Weekly Ocean News

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

14-18 October 2019

This is Break Week for the Fall 2019 offering of this course. This Weekly Ocean News contains new information items and historical data, but the Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 6.

For Your Information

Celebrate Earth Science Week 2019 -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized this week (13-19 October 2019) as Earth Science Week 2019 to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 22nd annual Earth Science Week is “Geoscience Is for Everyone” that is designed to emphasize both the inclusive potential and the importance of the geosciences in the lives of all people. [American Geological Institute]
Observe Earth Observation Day -- On Tuesday 15 October 2019, Earth Observation Day (EOD) will be observed as a celebration of the NASA/USGS (US Geological Survey) Landsat mission. EOD is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational outreach event sponsored by AmericaView, a nationwide, university-based, and state-implemented consortium, and its partners. The goal of EOD is to engage students and teachers in remote sensing as an exciting and powerful educational tool. Lesson plans and educational resources for educators and students are available from the EOD website. AmericaView, a nationwide partnership of remote sensing scientists, claims that "Every day is Earth Observation Day!" [AmericaView]
International ShakeOut Day -- This Thursday, 17 October 2019, has been designated International ShakeOut Day, in which people and organizations around the world are encouraged to practice "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" to reduce injury and death during earthquakes. West Coast states that are prone to earthquakes, including California, Oregon and Washington, are providing information on how to evacuate, survive and recover from tsunamis that could be generated along the coast by the earthquakes. Along the East Coast, South Carolina is conducting Earthquake Awareness Week between 13 and 19 October that will include the Great Southeast ShakeOut on Thursday (17 October) morning.
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2019 Campaign for late October commences -- The eleventh in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2019 will commence this Saturday (19 October) and continue through Monday, 28 October. 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 constellations with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. These constellations are Pegasus in the Northern Hemisphere and Grus in 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 twelfth series in the 2019 campaign is scheduled for 18-27 November 2019. [GLOBE at Night]
Biomixing in ocean motion -- If you would like information on recent findings that indicate marine organisms contribute to motion in the ocean, please read this week's Supplemental Information…In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics -- Several named tropical cyclones traveled across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere during last week:
- In the North Atlantic basin (that includes the open North Atlantic, along with the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico) --
  - Subtropical Storm Melissa developed late last Friday morning from a relatively strong low pressure system that is often called a "nor'easter" nearly 200 miles to the south of Nantucket, MA. At that time, maximum sustained surface winds surrounding this system were determined to be 65 mph. Over the next day, Melissa experienced some weakening as it headed toward the southeast, away from the southern New England and Middle Atlantic coasts. However, strong winds, ocean swells, a storm surge and some coastal flooding associated with Melissa were reported along the U.S. East Coast. By Saturday evening, Subtropical Storm Melissa underwent a transition to a tropical storm as it had moved farther away from the coast, to a point approximately 305 miles to the southeast of Nantucket. Melissa began curving toward the east and then east-northeast Saturday night and into Sunday as it headed across the North Atlantic. Weakening continued as Tropical Storm Melissa was heading out across cooler waters of the North Atlantic. As of late Sunday night, Melissa remained a minimal tropical storm as it was continuing to travel toward the east-northeast, approximately 485 miles to the south-southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland. Melissa was forecast to turn toward the east on Monday and weaken, possibly becoming a post-tropical remnant low by early Monday. However, dangerous ocean swells should continue along the East Coasts of the U.S. and Atlantic Canada. The NASA Hurricane Blog has additional information on Tropical Storm Melissa.
    Editor's Note: A named subtropical storm, such as Subtropical Storm Melissa, is a cyclone (low pressure system) that exhibits characteristics of both a tropical system and an extratropical system, or a midlatitude storm, such as a nor'easter. EJH
- In the central North Pacific basin (located between the 140-degrees West meridian and the International Dateline) --
- In the western North Pacific basin (extending from the International Dateline westward to the Asian continent) --
  - Typhoon Hagibis, a category 2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, was traveling generally to the west toward Guam and the Mariana Islands at the start of last week. As it approached the uninhabited areas of the Mariana Islands, Hagibis underwent rapid intensification, becoming a Super Typhoon, equivalent of a category 5 typhoon as maximum sustained surface winds reached 160 mph. By early Tuesday, Hagibis passed over the Mariana Islands at peak intensity. Curving toward the west-northwest and then to the northwest after passing the Marianas, Hagibis weakened slightly to a high-end category 4 typhoon. However, traveling toward the north across the open western Pacific Ocean, it re-intensifed to category 5 status, maintaining this intensity for three days. By late in the week, Typhoon Hagibis began weakening as it approached the main Japanese Islands from the southwest. Hagibis made landfall as a category 2 typhoon this past Saturday on the Izu Peninsula of southeastern sections of Japan's Honshu Island. Maximum sustained surface winds were 100 mph. Hagibis became extratropical on Sunday as it traveled toward the northeast. As of Sunday, at least 35 people have been confirmed dead and 20 missing in Japan due to Hagibis, which was considered to be one of the strongest typhoons to hit Honshu in decades. Additional information and satellite images for Typhoon Hagibis are available on the NASA Hurricane Blog.
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion -- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) recently released their "El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion" that showed ENSO-neutral conditions in both the tropical oceans and atmosphere were observed during the month of September 2019, meaning that neither an El Niño or La Niña event was underway. While sea surface temperatures (SST) had increased to above-average levels across the western equatorial Pacific during this past month, near-average to below-average SST values were found in the eastern equatorial Pacific. In general, atmospheric and oceanic components of the system appeared to be consistent with an ENSO-neutral condition. Most of the available climate forecast models that are used by CPC and IRI indicate anticipated ENSO-neutral conditions to persist through the Northern Hemisphere's 2020 spring (March-May), which suggests an ENSO-neutral status. Therefore, forecasters at CPC are keeping the ENSO Alert System Status at its "Not Active" status. They consider ENSO-neutral conditions to be favored during the remainder of Northern Hemisphere autumn (September-November 2019) with an approximately 85 percent chance that would continue through boreal spring with a 55-60 percent chance. (Note: The criteria used for CPC's ENSO Alert System is available.).
