WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

29 July-2 August 2013

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2013 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 2 September 2013. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

A celebration -- Thursday, 1 August 2013, is the ancient Celtic holiday of Lammas that corresponds to one of the cross quarter days, lying nearly halfway between the summer solstice (21 June 2013) and the autumnal equinox (22 September 2013). This holiday, also known as "loaf-mass day", originally marked the first wheat harvest of the year in the British Isles. [Editor's note: Next Tuesday, 6 August 2013 represents the exact halfway point between the dates of the solstice and equinox. EJH]
In the Land of the Midnight Sun -- The sun will set at Barrow, AK early Friday morning (1:57 AM AKDT on 2 August 2013), marking the first time in nearly 12 weeks (since 10 May 2013) that the sun has gone below the local horizon. However, the sun remained below the horizon for slightly less than 75 minutes before rising at 2:11 AM on Friday. On each day until mid-November, the length of night will increase at Barrow. On the afternoon of 18 November 2013, the sun will set and remain below the horizon for a stretch of two months until late January 2014.
New version of NOAA's "Climate Data Online" released -- NOAA's National Climatic Data Center recently released a newly designed version of its "Climate Data Online (CDO)," an web-based interface that allows the public to access new climate data sets in addition to traditional data sets. All the datasets can be accessed through the CDO interactive mapping tool. In addition, archived Doppler radar data products can be accessed. [NOAA National Climatic Data Center News]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- Two tropical cyclones were detected across the tropical waters of the North Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific basin during the last week:
In North Atlantic Basin, the fourth named tropical cyclone of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season quickly formed from a tropical depression that was located approximately 300 miles to the west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. This tropical cyclone that was named Tropical Storm Dorian traveling rapidly to the west-northwest across the tropical North Atlantic during the later part of the week. However, during the early evening hours of last Saturday, Tropical Storm Dorian weakened and degenerated into a tropical wave approximately 550 miles to the east of the northern Leeward Islands. As of Sunday, remnants of former Tropical Storm Dorian were located to the north of the Leeward Islands as a weak trough of low pressure that forecasters gave a medium chance for becoming an organized tropical cyclone north of Puerto Rico. For additional information on Tropical Storm Dorian including satellite images, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
In eastern North Pacific basin, a tropical depression formed during the second half of last week over the eastern sections of the basin approximately 950 miles to the west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and quickly intensified into Tropical Storm Flossie. This tropical storm, the sixth named tropical cyclone in that basin, traveled to the west and west-northwest during the late week. On Saturday, Tropical Storm Flossie crossed the 140-degree West meridian of longitude, which made this system the first named tropical cyclone in the Central North Pacific Basin. Forecasts made early Sunday indicate that Tropical Storm Flossie could reach Hawaii's Big Island on Monday, accompanied by locally heavy rain, 45 to 55-mph winds and 15 to 20-foot seas that could produce high surf. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Flossie.
Tropical Weather Outlook extended to five days -- NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) recently announced that the time period covered by its Tropical Weather Outlook would be extended from 48 hours to five days, effective at the start of August. NHC will begin including information about a system's potential for development using probabilistic forecasts during the following five-day period as a text product. A corresponding five-day genesis potential graphic is planned to become operational by this fall. [NOAA National Hurricane Center News]
Changes in New Orleans area levee systems are proposed -- A team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame have conducted a study of the levee systems designed to protect the New Orleans (LA) metropolitan area from the high water accompanying tropical cyclones that approach the area. The researchers propose that the lowering of a 55-mile long stretch of man-made levees along the Lower Mississippi River system in Plaquemines Parish and its ultimate return to its natural state would allow storm surge associated with storm systems to partially pass across the Mississippi River, thereby helping decrease the storm surge upriver toward New Orleans. [University of Notre Dame News]
Pacific equatorial cold water region studied -- Scientists at Oregon State University have obtained six years of observations on ocean water mixing from small instruments deployed on NOAA deep-sea equatorial moorings that permitted them to explain the existence of a large cold water region in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. They suspect that more mixing could be related to development of La Niña events, while less mixing would be associated with El Niño events. [Oregon State University News]
Decoding the long-term climate fluctuations in the Atlantic Ocean -- A team of German and Russian scientists has been investigating the role of heat exchange between atmosphere and ocean in an attempt to explain the long-term climate variability in the Atlantic Ocean. They analyzed meteorological observations and sea surface temperatures across the basin that extend over the last 130 years, finding the ocean significantly affects long term climate fluctuations, while the atmosphere is mainly responsible for the shorter-term, year-to-year changes. Their research could aid in the predictability of long-term climate fluctuations. [GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel]
Finding where North Atlantic right whales mate -- Researchers including those from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center who have been tracking the movements and behavior of the North Atlantic right whale for last six years believe that the waters of the central Gulf of Maine off northern New England serves as a mating ground for these endangered whales. [NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center]
Inbreeding in winter flounder seen in Long Island's bays -- Scientists at Stony Brook University have found from their research into the populations of winter flounder in six bays along New York State's Long Island that these winter flounder populations are inbred. The study indicates that the the effective number of breeders in each bay had dropped below 500 fish, suggesting that the spawning populations of this historically common fish are now relatively small in the area. [The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science]
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.

