Weekly Ocean News

1-5 October 2018

Items of Interest

Large earthquake generates Indonesian tsunami that kills hundreds -- A major magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi north of the city of Palu on Friday (28 September) evening (local time). This earthquake generated a 10-foot high tsunami. A tsunami warning was issued but was lifted after a half hour. As of Sunday, the official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami had reached 832 people. A network of instrumented tsunami warning buoys had been deployed around Indonesia following the major December 2004 earthquake and tsunami that had caused more than 226,000 people in 13 countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. [Rueters] A video from a smartphone showed a powerful wave hitting Palu, with screaming people running in fear.
First sunrise of spring season at South Pole -- While residents in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing shorter daylight following the recent passage of the autumnal equinox, a photograph made by a NOAA Corps officer stationed at the agency's South Pole Atmospheric Baseline Observatory captures the first sunrise of this new spring season (for the Southern Hemisphere) at the South Pole. [NOAA News]
World Space Week is celebrated -- The United Nations General Assembly has declared the week of 4 to 10 October to be "World Space Week" that is designed to "celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition” Since 2007, more than 2,250 events attended by more than 1.3 million people were held in 94 countries to celebrate the benefits of space and excitement about space exploration. The theme for World Space Week 2018 is “Space Unites the World.” [United Nations]
Celebrate National Seafood Month -- The US Department of Commerce, along with one of its agencies, NOAA Fisheries, is celebrating this month of October 2018 as National Seafood Month. The public is invited to savor seafood during this month. A collection of 15 short video clips of U.S. seafood can be viewed showing various aspects of the nation's sustainable fisheries. The head of NOAA Fisheries addresses NOAA's "Blue Economy" initiative as an important guiding force for the country's seafood future. [NOAA Fisheries]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2018 Campaign for October commences -- The tenth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2018 will commence this Monday (1 October) and continue through Wednesday, 10 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 a constellation with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. These constellations are Pegasus in the Northern Hemisphere and Sagittarius for 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 eleventh series in the 2018 campaign is scheduled for 30 October-8 November 2018. [GLOBE at Night]
Light in the oceans -- If you would like information on the distribution of sunlight in the upper levels of the ocean has an impact upon the distribution of marine life and various processes such as photosynthesis in these layers, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics -- During the last week, tropical cyclone activity was found in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere and in the South Pacific basin in the Southern Hemisphere:

