotch Cap Lighthouse, was lit. This light, which was also the first major lighthouse built by the U.S. outside the 48 coterminous states, was located near the west end of Unimak Island on the Pacific side of Unimak Pass, the main passage through the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea. This light in an octagonal wooden tower was replaced by a concrete lighthouse in 1940, which was destroyed by a tsunami in 1946, with the loss of the five crewmen stationed there. (USCG Historian's Office)
18 June 1875...A severe coastal storm (or possible hurricane) struck the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Eastport, ME reported wind gusts to 57 mph. (David Ludlum)
19 June 240 BC...On the summer solstice, Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.
19 June 1588...A powerful storm heavily damaged the Spanish Armada off the northwest tip of Spain. The Armada would continue to be weakened by storms, as well as attacks from the English, and would crumble before the end of the year. (National Weather Service files)
19-26 June 1972...Hurricane Agnes (a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale) moved onshore along the Florida Panhandle near Cape San Blas and Apalachicola with wind gusts to 80 mph, and eventually exited Maine on the 26^th. This hurricane moved northeast and joined with an upper level disturbance, producing from 10 to 20 inches of rain along its path along the Eastern Seaboard. In the Middle Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, 24-hour rainfall amounts were generally 8 to 12 inches, with up to 19 inches in extreme southwestern Schuylkill County. At Wilkes-Barre, PA the dike was breached destroying much of the town. Agnes was responsible for 125 deaths, mainly due to flooding from North Carolina to New York State, and total damage was estimated at more than $3 billion. Torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes resulted in one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. Agnes caused more damage than all other tropical cyclones in the previous six years combined (which included Celia and Camille). (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
20 June 1597...Willem Barents, the Dutch explorer who tried to search for the Northeast Passage, died in the Arctic off the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya when his ship became trapped in ice. (Wikipedia)
20 June 1819...The 320-ton paddle-wheel SS Savannah arrived in Liverpool, England to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, having left the port of Savannah, GA on 22 May. (InfoPlease Daily Almanac)
20 June 1940...The first successful west to east navigation of the Northwest Passage began at Vancouver, BC. (Wikipedia)
21 June 1791...A hurricane, called El Temporal de Barreto - the storm of Barreto, generated a monster ocean wave that carried off the coffin of a rich, but hated, count as he lay in state in his mansion near Havana, Cuba. (The Weather Doctor)
21 June 1886...A destructive hurricane hit the Apalachicola-Tallahassee area of Florida on the summer solstice. Extensive damage was done in Florida and throughout the southeast by this storm, which was the first hurricane of the year. Damage was due mainly to extremely high tides. (Intellicast)
21 June 1961...The first practical plant for the conversion of seawater to drinking water at Freeport, TX was dedicated when President John Kennedy pressed a switch installed in his Washington, DC office. The plant was capable of producing about a million gallons of water a day, supplying fresh water to Freeport at a cost of about $1.25 per thousand gallons. The large-scale evaporation method used then has now been replaced by reverse osmosis as special polymers are now used as filtering membranes. (Today in Science History)
22 June 1675...The Royal Greenwich Observatory was created by Royal Warrant in England by Charles II, with its practical astronomy serving as its primary mission, including navigation, timekeeping and the determination of star positions. In 1767 the observatory began publishing The Nautical Almanac, which established the longitude of Greenwich as a baseline for time calculations. The almanac's popularity among navigators led in part to the adoption (1884) of the Greenwich meridian as the Earth's prime meridian (0 degrees longitude) and the international time zones. (Today in Science History)
22 June 1948...Congress enacted Public Law 738, which authorized the operation of floating ocean stations for the purpose of providing search and rescue communication and air-navigation facilities, and meteorological services in such ocean areas as are regularly traversed by aircraft of the United States. (USCG Historian's Office)
23 June 1501...The Portuguese navigator, Pedro Alvares Cabral, returned to Portugal after a voyage during which he claimed Brazil for Portugal and then journeyed to India in search of pepper and spices. (Wikipedia)
23 June 1611...English navigator Henry Hudson was set adrift along with his son and seven loyal crew members in an open boat in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery; they were never seen again. He was on his fourth voyage and he had become famous for attempting to find a route from Europe to Asia via the Arctic Ocean. (Wikipedia)
23 June 1716...The Province of Massachusetts authorized erection of first lighthouse in America on Great Brewster Island, Boston Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
23 June 1938...The first "oceanarium" opened at Marineland in St. Augustine, FL. (Today in Science History)
24 June 1497...The Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni (John) Cabot, sailing in the service of England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland, claiming the continent for England. (Wikipedia)