Weekly Ocean News

28 October-1 November 2019

For Your Information

Watch for high ocean tides along nation's coasts early this week -- According to the NOAA National Ocean Service's High Tide Bulletin for Fall 2019, higher than average astronomical tides are expected this week, will continue through Wednesday (30 October) along sections of the nation's coasts. The high tides during this upcoming weekend will be found along the entire U.S. Atlantic Coast, running from Florida's Atlantic coast northward to Maine, the West Coast running from California northward to Washington, the coasts of Alaska and around the Hawaiian Islands. Lunar perigee (when the Moon is closest to Earth) occur early last Saturday morning (26 October), followed nearly 40 hours later by the new moon (when the Moon is between Earth and the Sun) on Sunday night. These two astronomical events are responsible for the perigean spring tide that creates higher than normal high tides. Furthermore, mean sea level is generally higher in the fall months along the Atlantic Coast due to warmer, expanding ocean water and changes in weather patterns. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2019 Campaign for late October is underway -- The eleventh in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2019 will 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]
"Falling back" next weekend -- Daylight Saving Time ends this coming Sunday morning (3 November) across essentially the entire nation -- the exceptions include Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and about 18 counties in Indiana. These changes have been mandated by the U.S. Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended Daylight Saving Time across the nation, with the start on the second Sunday in March (10 March 2019) and end on the first Sunday in November (3 November 2019). (Additional information is available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.)
Most of Canada also observes changes to Daylight Saving Time at the same time [National Research Council Canada]. In other words, following the old adage of "spring ahead, fall behind", you will need to turn your clocks ahead by one hour to conform with the local time observance.
What does this time change mean to you (other than earlier sunsets)? Contrary to a popular belief that has surfaced at times, the change from Standard to Daylight Saving Time does not add an extra hour of daylight to the day nor does it affect climate record keeping. The daily high and low temperatures, along with the 24-hour precipitation taken by essentially all stations across the nation are based upon local Standard time, not Daylight time. Therefore, the daily entries in the Preliminary Local Climate Data (CF6) for any of the more than 200 cities around the nation will remain on Standard time throughout the year. The daily climate data collected at those automatic weather stations operated by the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, together with all the cooperative weather observing stations around the nation are always made according to local standard time. NOTE: You may check the correct current official time at http://www.time.gov/.
U.S. survey foot dropped in favor of international survey foot for precise positioning -- As a part of the modernization of the National Spatial Reference System, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and NOAA's National Geodetic Survey announced that they are retiring the U.S. survey foot and standardizing on the international foot in 2022, which is a precise coordinate system that defines latitude, longitude, height, scale, gravity and orientation throughout the U.S for surveying purposes. The difference between the two systems is small, as one U.S. survey foot is expressed as a fraction (1200/3937 meters), while an international foot is expressed as a decimal (exactly 0.3048 meters), resulting in a difference of only one one-hundredth of a foot per mile. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Marine and tropical weather statements -- This week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth provides identifies those National Weather Service Forecast Centers that monitor the weather, prepare weather forecasts, and issue event-specific warnings or advisories for marine and coastal interests. The terminology used to identify the particular warnings, watches and advisories for marine interests and for tropical weather events is also discussed.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- Several named tropical cyclones traveled across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere during the last week:
- In the North Atlantic basin (that includes the open North Atlantic, along with the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico) --
  - Tropical Depression 17 (TD-17) formed last Friday morning over the waters of the western Gulf of Mexico, approximately 320 miles to the south-southwest of Lake Charles, LA. Traveling toward the north and then to the north-northeast, TD-17 strengthened to become Tropical Storm Olga on Friday afternoon as maximum sustained surface winds reached 40 mph. This tropical storm was relatively short-lived as six hours later (on Friday night) the National Hurricane Center classified Olga as having become a post-tropical cyclone, or remnant low as it merged with a midlatitude cold front. Despite losing its tropical storm classification, maximum sustained surface winds associated with this remnant low were 50 mph. At that time, the center of the remnant low was located 170 miles to the south-southeast of Lake Charles. Torrential rain along with gale-force winds, coastal flooding and severe weather in the form of tornadoes did move onshore along the central Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley into Saturday. The NASA Hurricane Blog has additional information on TD-17, which became Tropical Storm Olga.
  - Tropical Storm Pablo, the sixteenth named Atlantic tropical cyclone of 2019, formed late Friday evening (local time) over the northeast Atlantic waters approximately 325 miles to the west-southwest of the Azores. Pablo was moving toward the east-southeast at the time. Curving to the east on Saturday, this relatively small and compact tropical storm headed toward the eastern Azores, passing across these eastern islands late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Pablo continued strengthening on Sunday, becoming the sixth Atlantic hurricane of 2019 at midday on Sunday when maximum sustained surface winds reached 75 mph. At that time, the center of Pablo was located approximately 535 miles to the northeast of Terceira Island in the Azores. Hurricane Pablo experienced some additional strengthening late Sunday as it continued to travel toward the north-northeast. As of early Monday, Pablo had weakened to a tropical storm as it traveled over the cooler waters of the Far North Atlantic, over 700 miles to the northeast of Terceira Island, Azores. Forecasts indicate Pablo would continue weakening to become a post secondary tropical cyclone (remnant low) on Monday as it continues toward the north.
- In the western North Pacific basin (extending from the International Dateline westward to the Asian continent) --
- In the Northern Indian Ocean basin --
  - Tropical Cyclone 04A, which became known as Tropical Storm Kyarr, formed last Thursday (local time) over the waters of the Arabian Sea near the southwestern coast of India. Over the next day, this system, which had tropical-storm force winds, strengthened as it traveled toward the west-northwest. By midday Saturday, Kyarr strengthened to become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. During the remainder of Saturday and into Sunday Kyarr underwent rapid intensification as it began heading toward the west. By Sunday afternoon, Cyclone Kyarr had become a high-end category 4 tropical cyclones as maximum sustained surface winds reached 155 mph. As of early Monday, Cyclone Kyarr remained a category 4 tropical cyclone that was heading toward the west-northwest approximately 460 miles to the east-southeast of Masirah Island, an island in the Arabian Sea off the east coast of mainland Oman. This tropical cyclone should remain strong as it begins to curve toward the west and then to the southwest during this week. Consult the NASA Hurricane Blog for additional information on Cyclone Kyarr.
