WEEKLY WATER NEWS

3-7 December 2007

Water in the Earth System will return for Spring 2008 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 14 January 2008. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Water News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Water in the News:

• Eye on the tropics -- The only tropical cyclone activity last week was in the western North Pacific basin. Typhoon Mitag, which had become a category-2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale over the Philippine Sea before brushing the northern tip of Luzon, curved eastward and dissipated early over the western Pacific last week. Typhoon Hagibis, the other category-2 typhoon that moved west across the South China Sea toward Viet Nam reversed course and dissipated before reaching the Philippines on Tuesday of last week.
  A MODIS image obtained from NASA's Terra satellite shows the two typhoons flanking the Philippines at the start of last week. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  An image of the precipitation totals for 19-29 November 2007 across the South China Sea, the Philippines and the Philippines from these two typhoons was generated by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis based in part on data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  An image from the MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra satellite made within two days of the landfall of Typhoon on Luzon shows the effects of the torrential rain that produced flooding on this major Philippine island. A comparison of the region's rivers is provided with another Terra MODIS image made in early October. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  Two short-lived tropical depressions formed over the western Pacific last week. Tropical Depression 25W formed at the start of the week east of the Philippines, moved along a curved path to the northwest and then north, before dissipating one day after formation. Tropical Depression 26W formed east of Okinawa, but it was an organized system for less than 12 hours as it moved northward over the western Pacific.
• An official review of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season -- Last week, the National Hurricane Center issued its preliminary Tropical Weather Summary for the North Atlantic basin that includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, NOAA scientists released an initial review of the 2007 hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin that includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. A composite map of the hurricane and tropical storm tracks is provided. An early assessment was offered by forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center as to how this season compared with the NOAA seasonal forecasts of hurricane activity made earlier in 2007. [NOAA News]
  Note: Following its post-storm analysis (as a 11-page pdf file), the National Hurricane Center recently upgraded Tropical Storm Karen to hurricane status, since reevaluation of the wind data indicated minimum sustained near-surface winds had reached 75 mph as the tropical cyclone traveled across the tropical North Atlantic for at least 12 hours on 26 September 2007. Therefore, of the 14 named tropical cyclones that formed in the North Atlantic basin in 2007, six developed into hurricanes (with maximum sustained winds in excess of 74 mph), and two becoming major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale).
• Past hurricane counts appear reasonable -- The director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University recently reported that based upon his statistical model, the current climatological lists of numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes that developed annually across the Atlantic basin during the late 19th and early 20th centuries before aircraft and satellite surveillance does not appear to be a serious underestimate. [EurekAlert!]
• Seasonal swings detected in tropical rainfall -- Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have assembled nearly a decade-long data set collected by the sensors on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) to form a climatology of rainfall across the otherwise data-sparse tropics that shows daily rainfall rates across the region during the months of January and July. Seasonal variations in the tropical rainfall rates were apparent. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Snow in the Alps -- A MODIS image from a NASA satellite shows early November snow across the higher terrain of the Alps in Austria and Switzerland. [NOAA OSEI]
• Snow across west Texas -- An image from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite shows snow covering the ground across sections of west Texas and adjoining southeastern New Mexico, the result of a winter storm that passed across the region over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. [NOAA OSEI]
• Flooding in eastern Europe -- Images taken two weeks apart from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite provides an indication of the recent flooding that took place across eastern Greece, southeastern Bulgaria and western Turkey. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Antarctic mapping program could lead to discoveries -- Researchers from NASA, the US Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey recently unveiled a completed Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA), a high resolution map of that continent obtained from data collected from the fleet of NASA satellites. This image can be used by scientific expeditions to Antarctica. [NASA Looking at Earth] Images obtained from MODIS instruments show details of the Ferrar Glacier, in the Dry Valleys near McMurdo Station. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Tracking the melting on Greenland -- An image obtained from the microwave-frequency data obtained from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program shows the melt-day anomaly across Greenland during 2007, which indicates an increased rate of melting over the Greenland ice sheet as compared with the 1988-2006 average. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• National Ocean Awareness Campaign introduces "Sanctuary Sam" -- The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program recently announced that "Sanctuary Sam", a California sea lion at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL, would serve as the messenger for the program's new National Ocean Awareness Campaign designed to increase the nation's awareness and literacy of ocean issues. [NOAA News]