An ENSO blog written by a NOAA research scientist describes in relatively plain terms why scientists are claiming that ENSO-neutral conditions were in effect across the equatorial Pacific in early October, even though SST anomalies (temperature departures for long-term averages) in a region of the central equatorial Pacific used to determine if an El Niño, or La Niña condition (identified as Niño 3.4) were slightly higher than the threshold that classifies an El Niño event. She shows with several graphics showing other indicators, such as the near-surface wind anomalies and the subsurface temperature anomalies across the equatorial Pacific. In addition, she describes how El Niño can influence tropical cyclone activity in both the Atlantic and Pacific basins. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
A detailed and more technical El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued an updated ENSO forecast from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, which is primarily for a region over the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. They reported continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions, as both atmospheric and oceanic components of the climate system were close to average. Since the current conditions and the majority of the international climate models point to a continuation of these ENSO-neutral conditions through Southern Hemisphere summer in early 2020, the Bureau's ENSO Outlook remains INACTIVE. [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]
A new ocean regional climatology is made available -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) recently released the "Southwest North Atlantic (SWNA) Regional Climatology," which is a collection of high-resolution quality-controlled temperature and salinity fields on standard depth levels from the sea surface to a depth of 4900 meters. The standard depth levels are at 5-meter increments from the surface down to 100 meters, a 25-meter increment to a depth of 500 meters, a 50-meter increment to the 2000 meter depth and a 100-meter interval at greater depths. This regional climatology, which joins the NCEI’s "Northwest Atlantic Regional Climatology," is based on temperature and salinity observations from the 2018 release of the World Ocean Database. The two regional climatologies provide essentially complete coverage of the Gulf Stream system, which influences climate from the east coast of North America to the west coast of Europe. Ocean climatologies, whether on the global or regional scales, are compilations of long-term averaged oceanic parameters of temperature or salinity. [NOAA NCEI News]
Riding the Alaskan bore tide wave -- A two-minute video shows surfers riding the wave produced by the well-known bore tide in southern Alaska's Turnagain Arm. This bore tide is a daily occurrence following low astronomical tide set up in Turnagain Arm, a long, narrow estuary, as the incoming tide clashes with the outgoing tide, resulting in a "surf wave" that can reach heights of six feet and travel at speeds to 15 mph. [WeatherNation]
Two new billion-dollar weather and climate disasters reported across nation in summer and fall of 2019 -- Scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) updated their national annual list of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters for 2019 last week to include two additional new billion-dollar disasters that occurred since July. These two events were Hurricane Dorian that hit the North Carolina coast in late August-early September and Tropical Storm Imelda that made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast in mid-September. As of the end of the first week of October, ten weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each had been recorded across the United States in 2019. In addition to the two recent tropical cyclone events, three flooding events in the Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas River Valleys and five severe convective thunderstorm events with tornadoes and large hail had occurred during the first half of the year. These ten events resulted in the deaths of 39 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted. According to NCEI, 2019 marks the fifth consecutive year (2015-2019) in which ten or more billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have impacted the nation. behind the 16 individual disasters in 2011. [NOAA Billion-Dollar Weather & Climate Disasters ]
Editor's Note: Two years ago NCEI scientists provided an explanation of how they calculate the costs incurred by the public from severe weather and climate events across the United States. These scientists are documenting and assessing the costs associated with hurricanes, drought, inland floods, severe local storms, wildfires, crop freeze events and winter storms. Input to their analysis is provided by a variety of public and private data sources. One of their products is the NCEI's list of U.S. billion-dollar disasters that dates back to 1980. A mapping tool is available. [NOAA NCEI News]
Scientist explains the "marine heat wave" -- A scientist at the University of Washington's Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, a NOAA cooperative institute, and the Washington State Climatologist, explains what is meant by a "marine heat wave." He was asked for an explanation as a large area of the North Pacific Ocean had warmed during this past year, resulting in above-normal temperatures off the West Coast of North America. This marine heat wave is similar to the one that developed between 2014 and 2016 and was known as "the Blob," representing the largest marine heat wave since NOAA satellites started keeping track in 1981. Large impacts on the West Coast marine environment and economy were felt by "the Blob". Unusual weather patterns appear to be responsible for development of a marine heat wave, with the warming of the surface either caused by more heat than usual going into the ocean, or in some cases, the amount of heat coming out of the ocean is being suppressed. [NOAA Research News] An animated series of weekly sea surface temperature anomaly maps of the North Pacific Ocean beginning in January 2019 shows the development of this Northeast Pacific Marine Heat Wave of 2019 during this past summer, stretching from the Gulf of Alaska southward to California and westward to Hawaii. [NOAA NESDIS]
A weather "time machine" is used to make historical reanalysis of the 1915 Galveston hurricane -- A international research team that is NOAA-funded recently published an article that describes the third update to their weather "time machine" that is identified as the 20th Century Reanalysis Project (20CRv3). This time machine is a tool that involves feeding historic weather observations into NOAA's Global Forecast System, a modern computer forecast model to reconstruct a high-resolution, four-dimensional reconstruction of the global weather for any day since 1836. The air temperature, pressure, winds, humidity, clouds and solar radiation are computed eight times a day for 28 pressure levels in the atmosphere. The researchers can use this time machine to diagnose the impacts of individual historical extreme weather events, such as the August 1915 Galveston hurricane, a major hurricane that hit Galveston, TX fifteen years after the infamous 1900 Galveston hurricane. [NOAA NCEI News] and [NOAA Research 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]

