WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

8-12 June 2015

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2015 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 24 August 2015. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

World Ocean Day is celebrated -- World Ocean Day or a "Celebration of the Sea" will be celebrated Monday, 8 June 2015 in an effort to increase public awareness and to foster public involvement in the management of the ocean and its resources. Although this date was created at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it had not been officially recognized by the United Nations until 2009. This year's theme is Healthy oceans, healthy planet. A partial listing is provided for events across the US and other nations that will celebrate World Ocean Day. [The Ocean Project]
"Break the Grip of the Rip®" -- NOAA, the United States Lifesaving Association and the National Park Service have designated this upcoming week of 7-13 June 2015 as national Rip Current Awareness Week and National Beach Safety Week. Using the theme, "Rip Currents: Break the Grip of the Rip®," efforts are meant to heighten public awareness of rip currents at surf beaches that claim the lives of as many as 100 people in the United States annually.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity was limited to the eastern North Pacific basin for most of last week as Hurricane Andres, the first named tropical cyclone of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season continued, followed by the development of a second hurricane, Blanca.
After weakening to a tropical depression over the previous weekend, Hurricane Andres intensified to become a category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) briefly at the start of last week. Later during the week, Andres weakened to a tropical storm and a tropical depression as it traveled to the northwest before dissipating late last week well away from the western coast of Mexico. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Hurricane Andres.
The second named tropical cyclone of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season developed from a tropical depression that originally formed at the start of the week to the southwest of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. During the week, this new tropical cyclone intensified to become a tropical storm and then a hurricane identified as Blanca as it traveled to the north-northwest well off the western coast of central Mexico. Blanca became a category 2 hurricane as maximum sustained surface winds reached 100 mph with gusts to 120 mph. Ocean waves ranged from 25 to 30 feet. Weakening occurred as Blanca approached the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. As of late during this recently-concluded weekend, Tropical Storm Blanca was approximately 100 miles to the south of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja. Forecasts called for Blanca to move northward and eventually bring high winds and heavy rains to portions of Baja California early this week. Additional information and satellite imagery on Hurricane Blanca are available on the NASA Hurricane Page.
At the end of the weekend, a tropical cyclone formed over the waters of the Arabian Sea in the North Indian basin over 500 miles to the south of Karachi, Pakistan.. This system, identified as Tropical Cyclone 1A for the first named tropical cyclone of the season in the Arabian Sea, was moving toward the north-northwest. Winds were barely tropical storm-force. Forecasts indicate that this system could intensify to become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale early in the week as it continues to the north-northwest before weakening while approaching western Pakistan.
New collection of hurricane science animations released -- At the start of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center released a new collection of scientific animations generated from data collected by NASA satellites that are intended to provide scientists and other interested parties the ability to look inside hurricanes. The 50-minute "Hurricane Resource Reel" is available online at the website for Scientific Visualization Studio of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. [NOAA News]
Hurricane season outlook is updated -- At the start of June Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University, issued their updated June forecast for the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. They foresee a season that would have below-average activity due to the potential development of a strong El Niño event and the continuation of unfavorable conditions for hurricane formation across the tropical Atlantic basin. However, they modified their April forecast by calling for eight named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms) because of the early development of Tropical Storm Ana in early May. The forecast also calls for three of these tropical cyclones potentially becoming hurricanes. At least one of these hurricanes could become severe, reaching category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. They also anticipate a below-average probability of a major Atlantic hurricane making landfall along the coast of the contiguous US and in the Caribbean. [The Tropical Storm Project]
Satellite view of algal bloom in the Sea of Marmara -- An image obtained from data collected by the Operational Land Imager (OLI)on board NASA's Landsat 8 satellite in mid May 2015 shows a phytoplankton bloom in Turkey's Sea of Marmara that connects the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Integrating new technologies into fisheries data collections and observations receives funding -- The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently awarded $3 million to five grant recipients who are systematically integrating new electronic monitoring and reporting technologies into fisheries data collections and observations. These awards will help NOAA Fisheries in its mission of maintaining high quality fisheries datasets. [NOAA Fisheries Feature Stories ]
CT scans digitally dissect the rare pocket shark -- Scientists at NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center made high-resolution three-dimensional and non-invasive CT (computerized tomography) scan images of the rare pocket shark that had been collected from the deep waters of the central Gulf of Mexico. NOAA Fisheries Feature Stories]
Public comments sought on regulations designed to protect marine mammals -- NOAA Fisheries is currently seeking comments by the public for a proposed rule that would require the United States Navy to implement protective measures to reduce the chances of harming marine mammals during activities at the Navy's Northwest training and testing study area in the state waters off Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. The comments will be accepted through mid July. [NOAA Fisheries Newsroom]
Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance mapping survey features international collaboration -- A team of ocean mapping experts from the US, Canada and the European Union recently launched the first trans-Atlantic mapping survey under the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance that will map the seabed of the North Atlantic from St. John, Newfoundland to Galway, Ireland. NOAA personnel will be involved with this project. [NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research News]
Will current El Niño cause 2015 to reach record warmth? -- NOAA climate scientist Deke Arndt discusses the possibility that the current El Niño event that developed earlier this year could continue and even strengthen through the rest of 2015, which could result in the calendar year of 2015 supplanting the previous year (2014) as the warmest year since the period of reliable and widespread global climate records began in 1880. Comparisons were made with several previous El Niño and La Niña episodes. [NOAA News]
Upon further review, recent global warming "hiatus" is refuted -- Using the latest global surface temperature dataset, a team of scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has found that global temperature over the last several decades has been increasing at a rate that is as fast or even faster as compared with the rate during the second half of the 20th century, thereby refuting the notion of a recent slowdown or "hiatus" in global warming. The director of NCEI, previously known as the National Climatic Data Center, claimed that adding two additional years of global surface data and the improvements made in the quality of the observed record has provided sufficient evidence that contradicts the notion that a hiatus had occurred in the increase in global temperatures over the last decade. [NOAA News]
NASA's IceBridge Arctic field campaign concludes for the season -- On 21 May, NASA’s C-130 research aircraft left Thule Air Base, Greenland and returned to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia signaling the conclusion of the 10-week field campaign of NASA's Operation IceBridge in the Arctic. This campaign was the seventh Arctic deployment, where researchers used the aircraft on 33 flights to collect data on Arctic sea and land ice. In addition, the campaign released two sea ice data products and researchers participated in live in-flight chats with students in 35 classrooms in eleven states in the US and in Mexico. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Marine habitats shift with warmer and lower-oxygen oceans -- Researchers at the University of Washington s and colleagues from California, Rhode Island and Germany warmer ocean waters not only increase marine animals' metabolic demand of oxygen, but the warm water also decreases the availability of oxygen to the animals due to lower solubility levels of oxygen gas. The researchers warn that higher ocean temperatures due to changing climate would push marine animals away from the equator. [University of Washington Today]
Trigger for fast-draining lakes atop Greenland ice sheet is found -- Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Washington have found that large cracks can develop in the bed of large supraglacial lakes that are perched atop the Greenland glaciers. These "hydrofractures" (or cracks) can cause large quantities of water to flow from the bottom of these lakes downward through the ice to the bedrock within a few hours. The researchers hypothesize that the weight of the water can cause fissures in the ice that develop into hydrofractures. These fast-draining supraglacial lakes could accelerate the rise of global sea level. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Oceanus Magazine]
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.