• Mobile Bay receives a NOAA PORTS® system -- Officials with NOAA's National Ocean Service recently announced that the Port of Mobile in southern Alabama has become the fourteenth location to receive PORTS® (Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System), a system operated by NOAA that provides real-time oceanographic and meteorological data to mariners. [NOAA News]
• Environmentally sensitive California delta is seen from space -- A high resolution image obtained from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows the structure of central California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a region that has endangered fish as well as increasing demands for water from neighboring urban areas and the major agricultural areas of the central valleys. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Development of low-cost clean water test receives grant -- In an attempt to reduce childhood deaths caused by waterborne disease in developing countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give $13 million to produce Aquatest that would be the world's first low-cost water quality test device. [US Water News Online]
• Yangtze River receives record pollution -- The Yangtze River Water Resources Commission recently reported that China's Yangtze River received record levels of domestic and industrial sewage during 2006. [US Water News Online]
• Fresher water could flow through older filters -- Researchers at the Applied Chemistry Unit of the Australian Water Quality Centre in Salisbury, South Australia have discovered that tap water passing through older water filters appears to have a fresher taste and odor. [EurekAlert!]
• Better membranes are developed for water treatment -- Researchers at the University of Illinois are developing new experimental polymer membranes for water treatment and drug delivery that are highly permeable and selective. [EurekAlert!]
• An international polar research ship could enter uncharted waters -- The European Science Federation, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Maritime Research in Germany and the Germany Federal Ministry of Research and Education are planning to build a polar research vessel called the Aurora Borealis that would be capable of crushing sea ice sideways and stay on station to drill holes in the seafloor some 5000 meters below the surface. However, legal issues need to be clarified as this state-of-the art vessel would be an international ship due to the contributions from several European countries. [European Science Foundation]
• Another Antarctic research season commences -- While the Northern Hemisphere enters the winter season, summer is approaching in the Southern Hemisphere, meaning the start of another research season across the Antarctica continent involving atmospheric, geologic and oceanic scientists from academia and governmental research agencies. This research season not only marks the midpoint of the current International Polar Year (IPY), but also the 50th anniversary of work in the Antarctic by Charles Bentley, a noted glaciologist in the Department of Geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [University of Wisconsin-Madison News]
  The German research vessel Polarstern has begun its voyage to the Lazarev Sea and the eastern part of the Weddell Sea to conduct a ten-week expedition that will study climate change and life in the Southern Ocean as part of this year's Antarctic research season. [EurekAlert!]
  Last week, a drilling team associated with the Antarctic Geological Drilling (ANDRILL) Program reached a 1000-meter mark in the rock core beneath the sea floor of McMurdo Sound, near the end of the planned extraction of a core that is hoped will provide a reconstruction of the climate over the last 20 million years since the middle Miocene. [EurekAlert!]
• Georgia farmers unhappy with Atlanta's water use -- Farmers across parched southwest Georgia who need water for maintaining their crops are becoming resentful of the demands on the same dwindling water supply placed by residents in the Atlanta metropolitan area. [US Water News Online]
• Observing the geological record from space -- A photograph taken of Venezuela's Isla Blanquilla by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows three separate terraces that contain rocks that date from the Cretaceous Period (146-65 million years ago) to the Paleocene Epoch (65-54.8 million years ago), as well as the records of the sea level fluctuations during the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago). [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Need is claimed for a better ocean observing system -- An international group of marine scientists called the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) warn human safety and prosperity need an improved ocean observing system to monitor the state of the oceans and help in the forecasting of adverse changes in the ocean. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Global Water News Watch -- Other water news sources can be obtained through the SAHRA Project at the University of Arizona [SAHRA Project]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