In the North Atlantic Basin (that also includes the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico):
- Tropical Storm Kirk had weakened to a tropical depression at the start of last week as it was traveling westward 835 miles to the west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. By late Monday morning, Kirk no longer had a closed circulation. However, by Wednesday morning (local time), the remnants of Kirk had regenerated into a tropical storm over the western tropical Atlantic, approximately 470 miles east of Barbados. Tropical Storm Kirk strengthened over the next 12 hours as it continued traveling to the west toward the Lesser Antilles. On Thursday afternoon, Kirk passed across the Lesser Antilles, accompanied by strong winds and torrential rains. Curving toward the west-northwest, a slowly-weakening Kirk crossed St. Lucia late Thursday night and entered the eastern Caribbean Sea. By late last Friday night, Tropical Storm Kirk had become an open wave disturbance over the eastern Caribbean, approximately 190 miles to the south-southwest of St. Croix, or 230 miles to the south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Locally heavy rains fell across St. Croix and Puerto Rico into Saturday as this system finally dissipated. The NASA Hurricane Blog Page has additional information on Tropical Storm Kirk.
- Subtropical Storm Leslie was traveling slowly toward the southwest at the start of last week, nearly 1245 miles to the west of the Azores. By early Tuesday morning (local time), Leslie had weakened to become a subtropical depression and then to a remnant low by Tuesday afternoon. However, this remnant low re-organized to become Subtropical Storm Leslie by Friday evening, approximately 1170 miles to the west of the Azores. Leslie began to curve toward the west-southwest and then southwest on Saturday when it took on tropical characteristics, becoming a tropical storm. Tropical Storm Leslie continued to travel to the southwest on Sunday. By late Sunday night, Leslie was located approximately 650 miles to the east of Bermuda. Leslie was expected to meander across the waters of the central Atlantic for the first several days of this week, accompanied by a slight strengthening, which could result in Leslie becoming a hurricane by midweek. Additional information on Tropical Storm Leslie is available from the NASA Hurricane Blog Page.
In the eastern North Pacific basin (east of the 140-degree West meridian of longitude):
- A tropical depression formed early Tuesday morning approximately 345 miles to the south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. This system became Tropical Storm Rosa by midmorning on Tuesday. Additional strengthening occurred as Rosa continued its track to the west-northwest, with this tropical storm becoming the tenth eastern Pacific hurricane of 2018 on Wednesday morning as maximum sustained surface winds were estimated to be 75 mph. By Thursday evening, Hurricane Rosa had strengthened to become the seventh category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as winds reached an estimated 145 mph as the center of the hurricane was located approximately 600 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. After traveling in a general westward direction over several days, Rosa began curving toward the northwest by Friday morning. Over this past weekend, Rosa traveled to the north, slowly weakening as it traveled across cooler waters of the eastern North Pacific. By late Sunday afternoon Hurricane Rosa had weakened sufficiently so that it had become a tropical storm. By Sunday evening, the center of Tropical Storm was approximately 200 miles to the southwest of Punta Eugenia, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. Rosa was expected to reach the coast of central or northern Baja California on Monday. Crossing the peninsula into the northern Gulf of California Monday night. Rosa should dissipate over northwestern Mexico, with its remnants then moving across the Southwest United States on Tuesday. Flooding rains accompanying Rosa were reaching the Baja California coast and should then spread across northwestern Mexico and the Desert Southwest. Consult the NASA Hurricane Blog Page for additional information and satellite images on Hurricane Rosa.
- Tropical Storm Sergio formed on Saturday morning approximately 345 miles to the south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. This tropical storm traveled toward the west-northwest over the weekend, well to the south of Mexican coast. By Sunday night, Sergio traveling westward as it was located approximately 550 miles to the south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Sergio was forecast to become a hurricane on Monday as it would travel toward the west and then possibly becoming a major hurricane as it would head to the west-northwest on Tuesday.
In the central North Pacific basin (between the 140-degree West meridian of longitude and the International Dateline), Tropical Storm Walaka formed on Saturday morning approximately 650 miles to the south of Honolulu, Hawaii. Walaka was the first named tropical cyclone to develop within the central Pacific basin in 2018; earlier this season, five hurricanes entered the basin from the eastern Pacific basin. Over this past weekend, Walaka traveled westward and intensified. By late Sunday afternoon Walaka had strengthened to a minimal hurricane as it was located approximately 390 miles to the south-southeast of Johnston Island. Current forecasts indicate that Walaka should rapidly strengthen and curve toward the northwest on Monday and then to the north on Tuesday. A hurricane warning was in effect for Johnston Atoll.
In the western North Pacific basin (to the west of the International Dateline):
- Typhoon Trami, a category 4 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), was traveling to the west-northwest last Monday approximately 700 miles to the south-southeast of Okinawa. As it headed toward the north over the next day, Trami became a category 5 super typhoon before slowing as it passed close to Okinawa. By late this past week, Typhoon Trami was headed toward southern Japan. On Sunday evening, Typhoon Trami made landfall on the Kii Peninsula of Japan's Honshu island. Strong winds and torrential rain accompanying Trami battered western Japan. At least one person was killed by Trami. By early Monday (local time), Trami was moving across the main Japanese island of Honshu, approximately 180 miles to the southwest of Mount Fuji. Forecasts indicate that Trami should weaken as it continues to the northeast across Honshu on Monday. The NASA Hurricane Blog Page has satellite images and additional information on Typhoon Trami.
- A tropical depression formed near Pohnpei Island in the Federated States of Micronesia late last week. By last Saturday, it had become a tropical storm and then Typhoon Kong-rey as it traveled toward the west-northwest. As of Monday, Typhoon Kong-rey was a category 2 typhoon that was located approximately 900 miles to the southeast of Okinawa. Kong-rey was expected to begin a slow turn toward the northwest and then to the north during this week as it would pass to the west of Okinawa. Intensification to a category 4 typhoon was anticipated.
In the South Pacific basin (between the 160-degree East and 120-degree West meridians of longitude) Tropical Storm Liua formed nearly 500 miles to the northwest of Port Vila, Vanuatu last Wednesday. Consequently, Liua can be considered to be the earliest-forming named tropical cyclone in the South Pacific basin since reliable records began. By late last Friday, Cyclone Liua was being torn apart by wind shear as it was approximately 540 miles to the northwest of Port Vila. Additional information and satellite images for Liua are available on the NASA Hurricane Blog Page.