NASA's Precipitation Measurement Missions reaches two decades in measuring rain and snowfall from space -- NASA's Precipitation Measurement Missions (PMM) have collected rainfall and snowfall data from space for roughly 20 years, beginning first with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), which orbited Earth from 1997 to 2015. Its successor, the joint NASA-JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM), has been collecting data since 2014. Beginning in 2019, NASA scientists can access PMM's entire record from TRMM and GPM as one data set. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Watching the expanse of abnormally warm surface waters over the North Pacific Ocean -- An ENSO Blog was posted by a meteorologist at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center that focuses upon the expanse of unusually warm waters across most of the North Pacific Ocean. She provides a map of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (or SST departures from the 1981-2010 averages) for the month of September 2010 across the entire Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere (along with the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in a portion of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Alaska, northwest Canada and Far East Russia). She notes that this color-coded map shows large areas across the northern and eastern sections of the Pacific outside of the tropics with above average SST-anomalies during September (as indicated by the orange and red colors on the map). Her colleagues at NOAA Fisheries are calling the abnormally warm waters off the West Coast of North America and around Alaska a "marine heat wave" that is reminiscent of "The Blob," another expansive marine heat wave across the between 2014-2016. That Blob episode had serious detrimental impacts on the West Coast marine environment and economy. While the tropical Pacific currently is experiencing ENSO-neutral conditions, a marine heat wave could enhance the chance of an El Niño event next year. [NOAA NCEI News]
Efforts are made to identify and protect essential fish habitat -- In observance of October as being National Seafood Month, NOAA Fisheries posted a feature story detailing their efforts at identifying and protecting essential fish habitat—areas that fish call home. By doing so, the public should be assured of having sustainable seafood for dinner. [NOAA Fisheries Feature Story]
Awards given for bycatch reduction engineering efforts -- NOAA Fisheries recently awarded more than $2.3 million to partners around the nation to support innovative bycatch reduction research projects through its 2019 Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. [NOAA Fisheries Feature Story]
Winners of the 2019 "Get into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest" announced -- NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries recently released the names of the photographers and their photographs they made in the marine sanctuaries to the 2019 "Get into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest." The best three photographs were selected for the categories of Sanctuary Views, Sanctuary Life and Sanctuary Recreation. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
Extreme maritime weather is addressed in an international meeting -- During the past week (23-25 October), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) held the first joint "Symposium on Extreme Maritime Weather: Towards Safety of Life at Sea and a Sustainable Blue Economy" at the IMO headquarters in London. Approximately 200 stakeholders from shipping, offshore industry, ports and harbors, coast guards, insurance providers and the met-ocean community attended this meeting. WMO stressed identification of best practices and improvement of services for safety and risk reduction, emergency response, sustainable shipping practices and greater collection and sharing of ship observations. [WMO News]
Tiny airborne particles found to brighten clouds -- Scientists participating in the Atmospheric Tomography Mission report that a global belt of particle formation is making clouds over the tropics to appear brighter, serving to reflect away more sunlight. Gases transported to high altitudes by deep convective clouds in the tropics formed large numbers of very small aerosol particles in a process called gas-to-particle conversion. One of the NOAA researchers estimates that this cloud-brightening process could occur over 40 percent of the Earth's surface, which is significant and calls into question whether climate models are accurately representing clouds' cooling effect. The Atmospheric Tomography Mission has been an unprecedented airborne chemistry research campaign designed to sample the atmosphere over the middle of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory. [NOAA Research News]
A warming climate could result in more frequent extreme El Niño events -- A team of international climate researchers recently reported that since the late 1970's, changing climate conditions appear to have shifted the El Niño onset location from the eastern Pacific to the western Pacific and have caused more frequent extreme El Niño events. The researchers examined details of 33 El Niño events from 1901 to 2017, determining the onset location of the warming for each event, its evolution and its ultimate strength. The team foresees continued warming over the western Pacific warm pool should create conditions that will trigger more extreme El Niño events in the future. [University of Hawai'i News]
Investigating how satellite imagery help weather forecasters track winter weather -- With winter storms tracking across the West, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) recently posted a feature describing how satellite imagery obtained from sensors on NOAA's fleet of operational satellites are used by forecasters to assess current weather as winter storms move across the nation and then adjust their forecasts to inform the public of potential hazards. A set of animated satellite images are provided. NOAA has the GOES-East and GOES-West (also known as GOES-16 and GOES-17, respectively) satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Several of the sensors onboard these two satellites that are extremely useful to forecasters are the 16-band Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The ABI helps distinguish between clouds, snow-covered ground and sea ice, which is especially useful along the coast of Alaska. The GLM monitors lightning that would represent locations of thundersnow, which would create intense snowfall rates in what is known as "snowbursts." The two NOAA's polar orbiting satellites, NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP, that are collectively called the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), carry the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). This VIIRS features continuous multi-band, high-resolution imaging capabilities, including a unique detector for visible imagery at night, called the Day/Night Band. Another sensor onboard these two JPSS spacecraft is the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) that provides a vertical profile of atmospheric temperature and humidity data for operational weather and climate applications. [NOAA NESDIS]
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]

