WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

13-17 July 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:

Zenithal Sun -- Residents of Honolulu will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead late this week (15-17 July). This occurrence of a zenithal sun is one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents of Honolulu and the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The other time when Oahu experienced a zenithal sun was in late May. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclone activity increased across the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere during the last week. On this past Sunday, five named tropical cyclones were moving simultaneously across the eastern, central and western sections of the basin:

In the central North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Ela formed at the midpoint of last week approximately 700 miles to the east of Hilo on the northeastern coast of Hawaii's Big Island. Ela, the first named tropical cyclone of the central Pacific's 2015 hurricane season, traveled toward the west and northwest on Thursday before weakening and becoming a post tropical low to the northeast of Hilo early Friday. See additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Ela on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Tropical Storm Halola, the second named tropical cyclone of 2015 in the central North Pacific basin, formed last Friday afternoon at least 400 miles to the southwest of Johnston Atoll. Over this past weekend, Tropical Storm Halola traveled toward the west and west-northwest. As of early Sunday (local time), it was approaching the International Date Line, approximately 700 miles to the west-southwest of Johnston Island or 1100 miles to the east-southeast of Wake Island. Halola was forecast to cross the Dateline and enter the western North Pacific basin late Sunday (Hawaiian time). This tropical storm could strengthen and become a typhoon in the western North Pacific early this upcoming week.
Tropical Storm Iune, the third named tropical cyclone of 2015 in the central North Pacific basin, formed on Saturday morning from a tropical depression that was located approximately 470 miles to the south of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Over this past weekend, this minimal tropical storm traveled toward the northwest and then to the west, remaining well to the south of the main Hawaiian Islands. As of early Sunday, Tropical Storm Iune was situated nearly 500 miles to the south of Lihue on the Hawaiian island of Kauai or approximately 600 miles to the east of Johnston Island. Current forecasts indicate that Tropical Storm Iune should weaken to a tropical depression by early Monday as it was projected to continue traveling toward the west. A satellite image appearing on the NASA Hurricane Page shows the clouds over the central Pacific at the end of last week that were accompanying Tropical Depression 1C, which became Tropical Storm Halola, and Tropical Depression 2C, which became Tropical Storm Iune.
In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Dolores, the fourth named tropical cyclone of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season, formed over this past weekend off the southwestern coast of Mexico or approximately 180 miles to the south-southwest of Acapulco. Dolores was moving toward the northwest on Sunday, generally paralleling the southwestern coast of Mexico. Current forecasts indicate that Dolores could strengthen into a hurricane early this week as it projected to travel toward the northwest and west-northwest.
In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Chan-Hom continued strengthening at the start of last week as it traveled toward the northwest, passing close to Guam in the southern Mariana Islands. By the second half of last week, Chan-Hom had intensified to a category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as maximum sustained surface winds reached 140 mph. This major typhoon produced ocean waves that ranged from 35 to 40 feet. Chan-Hom traveled across the East China Sea toward the Chinese coastline near Shanghai. While Typhoon Chan-Hom brought heavy rains and high winds to coastal sections of China over this past weekend, the typhoon curved toward the north and remained off the coast. During the weekend, Chan-Hom weakened to a tropical storm as it traveled from the East China Sea into the Yellow Sea.
As of this past Sunday, Tropical Storm Chan-Hom was located approximately 120 miles to the south-southwest of Inchon, South Korea. Current forecasts indicate that Chan-Hom should make landfall in North Korea early this upcoming week and eventually dissipate. See the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite imagery and additional information on Typhoon Chan-Hom.
Tropical Storm Linfa traveled westward across northern sections of the main Philippine island of Luzon at the start of last week before moving out over the South China Sea. While Linfa was over the South China Sea, it curved abruptly to take it toward the north for two days before making another change in direction toward the west-northwest by midweek. As it traveled to the west-northwest, Linfa briefly became a minimal typhoon before making landfall along the southeastern coast of China west of the Guangdong and Fujian border. Additional information and satellite imagery on Typhoon Linfa appears on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Typhoon Nangka traveled toward the west-northwest across the Marshall Islands at the start of last week. By late in the week, Nangka strengthened to a super-typhoon as it passed close to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands as it continued on a path toward the west-northwest. With maximum sustained surface winds reaching at least 155 mph, Super Typhoon Nangka was equivalent to a category 4 typhoon. Some wind gusts surrounding this super typhoon reached 165 mph as it generated ocean waves with heights to 45 feet. Some weakening of this Nangka occurred over this past weekend as it began curving toward the northwest. On Sunday, the central eye of Nangka was located approximately 500 miles to the south-southwest of the Japanese island of Iwo To (formerly known as Iwo Jima). Current forecasts indicate that this former super typhoon would weaken slowly during the early part of this upcoming week as it would travel to the north, well to the south of the main Japanese islands. For additional information on Super Typhoon Nangka along with satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.