This Concept of the Week is repeated from last week.

Concept of the Week: Abyssal Storms

Until recently, ocean scientists thought of the deep ocean abyss as a dark and cold, but serene place where small particles rained gently onto the ocean floor. However, instruments lowered to the sea floor to measure ocean motion or currents and resulting mobilization of bottom sediments detected a much more active environment. Scientists found that bottom currents and abyssal storms occasionally scour the ocean bottom, generating moving clouds of suspended sediment. A surface current of 5 knots (250 cm/sec) is considered relatively strong. A bottom current of 1 knot (50 cm/sec) is ripping. Although this may be called an abyssal storm, the water motion pales by comparison to wind speeds in atmospheric storms.

Abyssal currents and storms apparently derive their energy from surface ocean currents. Wind-driven surface ocean currents flow about the margins of the ocean basins as gyres centered near 30 degrees latitude. (Refer to Figure 6.6 in your textbook.) Viewed from above, these subtropical gyres rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. For reasons given in Chapter 6 of your textbook and this week's Supplemental Information, surface currents flow faster, are narrower, and extend to greater depths on the western arm of the gyres. These are known as western boundary currents and include, for example, the Gulf Stream of the North Atlantic basin. Abyssal currents are also most vigorous on the western side of the ocean basins, moving along the base of the continental rise, which is on the order of several kilometers deep.

Abyssal storms may be linked to or may actually be eddies (rings) that occasionally break off from the main current of the Gulf Stream (and other western boundary currents). During an abyssal storm, the eddy or ring may actually reach to the bottom of the ocean where the velocity of a bottom current increases ten-fold to about 1.5 km (1 mi) per hr. While that is an unimpressive wind speed, water is much denser than air so that its erosive and sediment-transport capacity is significant even at 1.5 km per hr. At this higher speed, the suspended sediment load in the bottom current increases by a factor of ten. Abyssal storms scour the sea floor leaving behind long furrows in the sediment. After a few days to a few weeks, the current weakens or the eddy (ring) is reabsorbed into the main surface circulation and the suspended load settles to the ocean floor. In this way, abyssal storms can transport tons of sediment long distances, disrupting the orderly sequence of layers of deep-sea sediments. Scientists must take this disruption into account when interpreting the environmental significance of deep-sea sediment cores.