Concept of the Week: Loss of Louisiana's Coast

According to the Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force, Louisiana has been losing its coastal wetlands (bayous, marshes, and swamps) to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate of about 65 to 100 square km (25 to 38 square mi) per year for the past several decades. This loss adversely affects fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and makes the coastal zone more vulnerable to storm surges such as that produced by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Since the early 1930s, the state's coastal wetlands have shrunk by an area equivalent to the state of Delaware. According to USGS estimates, an additional 1800 square km (700 square mi) could be lost by mid-century. The price tag for reversing this trend, restoring some marshes, and protecting the remaining 15,000 square km (5800 square mi) of wetlands could top $14 billion and take decades to complete. Many people argue that the value of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is well worth the expense.

As much as 75% of the fish and other marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico depend on Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetlands are a nursery for commercially important catches of shrimp, crawfish, blue crab, and oysters. It is a food source for larger fish including yellow fin tuna, red snapper, and swordfish. In 2003, about three-quarters of the nation's fish and shellfish catch by weight came from Louisiana's waters. In addition, the wetlands are a stopover for millions of birds migrating between North and Central/South America. Furthermore, wetlands and associated barrier islands protect the ports, buildings, and other coastal zone structures from storm surges. Wetlands are particularly important in buffering the levees surrounding New Orleans, much of which is below sea level.

Many factors contribute to the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. Thousands of kilometers of pipelines transporting oil and natural gas through the marshes plus the extensive network of navigation channels allow saltwater to intrude the wetlands. Increased salinity of the originally fresh or brackish waters kill wetland grasses, shrubs, and other vegetation that anchor soil in place. The canals also allow tidal currents to flow farther inland, accelerating erosion of wetland soils. The most important factor, however, is the consequence of flood control structures (levees) constructed along the banks of the Mississippi River. Levees constrict the flow of the river so that waters and suspended sediment discharge rapidly into the Gulf. Deprived of a continuous input of sediments and vegetation-supporting nutrients, existing sediments compact, wetlands subside and Gulf waters invade the wetlands. With the anticipated continued rise in sea level due to global climate change (discussed in Chapter 12 of your textbook), erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetland may accelerate in the future.

Plans to reverse the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands (the Coast 2005 plan and the Louisiana Coastal Area plan) seek to restore the structure and function of coastal wetlands. One proposal is to breach some levees along the lower Mississippi. This partial diversion of the Mississippi would increase the supply of sediments to the wetlands. Closing or installing locks on some navigation canals would reduce saltwater intrusion. In addition, dredged sediment would be used to re-build wetlands and restore barrier islands.