Historical Events:

Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84 degrees Fahrenheit. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
8 June 1937...Observation of the total eclipse of the sun was made by a U.S. Navy detachment commanded by Captain J. F. Hellweg, USN, which was participating in the National Geographic Society - United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. (Naval Historical Center)
8-9 June 1990...The Norwegian tanker Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX, the result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. Two crew members were killed. Coast Guard units fought the resulting fires and recovered spilled oil. (Information Please) (USCG Historian's Office)
8 June 1992...The first World Ocean Day was celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Wikipedia)
8 June 1937...Observation of the total eclipse of the sun was made by a U.S. Navy detachment commanded by Captain J. F. Hellweg, USN, which was participating in the National Geographic Society - United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. (Naval Historical Center)
8-9 June 1990...The Norwegian tanker Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX, the result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. Two crew members were killed. Coast Guard units fought the resulting fires and recovered spilled oil. (Information Please) (USCG Historian's Office)
8 June 1992...The first World Ocean Day was celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Wikipedia)
9 June 1534...The French navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to discover the river that he named the St. Lawrence in present-day Quebec, Canada. (The History Channel)
9 June 1966...Hurricane Alma made landfall over the eastern Florida Panhandle near Alligator Point during the evening-- the earliest land-falling hurricane on the U.S. mainland on record. Peak sustained winds were near 90 mph. Highest winds reached 125 mph and lowest pressure 970.2 millibars (28.65 inches) were reported at the Dry Tortugas on the 8th. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
9 June 1990...San Diego, CA set a new record rainfall amount on this date, as 0.38 inches of rain fell breaking the old record of 0.13 inches established in 1892. Moisture from the remains of Hurricane Boris was responsible for this rare rain event. (Intellicast)
10 June 1909...The International Distress Call (SOS distress signal) was used for the first time in an emergency. The Cunard liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores. Two steamers received her signals and went to the rescue.
11 June 1644...The Florentine scientist, Evangelista Torricelli described in a letter the invention of a barometer, or "torricellian tube." (Today in Science History)
11 June 1764...The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, at the south point of the entrance to New York Harbor, was first lighted. Today, its octagonal tower, built by Mr. Isaac Conro of New York City with money collected by a group of New York merchants, is the oldest original light tower still standing and in use in the United States. (USCG Historian's Office)
11 June 1770...The British explorer Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia when he ran aground. (Information Please)
11 June 1847...The English naval officer and an Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin died in Canada while attempting to locate the Northwest Passage.
12 June 1925...Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes. (USCG Historian's Office)
12 June 1991...On the same day that Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines awakened from its 635-year slumber, Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon province. Mudslides and flooding caused many deaths and when added to the impacts of Pinatubo left more than a million homeless. (The Weather Doctor)
13 June 1415...Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.
13 June 1881...The steamer USS Jeannette was crushed in Arctic ice pack north of Siberia as the 1879-1881 Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition under the command of Lieutenant Commander George Washington DeLong, USN, attempted to reach the North Pole by ship. (Naval Historical Center)
13 June 1977...A tropical cyclone crossed the Arabian Sea from near the Laccadive Islands off southwest India and slammed into the island of Masirah, sultanate of Oman. Winds reached at least 104 mph and the 24-hour rainfall total was 16.95 inches. About 99% of buildings were damaged. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
14 June 1834...The first US patent for a practical underwater diving suit was issued to Leonard Norcross of Dixfield, ME. One month earlier, he tested his suit, an airtight leather outfit with a brass helmet connected via a rubber hose to an air bellows pump on a boat, in the Webb River. (Today in Science History)