Weekly Ocean News

Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK FIVE: 23-27 February 2015

For Your Information

A change in meteorological seasons -- Saturday, 28 February 2015, marks the end of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which by convention, is the three-month interval of December, January and February. The following day (1 March 2015) represents the beginning of boreal meteorological spring, the three month interval of March, April and May. At the same time, summer in the Southern Hemisphere ends and autumn begins.
Leap years and calendars -- This year (2015) is considered a "normal" year with 365 days, while 2012 and 2016 are "leap" years with 366 days. Since the Earth completes one orbit around the Sun in 365.2422 days, calendars based upon integer days must be adjusted every few years so that recognizable events, such as the occurrence of the vernal equinox, do not progress through the year. In the first century BC the Julian calendar was developed by Julius Caesar who decreed a calendrical reform with a 365-day year that involved the inclusion of an extra day to the end of February (the last month of the old Roman year). However, an additional reform was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1572 that included the requirement that only those centurial years divisible evenly by 400 would be leap years, while the other centurial years (e.g., 1800 and 1900) would not.
The National Climatic Data Center recommends that the climate normals for 28 February be used also for 29 February in a leap year.
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 organized tropical cyclone (low pressure systems such as tropical storms and hurricanes that form over tropical oceans) activity was confined to the western sections in South Pacific basin as meteorological summer in the Southern hemisphere was coming toward a close. Two named tropical cyclones formed in this basin:
Cyclone Lam formed early last week in the waters of the northern Gulf of Carpentaria off the northern coast of Australia. During the week Lam intensified from a tropical storm to a category 2 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it traveled westward across the Gulf of Carpentaria before making landfall along the coast of Australia in a remote section of the Northern Territory late in the week. Locally heavy rain accompanied Lam as it made landfall. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images on Cyclone Lam.
Cyclone Marcia formed at the midpoint of last week as a tropical storm over the waters of the Coral Sea off the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. Marcia intensified to become a major category 3 tropical cyclone as it traveled toward the southwest and then south toward the coast. By late in the week, Marcia made landfall along Queensland coast between Yeppoon and St. Lawrence late in the week, accompanied by locally heavy rains. Additional information and satellite imagery on Cyclone Marcia is available on the NASA Hurricane Page
Great Lakes ice cover expands -- An image made last week from the MODIS sensor onboard one of NASA's satellites indicated that the recent cold air that has swept across eastern North America has caused a rapid increase in ice cover on North America's Great Lakes to slightly more than 85 percent of the entire lake surface area. While this ice cover was greater than the seasonal average ice cover of 55 percent, it remains less than last season and 1979. Additional information on Great Lakes ice cover has been furnished by NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. [National Weather Service Forecast Office, Milwaukee/Sullivan]
The recent arctic outbreak caused a large section of the famous Niagara Falls on the Niagara River between western New York State and Ontario to freeze to a greater extent than in recent years. [CNN News]
Global sea ice cover decreases over last four decades -- Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have found that despite increases in the extent of Antarctic sea ice, the large decreases in sea ice cover over the Arctic Ocean has decreased rapidly, which has resulted in a net reduction in the combined extent of sea ice at an average rate of 35,000 square kilometers (13,500 square miles) per year since 1979. They based their analysis upon microwave data collected by NASA and US Department of Defense satellites. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Major coral bleaching foreseen over next several months -- NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program recently released a four-month bleaching outlook that foresees major coral bleaching that would occur across the western Pacific and Indian Oceans through May 2015. This region would include American Samoa, Samoa, Western Australia, and Indonesia. This major bleaching event would be due to relatively warm ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans and could portend other major coral bleaching events in other ocean basins worldwide during this upcoming year. [NOAA News]
Saltwater recreational fisheries policy statement for the nation is issued -- NOAA Fisheries recently released an 8-page document entitled "National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy" that details the agency's new policy designed to better serve the nation's eleven million recreational saltwater anglers and the communities that rely on them. [NOAA Fisheries News]
Tools are developed to help coastal communities deal with water access demands -- Researchers and extension specialists at Florida Sea Grant are developing novel tools designed to assist coastal communities in the Sunshine State deal with the increased demands for access to beach and waterways placed upon these communities by various competing interest groups. The efforts at making such a model may have applicability to other states faced with similar issues. [NOAA Sea Grant Program News]
Optical scanner used to analyze images of zooplankton -- Researchers with Delaware Sea Grant and the University of Delaware are using an optical scanner to take high-resolution pictures of zooplankton in Delaware Bay, These pictures are cataloged and analyzed of these marine organisms that represent an important food sources to the shell fish and finfish fisheries in that estuary. [NOAA Sea Grant Program News]
Review of global weather and climate for January 2015 -- Using preliminary data collected from the global network of surface weather stations, scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center have determined that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for January 2015 was 1.39 Fahrenheit degrees (or 0.77 Celsius degrees) above the 20th-century (1901-2000) average, which makes last month the second highest global temperature for any January since global climate records began in 1880. Only January 2007 had a higher January temperature (1.55 Fahrenheit degrees or 0.86 Celsius degrees above the long-term average). The January 2015 land surface temperature was also the second highest in the 136-year record, while the global ocean surface temperature for January 2015 was third highest. The ocean surface remained warm despite continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions (ENSO = El Niño/Southern Oscillation), where neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions prevail. [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate]
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the Arctic sea ice was the third smallest monthly extent for any January since satellite surveillance began in 1979; the record smallest extent was in January 2011. On the other hand, Antarctic sea ice extent had reached the largest January sea ice extent on record early in the month, but began to decline rapidly late in the month.
NCDC also provides a map showing the Global Significant Weather and Climate Events map for January 2015.
Higher global temperatures could increase ocean upwelling, but with an uncertain impact on fisheries -- Researchers from Oregon State University and Northeastern University report that increases in global temperatures due to changing climate may increase upwelling in several of the ocean currents in the various ocean basins around the global especially in subpolar and polar latitudes by the end of the 21st century. Major changes in marine biodiversity could result. Upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water may be enhance some of the world's most important fisheries, but the overall impact is uncertain. [Oregon State University News]
Atlantic overturning circulation decreased at end of last Ice Age -- Scientists from Oregon State University and the University of Connecticut have found evidence from 24 deep ocean sediment cores that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) declined at the end of the last Ice Age. The AMOC represents a system of currents that carries warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic region. [Oregon State University 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] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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.