Severe harmful algal bloom predicted this summer for western Lake Erie -- Scientists from NOAA and the partner institutions of Ohio Sea Grant, Ohio State University, Heidelberg University and University of Toledo predict a significant harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie this summer, because of heavy June rains that caused heavy nutrient runoff into the lake basin. The 2015 seasonal forecast is based upon numerical models that involve assessing and predicting the nutrient runoff. [NOAA News]
El Niño advisory continues -- Sea surface temperatures (SST) continued to increase across central and eastern sections of the equatorial Pacific during June 2015. During this month, the SST anomalies. or differences between actual and long-term average readings increased by more than one Celsius degrees in some sections of the basin. These increases in the SST anomalies, together with other atmospheric indicators, point to the existence of at least a moderate El Niño event. Consequently, forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) have continued their El Niño advisory that indicates the continuation and possible strengthening of an El Niño event during the next six months. These forecasters foresee that a greater than a 90 percent chance that this El Niño event would continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2015-16, while they view this event has an approximately 80 percent chance of continuing into early spring 2016. A detailed El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
Satellites monitor phytoplankton blooms in North Sea -- A series of three images made during June and early July from data collected by the MODIS instruments onboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites shows the evolution of a large mass of phytoplankton blooming in the surface waters of the North Sea between Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Satellites aid in exploration of ocean reefs -- Scientists from various research institutions have been using data collected from NASA's Landsat satellites to explore and map coral reefs around the globe. Images obtained from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 show the capabilities of polar-orbiting satellites to produce high-resolution images of coral reefs that show their sizes and depths. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Coral bleaching threat seen to increase in Pacific and western Atlantic Oceans -- Scientists associated with the NOAA Coral Reef Watch program recently warned that unusually warm ocean waters prevailing across the north Pacific, equatorial Pacific, and western Atlantic oceans could be responsible for greater bleaching of corals in the Northern Hemisphere oceans through October, with the possible death of corals over a large area, which would also affect the long-term supply of fish and shellfish. The Hawaiian reefs were beginning to experience major heat stress due to the rising ocean temperatures. [NOAA News]
Tracking heat storage in near-surface layer of world's oceans -- Ocean scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found that extra heat is being stored below the ocean surface during the last decade, explaining why the upward trend in global temperatures appeared to level in what was dubbed to be a global warming "hiatus." The researchers found that the waters of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans at depths between 10 and 300 meters below the surface warmed significantly. An animated map of the global ocean basins shows the patterns in the trends of water temperatures between 2003 and 2013 taken at four different layers of the ocean. However, eastern sections of the Pacific Ocean experienced cooling during this recent decade. Apparently, the cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation has had an impact on the surface waters and overlying air masses of the Pacific basin. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Planetary water budget balanced with new estimates of liquid assets -- Scientists at NASA'S Goddard Space Flight Center and their colleagues have recently published a newer estimate of the Earth's water budget that includes improved estimates of the liquid portion of the global water cycle based upon the flow of water between various reservoirs between 2000 and 2010. Water cycle estimates were calculated for each of seven continents and nine ocean basins; in addition monthly estimates for the globe and each region. In their evaluation, they used satellite observations and computer models that included analysis of the planet's energy budget. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Monitoring annual mass budgets of southern Alaskan glaciers -- Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington have been conducting airborne surveys of the glaciers across southern Alaska and neighboring sections of Canada's Yukon Territory and British Columbia for nearly two decades. They have produced maps showing the changes in the mass balance of these glaciers between 1994 and 2013, expressed in terms of the depth of water that would result if that ice were melted (or meters of meltwater equivalent). While most glaciers across southern Alaska and nearby northwestern Canada showed a mass loss because of melting, several glaciers experienced an increase in mass. Meltwater from the region's glaciers is entering the Gulf of Alaska. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Determining river sizes from satellites -- Hydrologists from the University of North Carolina have developed a method from estimating the size of rivers using satellites. This new method represents an improvement over the previous method of estimating river size using hydrological methods. A new database of river discharges across North America was developed using satellite images from NASA's Landsat 5 and 7 satellites. The North American River Width Data Set (NARWidth) is intended to be used in a wide variety of scientific and engineering applications. In addition, NARWidth is part of a broader scientific effort to prepare for the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission to be launched in 2020 that is designed to map water elevation and areal extent with high resolution. [NASA Earth Observatory]
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:

