WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

20-24 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:

Hurricane awareness week in New England -- During week of 20-24 July 2015, Maine along with several neighboring states will observe Hurricane Awareness Week.
State of the Climate in 2014 report indicates record warm year -- During this past week NOAA scientists and their colleagues released a 288-page report entitled State of the Climate in 2014.
This peer-reviewed study compiled by 413 scientists from 58 countries was based upon their examination of trends in temperature and precipitation, extreme weather and climate events, increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in the polar sea ice around the world in 2014. The report confirmed that 2014 was the warmest year since a reliable global weather observing network began in the mid-19th century, as greenhouse gas concentrations continued in the atmosphere. The study, which represents the 25th annual report by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Climatic Data Center), also is published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. [NOAA News] Two of the US authors were interviewed in a Q&A session by Deke Arndt of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Zenithal Sun -- Residents of Hawaii's Big Island will experience a noontime sun that would be directly overhead during this week (22-23 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 Hilo and elsewhere on the Big Island. The other time when the Big Island experienced a zenithal sun was in mid May [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- During the last week, tropical cyclone activity continued across the Pacific and Atlantic basins in the Northern Hemisphere during the last week:

In the central North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Halola, the second named tropical cyclone of 2015 in the central North Pacific basin, continued traveling with little change in intensity to the west-northwest reaching the International Date Line between Johnston and Wake Islands at the end of the previous weekend. Eventually, this tropical storm intensified to become a typhoon as it traveled across the western North Pacific (see below). The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Halola, which had been initially identified as Tropical Depression 1C.
Tropical Storm Iune, the third named tropical cyclone of 2015 in the central North Pacific basin, weakened to a tropical depression by last Monday as it traveled toward the west well to the south of the main Hawaiian Islands.
In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Dolores, the fourth named tropical cyclone of the 2015 eastern Pacific hurricane season, was traveling to the northwest off the southwestern coast of Mexico one week ago this past Sunday. .During the early part of last week, Dolores intensified to become a hurricane and then to a category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) by last Wednesday as maximum sustained surface winds reached 130 mph. Eventually, Dolores weakened to a tropical storm and then to a tropical depression before becoming a remnant low last Saturday evening approximately 285 miles to the west-southwest of Punta Eugenia, Mexico. While the winds and heavy rains associated with Dolores remained well off the coast of Mexico, large ocean waves generated by this system reached some of the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite imagery and additional information on Hurricane Dolores.
Tropical Storm Enrique formed at the start of last week over the waters of the eastern North Pacific well to the west of the southwestern coast of Mexico. During the week, Enrique strengthened slowly as it traveled to the west-northwest. By late this past weekend, Tropical Storm Enrique had weakened to a tropical depression and was expected to dissipate before reaching the central Pacific basin (140 degrees West longitude).
In the western North Pacific basin, Super Typhoon Nangka continued traveling to the north toward the southern Japanese Archipielago at the start of last week. Previously, Nangka had become a super typhoon, which was also classified as a category 4 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as this system had generated maximum sustained surface winds that reached at least 155 mph. By this past weekend, Nangka had weakened to a tropical storm as it approached the main Japanese islands, where the storm became a tropical depression that eventually dissipated over the Sea of Japan. The Japanese Islands were affected heavy rains and strong winds that caused widespread delays in air and train travel. Nangka was blamed for two deaths. For additional information on Super Typhoon Nangka along with satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
Tropical Storm Halola, which had formed in the central Pacific basin, intensified early this past week as it traveled to the west-northwest across the waters of the western North Pacific near Wake Island. By early in the week, Halola had strengthened to a category 3 typhoon as maximum sustained surface winds were estimated to have reached at least 98 mph. Over this past weekend Halola had weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression as it continued to travel westward. Some intensification was possible at the start of this current week.
In the North Atlantic basin, the third named tropical cyclone of the basin's 2015 hurricane season that was named Tropical Storm Claudette formed last Monday well off the Middle Atlantic coast, nearly 300 miles to the south-southeast of Nantucket, MA. Over the next day, Claudette traveled to the northeast before weakening to a tropical depression and then a post tropical cyclone approximately 300 miles to the east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite images for Tropical Storm Claudette.

