Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 2-6 February 2015

Items of Interest

• Remote sensing of the oceans by satellites -- Please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth for a description of how oceanographers have employed orbiting satellites as observation platforms to make remote observations of the world's oceans.

Ocean in the News

• Eye on the tropics -- During the last week, organized tropical cyclones (low pressure systems such as tropical storms and hurricanes that form over tropical oceans) were continued across the tropical and subtropical waters of the Southern Hemisphere's Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean basins:
• In the South Indian Ocean Basin, Tropical Storm Diamondra formed at the start of last week approximately 850 miles to the south-southeast of Diego Garcia, well away from any land masses. During the week, Diamondra traveled to the south and then east-southeast over the open waters of the South Indian Ocean, remaining as a tropical storm. After nearly three days of travel, Diamondra lost its tropical characteristics and became a midlatitude storm system. Additional information on Tropical Storm Diamondra and accompanying satellite imagery are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  A second tropical storm, identified as Cyclone Eunice, formed early last week more than 700 miles southwest of Diego Garcia. Traveling to the southeast, Eunice became a major category 5 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale late in the week as maximum sustained surface winds were estimated to have reached at least 160 mph. The winds also produced ocean waves that had heights of nearly 40 feet. By this past weekend Eunice had weakened as it continued to the east-southeast. Current forecasts indicate Eunice should become a tropical storm and eventually dissipate as it would travel over the open waters of the South Indian Ocean early this week. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and additional information for Cyclone Eunice.
  
• In the South Pacific basin Tropical Cyclone Ola formed approximately 400 miles to the northwest of New Caledonia over this past weekend. formed near French Polynesia early last week. This category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale traveled toward the south over the weekend. Current forecasts indicate that Cyclone Ola should curve toward the south-southwest after passing to the west of Nouba, New Caledonia with some intensification early this week.
• Novel portrait of twin tropical cyclones over South Indian Ocean -- A composite image showing Tropical Cyclones Diamondra and Eunice beginning to rotate around one another over the waters of the South Indian Ocean was generated last week from data collected by the geosynchronous (or geostationary) satellites maintained by EUMETSAT and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Another image of these tropical cyclones was obtained from the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) onboard the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• NASA Hurricane Mission makes connection with K-12 classrooms -- During the last three hurricane seasons in the North Atlantic, NASA has been conducting its Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) missions to study the hurricanes and tropical storms that traversed the basin. These missions used the. NASA Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft in all three campaigns, and the NASA's WB-57 aircraft in 2014. In addition, the HS3 team shared their experiences from all three missions with K-12 students and teachers across the United States through summer teacher workshops, educator days at NASA Wallops, in-person classroom visits by mission personnel and live remote classroom chats and flight/hurricane tracking. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
• Oregon's coastal non-point pollution control program was disapproved by federal agencies -- Late last week officials with NOAA Fisheries and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that their agencies have disapproved the state of Oregon's coastal non-point pollution control program because this program does not sufficiently protect salmon streams and landslide-prone areas from logging impacts or reduce runoff from forest roads built before 1971. However, the federal agencies are working with Oregon to improve their coastal non-point program to protect streams like these that are important to endangered salmon. The agencies are optimistic that the state will make progress in addressing the forest practices that have been called into question. [NOAA News]
• Video cameras on fish traps help provide more precise abundance estimates for some reef fish species -- Scientists with NOAA Fisheries and their colleagues have been adding video cameras to fish traps that have provided the opportunity for these researchers to make more precise estimates of the abundance for several important species of reef fish. Podcasts are provided that describe the use of these video cameras. [NOAA Fisheries Podcasts]
• Satellites help rescue 240 people in 2014 -- During last year (2014), 240 people were rescued from life-threatening situations throughout the US and on its surrounding waters in part because of the role that NOAA’s fleet of seven operational satellites played. Nearly half of those rescued (47%) involved waterborne rescues. Detecting distress signals from emergency beacons, these NOAA satellites helped pinpoint the location of these people and relay this information to first responders who perform the actual rescue. NOAA's geosynchronous and polar-orbiting satellites are part of the international COSPAS-SARSAT (COSPAS a Russian abbreviation for "Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress" and SARSAT "Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking") system. [NOAA News]
• Tracking missing oil in the Gulf of Mexico -- A team of researchers from Florida State University, the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia and the University of Southern Mississippi claim that of the 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon blowout, between six and ten million gallons of oil appears to be buried in the sediment on the floor of the Gulf approximately 62 miles to the southeast of the Mississippi Delta. [Florida State University 24/7 News]
• Previewing the next-generation of geosynchronous environmental satellites -- Scientists and engineers from NASA and NOAA are currently preparing for the scheduled March 2016 launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites - R Series (GOES-R), which represents the nation's next generation of geosynchronous (or geostationary) satellite systems dedicated to Earth-observing. Several new or improved features that will be placed on this new series to help improve weather and climate monitoring and forecasting include a lightning mapper that will be able to detect total lightning (in-cloud and cloud-to-ground) across North and South America; higher resolution visible and infrared imagery; better solar imaging and space weather monitoring. [NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office Milwaukee/Sullivan]
• 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.