13 July 1996...Heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Bertha caused roads to washout in the Camden, ME area. Two people were hurt when they drove into a 600-pound boulder that had fallen onto the roadway due to the heavy rain. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
15-16 July 1916...A dying South Atlantic Coast storm produced torrential rains in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Altapass, NC was drenched with 22.22 inches of rain, a 24-hour rainfall record for the Tarheel State, and at the time, a 24-hour record for the U.S. (The current 24-hour rainfall record for the US is 43 inches set 25-25 July 1979 at Alvin, TX). Flooding resulted in considerable damage, particularly to railroads. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast) (NCDC)
17 July 1858...The U.S. sloop Niagara departed Queenstown, Ireland to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. (Naval Historical Center)
17 July 1994...The Polar Sea departed from Victoria, BC on operation Arctic Ocean Section 1994 and became the first U.S. surface vessel to reach the North Pole. She then transited the Arctic Ocean back to her home port in Seattle, WA. (USCG Historian's Office)
17 July 1998...A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroyed 10 villages in Papua, New Guinea killing an estimated 1500 people, leaving 2000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless. (Wikipedia)
18 July 1986...Videotapes, taken by the deep-sea Alvin submersible, showing SS Titanic's remains were released. Looking like huge stalagmites, rusticles ("rust icicles") are a byproduct of the bacteria slowly converting the iron in the hull. The colony of iron-eating bacteria flourishes in the anaerobic (without oxygen) environment inside the hollow multi-layered rusticles while on the outside, porous layers support oxygen-dependent bacteria. In this eerie way, there is still life on the Titanic as the ship lies deep on the ocean floor. (Today in Science History)
18-19 July 1979...A 30-foot high tsunami wave leveled four Indonesian villages on the Sunda Islands during the night. The wave swept 1500 feet inland, causing 589 deaths among the sleeping villagers. A landslide from Mount Werung (Lomblen Island) caused the tsunami. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
18-22 July 1997...Hurricane Danny, the only hurricane that made landfall in the continental US in 1997, moved inland into coastal Alabama at a snails pace. Radar storm total estimates of 43 inches over Mobile Bay. A torrential 32.52 inches of rain fell on 19-20 July at Dauphin Island Sea Lab, establishing a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for Alabama. (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
19 July 1843...The first all-metal liner, the SS Great Britain, was launched from Bristol, England. Designed by I. K. Brunel, the SS Great Britain was the first of the great steamships. She was the world's first screw-propeller driven (and first iron-hulled) steamship to cross the Atlantic (1845). The six-masted, single-screw, 3,270-ton vessel is 322 feet in length overall and carried a crew of 130 including 30 stewards for her 360-seat dining room. As the world's biggest ship of the time, she embarked on a varied career, first as a luxury liner carrying passengers to New York and Melbourne, then as a ferry carrying troops to the Crimea and India, and finally as a cargo ship, before being abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1886. She was brought back to Bristol on this day in 1970, where she is now being restored by volunteers to her original appearance at the Great Western Dock in which she was built. (Today in Science History)
19 July 1886...A hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico crossed Florida causing great damage from Cedar Keys to Jacksonville. This was the third hurricane in one month to cross the Florida peninsula. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
19 July 1897...LT Robert E. Peary, USN, departed on a year long Arctic Expedition that made many important discoveries, including one of largest meteorites, Cape York. (Naval Historical Center)
19 July 1994...Hurricane Emilia was the first of three Category-5 hurricanes to develop in the Central Pacific in 1994 as unusually warm sea temperatures prevailed south of Hawaii. Sustained winds reached 160 mph. (Intellicast)