Weekly Ocean News

WEEK SEVEN: 21-25 October 2013

For Your Information

Opportunity for Teachers: The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Teacher at Sea 2014 Field Season program is now accepting applications until the end of business on 18 November 2013. Gain your "sea legs" and first-hand experience in one-week to one-month voyages. For more information, or to apply, see http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov
"ClimateChangeLive" distance learning adventure webinar scheduled for this week -- The third in a series of seven webinars will be available between 7:30 and 9:00 PM this coming Wednesday, 23 October 2013. The series of webinars is designed to raise awareness and understanding of climate change science and is aligned to national science education standards. The collection of science-based, climate education resources and programs have been gathered from at least 19 federal agency and NGO partners that include the US Forest Service, NOAA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The third webinar scheduled for this Wednesday is "Teaching and Communicating About Climate Change." Check http://climatechangelive.org/ for registration details.
Hurricane preparedness - During this coming week (20-26 October 2012) American Samoa will be observing Samoa Hurricane Awareness Week.
Oceanographic expeditions that made an impact -- This week's Supplemental Information ... In Greater Depth provides a historical perspective of some of the oceanographic expeditions that made an impact upon science, especially in terms of oceanography.
Nighttime picture from space shows the Big Apple and Long Island Sound -- A nighttime digital photograph made by an astronaut on the International Space Station on 20 September 2013 shows the lights of the New York City metropolitan area along with the waters of Long Island Sound and the nearby Atlantic Ocean that are devoid of lights. This recent photograph comes nearly 11 months after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coast and caused widespread destruction. In addition to the widespread array of lights, fog is visible in some of the river valleys. [NASA Earth Observatory]

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics --- Several named tropical cyclones developed across the ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere during the last week:

In the North Atlantic basin, no named tropical cyclones formed, although several areas of disturbed tropical weather with rainshowers and thunderstorms were detected.
In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Octave reached the western coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula late Monday after traveling to the north and then northeast over the previous weekend. Weakening to a tropical depression, Octave traveled to the east across the Baja and then to the northeast across the Gulf of California on Tuesday. Tropical Depression Octave made landfall over mainland Mexico on Tuesday afternoon and degenerated into a remnant low. However, locally heavy rain associated with Octave fell across sections of northern Mexico. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and a satellite image on Tropical Storm Octave.
Early last week, Tropical Storm Priscilla developed quickly approximately 700 miles to the southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Over the following three days this tropical storm traveled to the north and then west-northwest on a track that took it away from the Mexican coast. By late week, Priscilla weakened into tropical depression and eventually dissipated over the open waters of the eastern North Pacific Ocean. For satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Priscilla, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
During the late night hours of this past Saturday, Tropical Storm Raymond formed from a tropical depression off the southwestern Mexican coast approximately 200 miles to the south of Acapulco. Raymond, the seventeenth named tropical cyclone of the 2013 eastern Pacific hurricane season, was heading toward the northwest on Sunday. Forecasts indicated that Raymond could intensify and possibly become a hurricane on Monday as it would take an erratic track to the north toward the western coast of Mexico.
In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Nari traveled west across the South China Sea after crossing the island of Luzon in the Philippines over the previous weekend. By Tuesday, Typhoon Nari had made landfall along the coast of Vietnam near Da Nang. At one time, Typhoon Nari had become a category 3 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
Typhoon Wipha, which had intensified to become a category 4 typhoon one week ago Sunday (local time), as it traveled toward the northwest and then north well off the eastern coast of Asia. Turning to the northeast early last week, Typhoon Wipha weakened and then lost its tropical characteristics, becoming a midlatitude storm (or extratropical cyclone) as it passed close to Japan. This system brought strong winds, heavy rains and landslides to sections of Japan, resulting in road closures, building damage, and the deaths of at least 18 people. Eventually, the post-cyclone remnants of Typhoon Wipha moved across Alaska's western Aleutian Island chain and into the Bering Sea. Strong southerly winds brought rain and unseasonably mild weather to sections of mainland Alaska last week. Satellite images and additional information on Typhoon Wipha and its post-tropical cyclone low can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
At midweek, a tropical depression formed over the western North Pacific near Guam, quickly becoming a tropical storm and then Typhoon Francisco as it initially traveled to the west-southwest and then west. Turning to the north-northwest, Typhoon Francisco became a super typhoon as maximum sustained surface wind speeds exceeded 150 mph by the start of this past weekend. Super Typhoon Francisco became a category 5 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale during the weekend as maximum sustained winds reached at least 160 mph. Current forecasts indicate that Francisco would approach southern Japan by the middle of next week. Some slight weakening was anticipated. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite images on Super Typhoon Francisco.
Over this past weekend, two tropical depressions formed over the western Pacific. One of these systems, identified as Tropical Depression 27W, was relatively short-lived as it survived for slightly more than 24 hours as it traveled to the northwest, passing to the northeast of the Northern Marianna Islands. The second system, called Tropical Depression 28W, formed farther to the east and was projected to take a track to the northwest also to the northeast of the Mariannas.
Although the weather across the northern Indian basin was quiet last week, residents across northeastern India were recovering from the landfall of Cyclone Phailin that traveled across the Bay of Bengal and made landfall one week ago Sunday along the northeastern coast of India, with the loss of at least 17 lives. Before making landfall, Phailin had intensified to become a category 5 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as maximum sustained surface winds exceeded 160 mph. This cyclone is considered to be one of the strongest tropical cyclones to hit India in decades. Additional information along with satellite imagery on Cyclone Phailin is available from the NASA Hurricane Page.