Historical Events:

28 October 1492...The famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, landed on Cuba. (Wikipedia)
28 October 1991...Typhoon Thelma devastated the Philippines. Reports indicated that 6000 people died by catastrophic events related to the storm including dam failure, landslides, and extensive flash flooding. The greatest number of casualties occurred on Leyte Island where an 8-ft storm surge struck Ormoc, accounting for over 3000 fatalities. (The Weather Doctor)
29 October 1867...A hurricane struck Puerto Rico, sinking 50 ships and killing over a thousand people along its path. This is still one of the strongest hurricanes in Puerto Rico's history. (National Weather Service files)
29 October 1999...Tropical Cyclone 5B, with sustained winds of 155 mph, made landfall at Paradwip (Orissa, India). A storm surge of at least 20-ft height swept at least 12 mi inland. This is the strongest tropical cyclone ever record in the North Indian Ocean. More than 10,000 people were killed. With 2 million homes either damaged or destroyed, 35 million people were left homeless. Damage from this tropical cyclone was $1.5 billion. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
29 October 2012...Hurricane Sandy roared into the New Jersey shore bringing 80-mph winds and 30-foot waves to the Atlantic Seaboard from Chesapeake Bay to New England. As many as 148 fatalities were directly attributed to Sandy and millions were without electricity, some for up to 3 weeks after the storm. (National Weather Service files)
30 October-1 November 1991...After absorbing Hurricane Grace on the 29^th, an intense ocean storm took an unusual course and moved westward along 40 degrees north latitude and battered eastern New England with high winds and tides. Winds had already been gusting over 50 mph along the coast 2 days before, so seas and tides were very high. Major coastal flooding and beach erosion occurred all along the New England, New York, and New Jersey coasts. Over 1000 homes were damaged or destroyed with tides 4 to 7 ft above normal. Wind gusts reached 78 mph at Chatham, MA and 74 mph at Gloucester, MA. A ship east of New England reported a 63-ft wave. Total damage from the storm was $200 million. On 1 November this ocean storm underwent a remarkable transformation. Convection developed and rapidly wound around the storm center and an eye became visible on satellite imagery. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft found a small but intense circulation with maximum winds of 75 mph. This evolution from a large extratropical low to a small hurricane is rare but not unprecedented. (Intellicast)
31 October 1874...A waterspout (a tornado-like vortex that travels over water) formed over Lake Erie and reached the lakeshore approximately 0.5 mi west of Buffalo, NY. Upon reaching the shore, it dissipated, scattering sand in all directions. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
31 October 1876...The Great Backerganj, also known as the Bengal cyclone of 1876 struck Bangladesh, then part of the province of Bengal in British India on this day. A maximum wind speed of 137 mph along with a storm surge of 10 to 45 feet inundated the coastal region. This storm likely caused 200,000 casualties along with displacing thousands of other individuals. (National Weather Service files)
1 November 1521...Four ships in the fleet commanded by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan began sailing through the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, now known as the Strait of Magellan. Because this passage began on All Saints Day, Magellan initially called the 373-mile long passage, the Estreito (Canal) de Todos los Santos, or "All Saints' Channel". (Wikipedia)
1 November 1755...Lisbon, Portugal was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people. (Wikipedia)
1 November 1859...The current Cape Lookout, NC lighthouse was lit for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for nineteen miles. (Wikipedia)
1 November 1861...A hurricane near Cape Hatteras, NC battered a Union fleet of ships attacking Carolina ports, and produced high tides and high winds in New York State and New England. (David Ludlum)
1 November 1884...Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was nearly unanimously adopted at a meeting of 25 nations at the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC. This time is also called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. At that time, the International Date Line was also drawn and 24 time zones created. (Today in Science History)
2 November 1493...Explorer Christopher Columbus first sighted the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.
2 November 1743...A hurricane off the eastern coast of the United States proved Ben Franklin's hypothesis that storms off the coast move in a northeasterly direction. The storm hit Franklin's residence in Philadelphia before striking a friend's house in Boston, despite winds at Philadelphia coming from the northeast. Franklin then correctly surmised that storms do not necessarily follow winds that are felt at the surface. (National Weather Service files)
3 November 1975...The North Sea pipeline, Firth of Forth, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The first oil was piped ashore from the North Sea at Peterhead, Scotland in a pipe that ran from British Petroleum's "Forties Field" for 110 miles along the seabed and then 130 miles to the oil refinery at Grangemouth. The field was discovered by the drilling rig Sea Quest in October 1970. (Today in Science History)