Hurricane Florence is nation's second rainiest storm in 70 years -- A meteorologist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information and North Carolina State University, recently determined that an average of more than 17.5 inches of rain associated with Hurricane Florence fell in mid-September over a 14,000 square mile area in the eastern Carolinas. He made his analysis from five weather stations stretching from Fayetteville, NC to Florence, SC. This amount is second to the 25.6 inches of rain that fell across sections of coastal Texas last year. [Phys.Org]
Sea ice on Arctic Ocean reaches its smallest seasonal extent -- During the last week scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that the sea ice cover on the Arctic Ocean appeared to have shrunk to its smallest annual extent on 19 and 23 September 2018. Based on preliminary analysis of data collected by satellite sensors, the Arctic sea ice coverage on these dates was determined to be only 1.77 million square miles, which would represent an area that would tie 2008 and 2010 for the sixth smallest seasonal extent since satellite-based observations began in 1978. (The lowest measured Arctic sea ice extent remains on 17 September 2012, when only 1.31 million square miles of ice covered the Arctic Ocean.) Furthermore, the date (the 23rd) on which this year's minimum extent was reached tied 1997 for the latest date in the year for a minimum during the satellite era. [National Snow & Ice Data Center News] A 3:10-minute video shows an animation of the daily sea ice cover from mid-March through late September 2018, followed by a graphic showing long-term variations of the Arctic sea ice cover. The importance of the recently-launched ICESat-2 satellite is highlighted and the types of sea ice (perennial or old ice and seasonal or young ice) are enumerated. [NASA Earth Science News Team], A graphic shows that the largest declines in Arctic sea ice cover have occurred in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas north of Alaska. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Frequency of major hurricanes could increase in a warmer Atlantic basin -- Scientists at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) and colleagues in the U.S. and China recently published their research results that show major hurricanes of category 3 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson Scale would become more frequent in occurrence with continued warming in the North Atlantic Ocean Basin. The researchers found these results after conducting experiments on GFDL's high-resolution global climate model. They had accurately predicted an active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season in June 2017, which eventually had six major hurricanes. They argued that this active Atlantic hurricane season was caused mainly by pronounced warm sea surface conditions in the tropical North Atlantic, rather than La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. [NOAA NCEI News]
Data accumulates in the studying of harmful algal blooms -- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has been collecting and archiving data on harmful algal blooms (HAB) obtained from various NOAA organizations, state agencies and other partner groups. For example, NCEI has been maintaining data collected by the Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System (HABSOS) across the northern Gulf of Mexico since 1953. These data are being used by these various organizations in the monitoring of the Karenia brevis algae that create "red tides." In addition, the data are used in the preparation of red tide forecasts for coastal communities. [NOAA NCEI News]
Winners of the 2018 "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 2018 "Get into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest." The best three photographs were selected for the categories of Sanctuary Views, Sanctuary Life and Sanctuary Portraits. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries 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]

Concept of the Week: The Ocean and the Global Radiation Budget

The ocean is an important player in the radiational heating and cooling of Planet Earth. For one, covering about 71% of Earth's surface, the ocean is a primary control of how much solar radiation is absorbed (converted to heat) at the Earth's surface. Also, the ocean is the main source of the most important greenhouse gas (water vapor) and is a major regulator of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), another greenhouse gas.

On an annual average, the ocean absorbs about 92% of the solar radiation striking its surface; the balance is reflected to space. Most of this absorption takes place within about 200 m (650 ft) of the surface with the depth of penetration of sunlight limited by the amount of suspended particles and discoloration caused by dissolved substances. On the other hand, at high latitudes multi-year pack ice greatly reduces the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the ocean. The snow-covered surface of sea ice absorbs only about 15% of incident solar radiation and reflects away the rest. At present, multi-year pack ice covers about 7% of the ocean surface with greater coverage in the Arctic Ocean than the Southern Ocean (mostly in Antarctica's Weddell Sea).

The atmosphere is nearly transparent to incoming solar radiation but much less transparent to outgoing infrared (heat) radiation. This differential transparency with wavelength is the basis of the greenhouse effect. Certain trace gases in the atmosphere absorb outgoing infrared and radiate some of this energy to Earth's surface, thereby significantly elevating the planet's surface temperature. Most water vapor, the principal greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere via evaporation of seawater. Carbon dioxide, a lesser greenhouse gas, cycles into and out of the ocean depending on the sea surface temperature and photosynthesis/respiration by marine organisms in surface waters. Cold water can dissolve more carbon dioxide than warm water so that carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere where surface waters are chilled (at high latitudes and upwelling zones) and released to the atmosphere where surface waters are heated (at low latitudes). Photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and all organisms release carbon dioxide via cellular respiration.