Historical Events

15 October 1947...A hurricane made a hairpin turn off the Georgia coast after being seeded with dry ice. The storm passed over Savannah and tracked inland through Georgia. (Intellicast)
15 October 1954...Hurricane Hazel struck the Carolina coastline near Cape Fear, NC. The hurricane (category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) demolished every pier along a 170-mile stretch from Myrtle Beach, SC to Cedar Island, NC, and obliterated rows of beach homes. At Long Beach, 300 homes vanished; no debris remained. Hurricane Hazel also destroyed 1500 homes as it made landfall with 17-ft tides. Winds between Myrtle Beach, SC and Cape Fear, NC gusted to 150 mph. Later, the remnants of Hazel moved northward into Ontario and became the most remembered storm in Canadian history. Winds gusted to 75 mph and as much as 7.2 inches of rain fell. Eighty people died, mostly from flooding in the Toronto area (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (The Weather Doctor)
15 October 1999...A waterspout (a tornado over water) moved onshore at Fort Lauderdale Beach, FL and blew out a plate glass window in a bar, injuring 8 patrons. The waterspout also overturned a vehicle and caused other significant damage on Los Olas Blvd. (Accord Weather Calendar)
16 October 1780...The most deadly Western Hemisphere hurricane on record raged across the Caribbean. It killed 22,000 people on the islands of Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. Thousands more died at sea. (National Weather Service files)
16 October 1877...Bjørn Helland-Hansen, the Norwegian pioneer of modern oceanography, was born on this date. His studies of the physical structure and dynamics of the ocean were instrumental in transforming oceanography from a descriptive science to one based on the principles of physics and chemistry. (Today in Science History)
16 October 1944...The 1944 Cuba - Florida hurricane, also known as the Pinar del Rio Hurricane, stuck western Cuba on this day as a Category 4 hurricane. This hurricane killed an estimated 300 people in Cuba and nine in Florida. This is currently the 7th costliest U.S. Atlantic hurricane with an estimated $40.6 billion in damage (adjusted to 2010 dollars). (National Weather Service files)
17 October 1997...Late on October 17, Super Typhoon Ivan attained its peak intensity with winds of 185 mph and an official barometric pressure of 905 millibars (26.72 inches of mercury) as it was traveling to the west-northwest toward Luzon in the Philippines. On the same day, while near peak intensity, Typhoon Joan was located about 1300 miles east of Typhoon Ivan. (National Weather Service files)
18 October 1910...Northeasterly winds as high as 70 mph (from a hurricane moving northward up the Florida peninsula) carried water out of Tampa Bay and the Hillsboro River. The water level lowered to nine feet below mean low water. Forty ships were grounded. (The Weather Channel)
18-19 October 2005...Hurricane Wilma developed a tiny, well-defined eye and began intensifying rapidly, reaching Category 5 strength with a record-setting pressure of 882 millibars (26.04 inches of mercury) by 19 October. The rapid intensification from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane in 24 hours was the fastest ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and the second-fastest worldwide, after Super Typhoon Forrest. (National Weather Service files)
19 October 1843...Captain Robert Stockton of the Princeton, the first screw propelled naval steamer, challenged the British merchant ship Great Western to a race off New York, which Princeton won easily. (Naval Historical Center)
20 October 1892...After ten years of difficult and costly construction, the St. George Reef Lighthouse, built on a rock lying six miles off the northern coast of California, midway between Capes Mendocino and Blanco, was first lighted. (USCG Historian's Office)
20 October 1956...A German physician, Dr. Hannes Lindemann, began a voyage on which he would become the first person to cross the Atlantic in the smallest craft. Using a double-seat folding kayak that was 17 feet in length and outfitted with an outrigger and sail, he made the trip from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands in 72 days. He had made a prior crossing in a 23-foot African dugout canoe. He later wrote a book, Alone at Sea, describing his experiences. (Today in Science History)
20 October 1984...The Monterey Bay Aquarium opened on Cannery Row in Monterey, CA as the largest artificial environment for marine life, housing 500 marine animals from at least 525 species. The aquarium also supports active research and conservation programs. (Today in Science History)
20 October 2004...Typhoon Tokage became the tenth typhoon to strike Japan that year. Rain accompanying this typhoon triggered flash floods that washed away entire hillsides, killing 55 people and leaving at least 24 people missing. (National Weather Service files)