The possibility of storms causing damage similar to Sandy is pondered -- A geologist at Tufts University foresees the possibility of major damage to sections of the Middle Atlantic Coast could occur from future storms that would be even smaller than Sandy. He warns that with rising sea levels, smaller and weaker storms approaching the coasts of New York and New Jersey could cause significant coastal flooding and associated damage. He along with colleagues has researched the change in sea level and the flooding that occurred with seven historically damaging hurricanes in New York since 1788. The researchers note two factors for the rising sea levels along the Middle Atlantic Coast: one being natural glacio-isostatic adjustment, while the second factor involves the melting of the ice-covered terrain of Greenland and Antarctic as well as the thermal expansion of ocean waters. [Tufts Now]
Ocean and coastal observing technology receives a financial award -- At the end of last month, NOAA awarded $27.2 million to 14 organizations in order to sustain current critical ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes observing efforts and to support innovative marine sensor technologies designed to increase understanding of the coastal and marine environment. The funding is through the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®), a federal, regional, and private-sector partnership. [NOAA News]
Antarctic sea ice reached record maximum extent -- Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center reported that in late September 2013, the ice surrounding Antarctica reached its annual winter maximum and set a new record in terms of the sea ice extent since satellite surveillance began in 1979. A map created from data collected from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) sensor on Japan's Global Change Observation Mission 1st-Water (GCOM-W1) satellite shows the sea ice extent around Antarctica on 22 September 2013. This year's record extent surpasses the previous record high winter maximum set last year (2012). [NASA Earth Observatory]
Thousands of walruses come ashore in northwestern Alaska -- According to NOAA's annual aerial survey of arctic marine mammals, as many as 10,000 walruses have come onshore since mid-September along one of northwestern Alaska's barrier island in the Chukchi Sea near Point Lay. Apparently, these walruses came onshore as the ice over the shallow water disappeared due to recent warming. [The Washington Post]
Climate change by end of 21st century could undermine world ocean systems -- Scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa are warning that ocean biogeochemical changes triggered by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity may cascade through marine habitats and organisms, penetrating to the deep ocean. The changes in climate by the year 2100 due to these emissions place marine ecosystems globally under a high risk of degradation and would create human hardships. [University of Hawaii Manoa News]
As oceans warm, ocean plankton and local fisheries could head for extinction -- Researchers from Australia's Deakin University and the United Kingdom's Swansea University have found that a species of cold water plankton in the North Atlantic, which represent a vital food source for fish such as cod and hake, is in decline as the oceans warm. Inevitably, this decline in plankton will put pressure on the fisheries that rely on abundant supplies of the ocean fish. The researchers based warning on their analysis of a 50-year time series from the North Atlantic on the distribution and abundance of two very common but contrasting species of ocean plankton, Calanus helgolandicus that lives in warmer water and Calanus finmarchicus that lives in cold water. [Deakin University News]
Pacific Ocean's temperature appears to influence US tornado activity -- Scientists at the University of Missouri examined the examined the relationship between tornadoes and a climate phenomenon called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), finding that the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean could help predict the type and location of tornado activity in the United States. Using more than 56,000 tornado events from 1950 through 2011, they found that when sea surface temperatures in the Pacific were above average, approximately 20 percent more tornadoes occurred that were rated EF–2 to EF–5 on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale. They also found that when sea surface temperatures were above average, many of the tornadoes were located to the north and west of Tornado Alley across the nation's midsection, but with below average sea surface temperatures, more tornadoes tracked to the east and south of the traditional Tornado Alley. [Research at Mizzou News]
Abundant quantities of oxygen does not necessarily lead to evolution of advanced life -- An international team of researchers from Denmark, Sweden and France has shown that the oxygen content of the oceans and atmosphere on planet Earth approximately 2.1 billion years ago had risen dramatically and was probably the same as at approximately 500 million years ago when life exploded across the planet as part of the Cambrian explosion. The lag between the earlier explosion in oxygen concentrations and that of life may be due to length of time for complex multicellular life forms to develop from simple single-cell forms of life. [University of Southern Denmark]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Seiche Model

A seiche (pronounced "say-sh") is a rhythmic oscillation of water in an enclosed basin (e.g., bathtub, lake, or reservoir) or a partially enclosed coastal inlet (e.g., bay, harbor, or estuary). With this oscillation, the water level rises at one end of a basin while simultaneously dropping at the other end. A seiche episode may last from a few minutes to a few days. (Refer to pages 156-157 in your textbook for more on seiches.)