Historical Events

1 October 1844...U.S. Naval Observatory headed by LT Matthew Fontaine Maury occupied its first permanent quarters. (Naval Historical Center)
1 October 1846...The British naturalist Charles Darwin, ten years after his voyage on the Beagle, began his study of barnacles, which was to appear in four volumes on living and fossil Cirripedes (barnacles). For his observations, he had a single lens microscope made to his own design. (Today in Science History)
1 October 1976...Hurricane Liza brought heavy rains and winds to Brazos Santiago, Mexico, causing a dam to break on the Cajoncito River, which killed 630 people as a wall of water crashed into the town of La Paz. (The Weather Doctor)
1 October 1893...The second great hurricane of the 1893 season hit the Mississippi Delta Region drowning more than 1000 people. (David Ludlum)
2 October 1836...The British naturalist Charles Darwin returned to Falmouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle, ending a five-year surveying expedition of the southern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that included visits to Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, and New Zealand. The information and experience obtained from this voyage led Darwin to develop his historic work on the theory of evolution and the 1859 publication entitled, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. (The History Channel)
2 October 1858...The only hurricane to impact California struck San Diego on this day. Two NOAA researchers, Michael Chenoweth and Christopher Landsea, reconstructed the path of the hurricane using accounts from newspapers of the strong winds. They estimated that if a similar storm were to have hit in 2004, it would have caused around US$500 million in damage. (National Weather Service files)
2 October 1867...A hurricane struck Galveston, TX with a storm tide that caused $1 million damage. (Intellicast)
2 October 1882...A major hurricane struck the Louisiana Delta with 100-mph winds and 12-ft storm tide which inundated the bayous resulting in 1500 deaths. (Intellicast)
2 October 1898...A hurricane struck the Weather Bureau (now National Weather Service) hurricane observation post at Carolina Beach, North Carolina and swept away the office's outhouse. The storm became known as the "Privy Hurricane" and was estimated to be a category 3 or 4 hurricane with winds around 130 mph. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
3 October 1780...A hurricane, which formed on 1 October, destroyed the port city of Savanna-la-Mar on the island of Jamaica on this day. By some estimates, this hurricane caused 3,000 deaths. (National Weather Service files)
3 October 1841...The "October Gale," the worst of record for Nantucket, MA, caught the Cape Cod fishing fleet at sea. Forty ships were driven ashore on Cape Cod, and 57 men perished from the town of Truro alone. Heavy snow fell inland, with 18 inches reported near Middletown, CT and 3 inches at Concord, MA. (David Ludlum)
4 October 1582...The Gregorian Calendar was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII to correct for an increasing discrepancy between the leap year corrections of the Julian Calendar and the actual length of the year marked by the Earth's orbit of the sun. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, 4 October of this year was followed directly by 15 October, skipping over 10 days. (Wikipedia)
4 October 1869...A great storm struck New England. The storm reportedly was predicted twelve months in advance by a British officer named Saxby. Heavy rains and flooding plagued all of New England, with strong winds and high tides along the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Canton, CT was deluged with 12.35 inches of rain. (David Ludlum)
4 October 2005...Hurricane Stan, a minimal Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph maximum sustained surface winds, made landfall near Punta Roca Partida, Mexico at 4 AM EDT on this day. While not a particularly strong hurricane the torrential rains caused flooding and landslides, which resulted in 1513 deaths in Guatemala. (National Weather Service files)
5 October 1864...A tropical cyclone hit India near Calcutta, devastating the city and killing about 60,000 people in the region. (National Weather Service files)
6 October 1963...For five days along the coast of Cuba, Hurricane Flora lashed the island with winds up to 100 mph and dumped over 70 inches of rain. The storm killed 7,000 people. (National Weather Service files)
7 October 1737...A furious cyclone in the Bay of Bengal caused a major disaster at the mouth of the Hoogby River near Calcutta, India. As many as 300,000 people were killed, mainly as the result of the storm's forty-foot-high surge. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
7 October 1844...A major hurricane swept over Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas. 158 vessels were wrecked and 2546 houses were destroyed along the Cuban coast. (National Weather Services files)