Crowdsourcing project could improve historical record of tropical cyclones -- An ambitious, innovative crowdsourcing project called "Cyclone Center" is asking for the public's assistance in improving the historical record of tropical cyclones, which would eventually help improve the climatology of these hurricanes and tropical storms. The public is invited to look at some of the nearly 300,000 satellite images of tropical cyclones from 1978 through 2009 in the North Atlantic Ocean. The "Cyclone Center" was launched by scientists from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites along with the Citizen's Science Alliance with a mission to help interpret tropical cyclone cloud patterns on satellite images using a modified Dvorak technique to quantitatively estimate the intensity of the tropical system.[The Weather Channel Hurricane Center News]
Bait and tackle retailers help provide big boost to nation's economy -- A recently released study by NOAA Fisheries has found that independent marine recreational bait and tackle retail stores provide a big boost to the nation's economy, contributing approximately $2.3 billion in the broad sense. This study , which represents the first economic survey of its kind, was conducted in 2013. [NOAA News]
Public comment period for proposed petition regulation revisions are extended -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) announced a 60-day extension to the public comment period for proposed revisions to Endangered Species Act (ESA) petition regulations. These proposed revisions were announced in May and are designed to improve the inclusiveness and transparency of the ESA petitioning processes. [NOAA Fisheries Newsroom]
Impacts of diminishing Arctic sea ice discussed -- During this past week the 6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations was held in Washington, DC. This symposium, which was co-hosted by the US National Ice Center (NIC) and the US Arctic Research Commission (USARC), focused upon naval operations and strategic issues for the US and several other nations in an "ice-free Arctic." [NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory]
NOAA's ecological forecasts for 2015 summarized -- NOAA's National Ocean Service recently provided a summarization of the ecological forecasts that NOAA scientists and their colleagues from other agencies and academic research institutions made for 2015. These ecological forecasts included regional harmful algal bloom, dead zone, and coral bleaching outlooks for a variety of the nation's ecosystems along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. These forecast products involved the prediction of changes in ecosystems and their components as a response to some environmental driver such as climate variability, extreme weather events or pollution. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Clouds over Southern Ocean brightened by marine plankton -- Researchers from the University of Washington and the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory report that tiny marine plankton drifting in the near surface waters of the Southern Ocean appear to be helping generate brighter clouds in the overlying atmosphere. The researchers speculate that the plankton produce airborne gases and organic matter that seed cloud droplets, which lead to brighter clouds that reflect more sunlight. [UW Today -- University of Washington News]
Saving lives with satellite assistance -- The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System (COSPAS-SARSAT) that is used to help rescue people from remote areas such as over the global oceans using a network of satellites, ground stations and rescue services is described in a feature from NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). More than 39,000 people worldwide have been saved by this system. [NOAA NESDIS News Archive]
18th-Century shipwreck discovered off North Carolina coast -- Over the previous weekend, marine scientists from Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of Oregon discovered the previously-unknown wreck of what possibly could be an 18th century ship off the North Carolina coast. This discovery was made using scanning sonar during a research expedition onboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) research ship Atlantis. The WHOI's robotic autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry and the manned submersible Alvin investigated the wreck, which is submerged more than a mile below the ocean surface. Artifacts on the wreck may date as far back as the American Revolution. [Duke University Today]
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:

20 July 1964...Four Navy divers entered Project SEALAB I capsule moored 192 feet on the ocean floor off Bermuda for an 11-day experiment. On the 22^nd they submerged and then surfaced on 31 July 1964. (Naval Historical Center)
20 July 1985...Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank approximately 40 miles off the coast of Key West, FL, in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver ingots. (InfoPlease.com)
22 July 1986...Hurricane Estelle passed 120 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands creating a ten to twenty-foot surf. The large swells resulted from a combination of high tides, a full moon, and 50-mph winds. The hurricane also deluged Oahu Island with as much as 6.86 inches of rain on the 24th and 25th of the month. (Storm Data)
22-23 July 1996...A strong storm system centered south of Tahiti in the South Pacific was responsible for eight-foot surf along the south shores of Hawaii's Oahu Island. Water safety personnel rescued 95 people from the high surf. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
23 July 1715...Boston Light, the first lighthouse in America was authorized by the Boston Light Bill for construction at Little Brewster Island, MA. This light, located on Little Brewster Island to mark the entrance to Boston harbor, has guided ships since its lantern was first lighted just before sunset, on 14 Sep 1716. In the 1600s, treacherous rocks caused countless loss of lives. False signal fires lit in the wrong places by "wreckers" lured ships aground to plunder. Boston Light was blown up by the British in 1776, but rebuilt in 1783 by Governor John Hancock. The lighthouse was also the last remaining staffed station in the U.S. (Today in Science History)
23 July 1788...A weather diary kept by George Washington recorded that the center of a hurricane passed directly over his Mount Vernon home. The hurricane crossed eastern North Carolina and Virginia before moving into the Central Appalachians. Norfolk, VA reported houses destroyed, trees uprooted, and crops leveled to the ground. (David Ludlum)
23 July 1958...USS Nautilus (SSN-571) departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for the first submerged transit of the North Pole. (Naval Historical Center)
23 July 1982...The International Whaling Commission decided to end commercial whaling by 1985-86. (Wikipedia)
24 July 1609...A fleet of ships carrying colonists to the New World met with a hurricane near Bermuda, resulting in much loss of property but little loss of life. (Northern Indiana NWSFO)
24-25 July 1979...Claudette, a weak tropical storm, deluged southeastern Texas with torrential rains. The Houston suburb of Alvin received 43.00 inches, a 24-hour precipitation record for not only the Lone Star State, but for the U.S. Freeport reported a total of 30 inches. Total damage from flooding was over $400 million. On the 27^th, a van loaded with people on their way to a church camp stopped on Texas Highway 7 due to a flooded bridge just west of Centerville. A truck rammed the van, pushing it into the flooded creek, resulting in five people drowning. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum) (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24-26 July 1996...Although thousands of miles from southern California, an intense South Pacific storm south of Tahiti produced seven to ten foot surf with some sets up to 12 feet along the southern California coast. Lifeguards participated in more than 500 rescues along the beaches. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
25 July 1956...The Italian ship Andrea Doria sank in dense fog near Nantucket Lightship, MA. Ten hours earlier, the ship was rammed by the Swedish-American liner, Stockholm, forty-five miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Fifty-two persons drowned, or were killed by the impact. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
25 July 1994...Hurricane Gilma, like Emilia a week earlier, reached Category 5 strength in the Central Pacific. (Intellicast)