With a typical seiche in an enclosed basin, the water level near the center does not change at all but that is where the water exhibits its greatest horizontal movement; this is the location of a node. At either end of an enclosed basin, vertical motion of the water surface is greatest (with minimal horizontal movement of water); these are locations of antinodes. The motion of the water surface during a seiche is somewhat like that of a seesaw: The balance point of the seesaw does not move up or down (analogous to a node) while people seated at either end of the seesaw move up and down (analogous to an antinode).

Go to the University of Delaware's Seiche Calculator at http://www.coastal.udel.edu/faculty/rad/seiche.html. Set the "Modal Number" to 1 and then press "Calculate" for a graphical simulation of a seiche in an enclosed basin.

Partially enclosed basins usually have a node located at the mouth (rather than near the center) and an antinode at the landward end. Go to the Seiche Calculator, set the "Modal Number" to 0.5 and then press "Calculate" for a simulation of a seiche in a basin open to the right. Furthermore, some basins are complex and have multiple nodes and antinodes; these can be simulated on the Seiche Calculator by selecting different values of "Modal Number" greater than one.

The natural period of a seiche depends on the length and depth of the basin and generally ranges from minutes to hours. The period is directly proportional to basin length. For example, the natural period of a seiche in a small pond is considerably less than its period in a large coastal inlet. Also, for the same basin, the natural period is inversely proportional to water depth; that is, the period shortens as water deepens. Using the Seiche Calculator, you may wish to experiment with different basin lengths and depths. Conversely, one can determine the average depth of a lake by determining the period of the seiche and the length of the lake.

Concept of the Week: Questions

In an enclosed basin the node of a seiche is located [(at either end) (near the center)] of the basin.
The natural period of a seiche [(depends on) (is independent of)] the size of an enclosed basin.

Historical Events:

21 October 1580...Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan on his famous circumnavigation voyage of the globe reached Cape Virgenes and the strait at the tip of South America that now bears his name. Only three ships entered the 373-mile long passage separating Tierra del Fuego (land of fire) and the continental mainland. Navigating the treacherous strait in 38 days, the expedition entered the South Pacific Ocean, which Magellan named "Mar Pacifico" for the relatively tranquil seas that he found. However, one ship had been wrecked and another deserted. (The History Channel)
21-26 October 1998...Hurricane Mitch, a category 5 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), developed as a tropical depression over the southwestern Caribbean Sea about 360 mi south of Kingston, Jamaica on the 21^st. It would intensify over the next few days to become the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, on the 24^th. By the 26^th, Mitch finally dissipated after remaining a category 5 hurricane for 33 hours. Estimated rainfall totals of up to 75 in. caused devastating flooding and mudslides in Honduras and Nicaragua for days. Estimated death toll from this hurricane was more than 11,000, the worst since 1780. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord Weather Calendar)
22 October 1988...A "nor'easter" swept across the coast of New England. Winds gusted to 75 mph, and large waves and high tides caused extensive shoreline flooding. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
23-24 October 1918...The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia carrying miners from the Yukon and Alaska became stranded on Vanderbilt Reef along coastal British Columbia. A strong northerly gale hampered rescue attempts, and the next day, the ship sank with the loss of the 268 passengers and 75 crewmen onboard. (The Weather Doctor)
25 October 1859...The Royal Charter Storm, named after the loss of the fully rigged ship Royal Charter off the coast of Anglesey, England, drowned about 500 people, along with the loss of gold bullion. The ship was one of over 200 vessels wrecked between 21 October and 2 November, with the loss of around 800 lives. This tragedy led to the introduction of gale warnings in June 1860. (The Weather Doctor)
25 October 1941...South Greenland Patrol expanded to include three cutters of the Northeast Greenland Patrol and form the Greenland Patrol. (USCG Historian's Office)
25-26 October 1980...The combination of unusually high tides and southeasterly winds gusting to 75 mph generated waves with heights to 25 ft, resulting in serious flooding, beach erosion and sea wall damage along the Maine coast. Wind damage was considerable and as many as 100,000 homes were without power for up to 40 hrs. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
27 October 1728...Captain James Cook, the famed British naval officer who was one of the first of the scientific navigators, was born on this date. Captain Cook surveyed the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland before making three expeditions into the Pacific Ocean where he became the first Englishman to explore previously uncharted locations. On his various voyages, he conducted astronomical observations and his ship's botanist studied the flora and fauna that were collected. (Today in Science History)
28 October 1492...The famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, landed on Cuba. (Wikipedia)