Concept of the Week: Questions

If the ocean's pack ice cover were to shrink, the ocean would absorb [(more)(less)] solar radiation.
All other factors being equal, if sea surface temperatures were to rise, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolved in surface ocean waters would likely [(increase) (decrease)].

Historical Events

23 February 1802...A great snowstorm raged along the New England coast producing 48 inches of snow north of Boston and 54 inches of snow at Epping, NH. Three large (indiamen) ships from Salem were wrecked along Cape Cod by strong winds. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
24 February 1881...De Lesseps' Company began work on the Panama Canal
25 February 1977...An oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spilled 31 million gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean.
26 February 1935...Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) for the first time, using the BBC shortwave radio transmitter to successfully detect the distance and direction of a flying bomber during the so-called Daventry Experiment.
26 February 1938...The first passenger ship was equipped with radar.
27 February 1949...Aerial ice observation flights by long-range aircraft operated from Argentia, Newfoundland. An International Ice Patrol by vessels was neither required nor established during the 1949 season, and it was the first time that aircraft alone conducted the ice observation service. (USCG Historian's Office)
27 February 1988...A major rain event occurred across Saudi Arabia's Foroson Islands in the Red Sea and on the adjacent mainland around Jizon when 1.15 in. fell. The monthly average rainfall is only 0.02 in. On the following day, flash flooding south of Riyadh killed three children. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
28 February 1849...Regular steamboat service to California from the East Coast via Cape Horn arrived in San Francisco for the first time. The SS California had left New York Harbor on 6 October 1848 on a trip that took 4 months and 21 days. (Wikipedia)
28 February 1964...A world 12-hour rainfall record was set at Belouve, La Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean when 52.76 inches of rain fell. World records for 9 hours and 18.5 hours were also set with 42.79 and 66.49 inches, respectively. (Accord's Weather Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
29 February 1504...Christopher Columbus used his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies. (Wikipedia)
1 March 1498...The Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama, landed at what is now Mozambique on his way to India.
1 March 1854...The SS City of Glasgow left Liverpool harbor for Philadelphia and was never seen again with 480 people on board.
1 March 1902...The first regular light stations in Alaska were established at Southeast Five Finger Island and at Sentinel Island--both on the main Inside Passage between Wrangell Strait and Skagway. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 March 1905...The first regular light stations in Alaska were established. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 March 1927...A system of broadcasting weather reports by radio on four lightships on the Pacific Coast was put into effect. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 March 1970...US commercial whale hunting was ended.
1 March 1977...The United States extended its territorial waters to 200 miles.
1 March 1983...A ferocious storm battered the Pacific coast. The storm produced heavy rain and gale force winds resulting in flooding and beach erosion and in the mountains produced up to seven feet of snow in five days. An F2 tornado hit Los Angeles. Thirty people were injured and 100 homes were damaged. (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)