Historical Events:

31 July 1498...On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, the explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach the island of Trinidad. (Wikipedia)
31 July 1978...A 50-yard wide waterspout came onshore at Kill Devil Hills, NC and destroyed a small house. One person died and four were hurt. Waterspouts are typically considered relatively benign. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 August 1498...Christopher Columbus reached Venezuela, the first known European to visit that country. (Wikipedia)
1-3 August 1989...Hurricane Chantal made landfall along the Upper Texas coast about sunrise on the 1^st. Chantal deluged parts of Galveston Island and southeastern Texas with 8 to 12 inches of rain. Unofficial totals ranged up to twenty inches. Winds gusted to 82 mph at Galveston, and reached 76 mph in the Houston area. Tides were 5 to 7 feet high. The hurricane claimed two lives, and caused 100 million dollars damage. The remains of Hurricane Chantal also deluged north central Texas with heavy rain. Up to 6.50 inches drenched Stephens County, and Wichita Falls reported 2.22 inches of rain in just one hour on the 2^nd. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1 August 2002...At the Delaware Bay buoy located 26 miles southeast of Cape May, NJ, an ocean water temperature of 83.1 degrees Fahrenheit was measured--marking the highest ocean temperature recorded at that buoy since observations began there in 1984. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2 August 1880...Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was adopted officially by the British Parliament, selected because Greenwich had been the national center for time since 1675. GMT was originally set-up to aid naval navigation, but was not on land until transportation improved. GMT was adopted by the U.S. at noon on 18 Nov 1883 when the telegraph lines transmitted time signals to all major cities. Subsequently, GMT was adopted worldwide on 1 Nov 1884 when the International Meridian Conference met in Washington, DC, USA and 24 time zones were created. (Today in Science History)
2-3 August 1922...A typhoon hit the China Coast at Swatow on the night of the 2^nd. The wind and the storm surge killed as many as 50,000 of the city's 65,000 residents. Barometric pressure at landfall had dropped to at least 932.3 millibars (27.53 inches). (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
3 August 1492...The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, in command of three ships, embarked from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera on a journey westward in search of a sea route to Asia. This expedition, which reached the Bahamas near North America on 12 October, was the first of four expeditions that Columbus made to the "New World". (The History Channel)
3 August 1958...At 11:15 EDT, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first ship to reach the geographic North Pole submerged, traveling at a depth of approximately 500 feet from the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow, AK on 1 August to the Greenland Sea near Spitzbergen on 5 August. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
3 August 1970...Hurricane Celia made landfall near Port Aransas on the Texas coast, producing wind gusts to 161 mph at Corpus Christi, and estimated wind gusts of 180 mph at Arkansas Pass. Even at Del Rio, 250 miles inland, Celia produced wind gusts to 89 mph. The hurricane was the most destructive of record along the Texas coast causing 454 million dollars damage as 8950 homes were destroyed on the Coastal Bend. Celia also claimed eleven lives and injured 466 people. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
3-4 August 1978...The remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia produced up to 32 inches of rain on Schackelford County in Texas, an incredible amount of rain for a far-inland and non-mountainous area. A twenty-foot wall of water killed six during the evening of the 4^th in Albany, resulting in 89 percent of the city being covered by water. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
4(?) August 1609...A tempest struck the western Atlantic Ocean scattering small British convoy headed to Virginia. Two vessels sank; another, the Sea Venture was presumed lost. However, a ship made landfall on Bermuda, shipwrecking the crew. After a ten-month stay to build two small rescue boats, they sailed to Jamestown (Virginia) Colony. Incident accounts may have provided William Shakespeare with background material for The Tempest. (The Weather Doctor)
4 August 1666...A violent hurricane raked the island of Guadeloupe, destroying all boats along its coast, including a 17-ship fleet with 2000 troops. The island's batteries, with 6-foot thick walls, were destroyed and the 16-pounders (large cannons) were washed away. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
4 August 1858...After several unsuccessful attempts, the first trans-Atlantic cable, a 2000-mile submerged telegraph line conceived by Cyrus W. Field, was completed by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon. While the first messages were exchanged between President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria on 16 August, the cable ceased functioning in early September. The first permanent trans-Atlantic cable was laid in 1866. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
5-6 August 1959...Hurricane Dot crossed Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands producing sustained winds of 103 mph and gusts to 125 mph. Over 6 inches of rain fell there and over 9 inches on the island of Hawaii. The sugar cane crop on Kauai sustained $2.7 million in damages. (Intellicast)
5-7 August 1997...Although far to the southwest, Hurricane Guillermo generated surf to 12-foot heights along the beaches of southern California. In Newport Beach, lifeguards made almost 300 rescues on the 5^th and 6^th. Rip currents were responsible for one death and three injuries. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
6 August 1986...A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast of Australia dumped a record 12.91 inches of rain in one day on Sydney. (Wikipedia)
7 August 1679...The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. The ship disappeared on the return leg of its maiden voyage from Lake Michigan. (Wikipedia)