A request: If you have some ocean-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme Ocean participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

Eruptions that produced Surtsey began on the ocean floor, some 130 m (427 ft) below sea level. The accumulating lava, cinders, and ash first emerged from the sea on 15 November 1963. Over the next 3.5 years, episodic eruptions built an island that eventually covered 2.5 square km (1 square mi) and attained a maximum elevation of 171 m (560 ft) above sea level. The initial eruptions were explosive as hot magma interacted with cold seawater producing dark jets of ash and steam that shot up to 200 m (656 ft) above two main volcanic vents. At this time, clouds of ash and steam rose into the atmosphere to altitudes perhaps as great as 10 km (6.2 mi). Subsequent eruptions were much more peaceful, consisting of quiescent flows of lava. When the eruptions ceased in early June 1967, a cubic kilometer of ash and lava had built up on the ocean floor with 9% of this volcanic material above sea level.

No volcanic activity has occurred on Surtsey since 1967 and geologists consider the volcanic island to be extinct with little risk of future eruptions. Nonetheless, Surtsey remains off limits to visitors except for scientists who obtain permission from the Icelandic government. The island offers scientists a unique opportunity to study not only the geology but also the establishment of plants and animals on the island, a process known as ecological succession. For example, by 1987, some 25 species of higher plants were growing on the initially barren island and 20 species of birds were nesting there.

Unless volcanic activity begins anew, the future is not bright for Surtsey. Some geologists predict that in a hundred years or so the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock. The island is composed of basaltic rock that is particularly vulnerable to weathering and erosion, ocean waves are eroding its shores, and the island is gradually sinking into the sea. Scientists reported a total subsidence of about 1.1 m (3.6 ft) between 1967 and 1991. Compaction of the volcanic material and the underlying sea-floor sediments are likely causes of the subsidence. For NASA topographical images of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/garvin/surtsey.html . These images were obtained using a scanning airborne laser altimeter.

1. The volcanism responsible for the formation of Surtsey was associated with a [(divergent)(convergent)] tectonic plate boundary.
2. At present on Surtsey, erosive forces [(are)(are not)] prevailing over volcanic activity.

Historical Events

• 2-3 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Florida on the 3rd; it also represents the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin. The storm produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
• 2 February 1976...Groundhog Day Storm, one of the fiercest Maritimes storms ever battered the Bay of Fundy region around Saint John, New Brunswick with winds clocked at 118 mph, generating 39 foot waves with swells of 32.5 feet. (The Weather Doctor)
• 3 February 1488...The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Diaz landed at Mossal Bay, Cape of Good Hope, the first European known to have landed on the southern extremity of Africa. He was also the first known European to have traveled this far south and round the Cape. (Wikipedia)
• 3 February 1880...Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board--all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the wreck of the George Taulane. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 3 February 1943...The torpedoing of the transport Dorchester saw USCGC Comanche and Escanaba respond. The crew of the Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. Although Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97, over 600 men were lost, including the Four Chaplains. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 3 February 1953...The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau published his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World, which was made into a film three years later. (The History Channel)
• 5 February 1924...Hourly time signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were broadcast for the first time. (Wikipedia)
• 5 February 1997...High winds pushed mountains of ice against the northern shore of Lake Erie crushing several houses and cottages in Colchester, Ontario. This phenomenon is known as ice shove. (The Weather Doctor)
• 5 February 2004 - Nineteen Chinese cockle-pickers from a group of 35 drowned after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. (Wikipedia)
• 6 February 1933...The highest reliably observed ocean wave was observed by crew of the US Navy oiler, USS Ramapo, in the North Pacific during the night on its way from Manila to San Diego. The wave was estimated (by triangulation) to have a height of 112 feet. Average winds at the time were 78 mph. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (See additional discussion on highest ocean waves)
• 7 February 1969...USCGC Tern, commissioned on this date and stationed in New York, embodied an advanced concept in servicing aids to navigation. Her over-the-stern gantry system of handling buoys is unique. The automation and modernization of over-age, isolated lighthouses and light stations showed significant progress this year. A new, more effective version of the LAMP (Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Project) plan was promulgated in this year. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 7 February 1978...The worst winter storm of record struck coastal New England. The storm produced 27.5 inches of snow at Boston, and nearly 50 inches in northeastern Rhode Island. The fourteen-foot tide at Portland, ME was probably the highest of the century. Winds gusted to 79 mph at Boston, and reached 92 mph at Chatham, MA. A hurricane-size surf caused 75 deaths and 500 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
• 8 February 1987...A powerful storm produced blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes Region. North winds of 50 to 70 mph raised the water level of southern Lake Michigan two feet, and produced waves 12 to 18 feet high, causing seven million dollars damage along the Chicago area shoreline. It was the most damage caused by shoreline flooding and erosion in the history of the city of Chicago. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 8 February 2001...The log-carrying ship, Leo Forest, lost much of its cargo as over 2300 logs went overboard approximately 400 miles north of Adak, AK. The ship lost power in waves that were greater than 35 feet and the loss of the logs caused the ship to list 10 degrees to port (left) with the bow three feet down. Fortunately, the ship made safe passage to Dutch Harbor for repairs. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

Return to DataStreme Ocean Website
Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2015, The American Meteorological Society.