• 3-10 December 1926...Record rain fell on Yuma, AZ over a one week period. On the 4^th 1.10 inches of rain fell, and by the 10^th a total of 4.43 inches had fallen, to set an all-time December monthly record. The mean annual precipitation for Yuma is only 3.38 inches. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 December 1952...A remarkable display of sea smoke was seen in Hong Kong harbor. The sea-smoke, induced by a strong surge of arctic air, poured from the water of Kowloon Bay from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. The air temperature near the sea wall was 44 degrees. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 December 1982...Big Fork, AR received 14.06 inches of rain, setting a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the state. (NCDC)
• 4 December 1786...The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced 18 inches of snow at Morristown, NJ, and twenty inches of snow at New Haven, CT. It also resulted in high seas at Nantucket which did great damage. (David Ludlum)
• 4 December 1964...One of the worst ice storms on record was in progress across Massachusetts and eastern New York. Ice accretions reached 1.5 inches in some places. Well over 80,000 homes lost power. Some homes did not have power for 5 days. (Intellicast)
• 4-13 December 1991...Tropical Cyclone Val with gusts to 150 mph caused $700 million damage. Seventeen deaths were reported in American and Western Samoa, with 95 percent of the houses in Savaii either destroyed or badly damaged. Savaii was essentially hit twice by Val as the system completed a loop on the 8^th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 December 2003...A tropical depression became Tropical Storm Odette in the Caribbean well south of Kingston, Jamaica, becoming the first December tropical storm of record to form in the Caribbean Sea. Odette made landfall on near Cabo Falso, Dominican Republic on 6 December, causing eight deaths and destroying 35 percent of the banana crop. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5 December 1949...A typhoon struck fishing fleet off Korea; several thousand men reported dead. (Infoplease.com)
• 5-9 December 1952...Fog and industrial pollution combined to form the worst smog experienced by London, England. Approximately 1000 tons of dirt particles were trapped in the air. Water droplets and sulfur dioxide combined to form sulfuric acid droplets. As many as 4000 deaths resulted, mainly the old and the ill. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5-6 December 1968...A Genoa low (pressure system) brought heavy rain and snow to northern Italy. Venice received 4.21 inches of rain on the night of the 5^th-6^th, well above the December average rainfall of 2.40 inches. St. Mark's Square was flooded to a depth of 57 inches. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 December 1866...The first water supply tunnel for a U.S. city was completed for Chicago, IL. The Chicago Lake Tunnel extended 10,587 feet under Lake Michigan to a 5-foot inlet crib. The pumping station with the standpipe tower still stands at the intersection of Michigan Blvd and Chicago Ave., having escaped destruction in the 1871 Chicago fire. (Today in Science History)
• 6-8 December 1935...Severe flooding hit parts of the Houston, TX area. Eight persons were killed as one hundred city blocks were inundated. Satsuma reported 16.49 inches of rain. The Buffalo and White Oak Bayous crested on the 9th. (The Weather Channel)
• 6 December 1997...Between 4 to 8 inches fell in California's Orange County, the biggest rains in at least 70 years; Mission Viejo reported 10 inches. Areas such as the Rhine Channel in Newport Beach were so clogged with debris that they looked like landfills. Damage was estimated at $17.7 million. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 7-8 December 1703...A monstrous storm raked southern England and adjacent waters with winds in excess of 100 mph. Approximately 8000 deaths were the result of this storm, mostly at sea. Many naval and supply ships were anchored in harbors or in the English Channel. The Eddystone Lighthouse disappeared. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 7 December 1740...In early December two weeks of mild and rainy weather culminated in the worst flood in fifty years in the Lower Connecticut River Valley. The Merrimack River swelled to its highest level, and in Maine the raging waters swept away mills, carried off bridges, and ruined highways. (David Ludlum)
• 7 December 1987...Heavy rain fell across eastern Puerto Rico, with 19.41 inches reported at Las Piedras. Flooding caused $5 million damage. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 8 December 2002...Super-typhoon Pongsona hit Guam with sustained winds of 144 mph and gusts to 173 mph, along with a storm surge to 20 feet. The 40-mile wide diameter eye was over Anderson AFB for 2 hours. One indirect death and 193 injuries were attributed to the typhoon. Some bridge pavement was "scrapped off" by wind and wave action. Damage was estimated at $700 million. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 9 December 1786...A second great snowstorm in just five days brought another 15 inches of snow to Morristown, NJ, on top of the eight inches that fell on the 7^th and 8^th, and the 18 inches which fell on the 4th and 5th. The total snowfall for the week was thus 41 inches. New Haven, CT received 17 inches of new snow in the storm. Up to four feet of snow covered the ground in eastern Massachusetts following the storms. (9th-10th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 9 December 1917...A severe winter storm struck the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes Region. It produced 25 inches of snow and wind gusts to 78 mph at Buffalo, NY. The storm produced 26 inches of snow at Vevay, IN, with drifts fourteen feet high. By the 16th of the month, people could walk across the frozen Ohio River from Vevay into Kentucky. (8^th-9^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 9 December 1987...The fifth storm in nine days kept the northwestern U.S. wet and windy. Winds along the coast of Washington gusted to 75 mph at Oceans Shores and at Hoquiam, and the northern and central coastal mountains of Oregon were drenched with three inches of rain in ten hours, flooding some rivers. Snowfall totals in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State ranged up to 36 inches in the Methow Valley. High winds in Oregon blew a tree onto a moving automobile killing three persons and injuring two others at Mill City. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 9 December 1988...A winter storm blanketed the Southern and Central Appalachians with up to ten inches of snow. Arctic air invaded the north central U.S. bringing subzero cold to Minnesota and North Dakota. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 9 December 2003…A subtropical storm became Tropical Storm Peter approximately 700 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. With Tropical Storm Odette having formed in the Caribbean on the 4th, the development of Peter marked the first time since 1887 that two tropical storms formed in the Atlantic Basin in December. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)

Return to DataStreme WES Website

Prepared by AMS WES Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.