Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWO: 30 January-3 February 2012

Items of Interest

Newest satellite renamed for pioneer satellite meteorologist -- During the last week, NASA renamed its NASA/NOAA NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite, the newest Earth-observing satellite launched last October, for the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is widely recognized as "the father of satellite meteorology." [NASA Newsroom]

USA Today

Research scientist earns international honor for climate change research -- A senior research scientist with the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, NJ, Isaac Held, PhD, will receive the internationally prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for his studies on atmospheric water vapor that have contributed to improved understanding of atmospheric circulation systems and climate change. BBVA is an international financial services group based in Spain. [NOAA News]

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics -- During the last week, several tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that form over tropical oceans) were found over the waters of the South Indian Ocean:
Cyclone Funso continued to intensify early last week as it traveled southward through the Mozambique Channel between Mozambique and Madagascar. During the week, Cyclone Funso reached a major category 4 cyclone status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, as winds gusting to 150 mph created sea heights to 30 feet. By Sunday (local time), Cyclone Funso weakened to a tropical storm as moved to the south-southeast out over the South Indian Ocean to the south of Madagascar. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite imagery on Cyclone Funso.
At midweek, a tropical storm identified as Iggy formed over the waters of the South Indian Ocean approximately 350 miles to the north-northwest of Learmonth, Western Australia. This system began traveling toward the south-southeast and then to the south. By Sunday, Iggy had become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it continued traveling southward off the coast of Western Australia. Heavy rains associated with Iggy fell across coastal sections of Western Australia. For satellite images and additional information on Cyclone Iggy, see the NASA Hurricane Page.
Satellites help rescue over 200 people last year -- During last year (2011), 207 people were rescued from life-threatening situations throughout the US and on its surrounding waters in part because of the role that NOAA’s fleet of satellites played. Detecting distress signals from emergency beacons, these satellites helped in pinpointing the location of these people and relaying this information to first responders who perform the actual rescue. NOAA's geosynchronous and polar-orbiting satellites, together with Russia’s Cospas spacecraft, are part of the international COSPAS-SARSAT (COSPAS a Russian abbreviation for "Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress" and SARSAT "Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking") system. [NOAA News]
Improved method developed for improving estimating catch of recreational saltwater fishing -- NOAA recently announced that an improved method has been devised for estimating the quantity of fish caught nationally by recreational saltwater anglers. [NOAA News]
Case of Earth's "Missing Energy" is solved -- A researcher from NASA's Langley Research Center and an international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers have resolved the mystery of "missing energy" in the Earth's system related to inconsistencies between satellite observations of planetary energy budget and measurement of ocean heating. The new study used data collected between 2001 and 2010 from NASA Langley's orbiting Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Experiment (CERES) instruments that measure changes in the net radiation balance at the top of Earth's atmosphere and estimates of the heat content of the global ocean from three independent ocean-sensor sources. Their analysis found that the satellite and ocean measurements are in broad agreement when observational uncertainties are considered. [ NASA Langley Research]
Human impact on ocean acidity studied -- An international team of climate modelers, marine conservationists, ocean chemists, biologists and ecologists led by scientists from the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa have created a simulation of climate and ocean conditions extending over the last 21,000 years, to the Last Glacial Maximum. They studied the ocean acidification in terms of changes in the saturation level of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate). The researchers found that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions from human activity during the last two centuries have raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations. An animation showing the changes in aragonite surface saturation level in the global ocean basins from 1800 to 2100 was generated and is available for viewing. [EurekAlert!]
Detrimental changes in coral reefs are detected -- An ocean ecologist and biologist at South Carolina's University of Charleston and colleagues have used data obtained from NASA's Landsat satellite to document the changes in the health of coral reefs over the last 30 years, initially in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and then globally. [NASA GSFC]
Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues to early life on Earth -- A marine expert at Texas A&M University at Galveston claims that deposits of bacterial microbes discovered in some underwater caves in the Bahamas may provide clues as to how marine life formed on Earth millions of years ago. [EurekAlert!]
Determining what happened prior to "Snowball Earth" -- Scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science claim that their study of carbonate deposits prior to the Marinoan glaciation that occurred approximately 500 million years ago producing the so-called "Snowball Earth" indicate large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates were unrelated to worldwide glacial events. [Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric 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]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD --

A request: If you have some ocean-related experience that you would like to share with other DataStreme Ocean participants, please send them to the email address appearing at the bottom of this document for possible inclusion in a News file. Thank you. EJH

Concept of the Week: The Birth of Surtsey, A Volcanic Island
In early November 1963, cod fishers plying the waters of the North Atlantic south of Iceland observed what appeared to be smoke or steam emanating from the distant ocean surface. They were witnessing the beginnings of a volcanic eruption that ultimately would give birth to a new island later named Surtsey after Surtur, the fire giant of Norse mythology. Surtsey is located at 63.4 degrees N, 20.3 degrees W or 33 km (20 mi) south of the coast of Iceland. Volcanic activity was nothing new to the fishers who lived on the nearby volcanic Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar). These islands as well as the main island of Iceland straddle the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary where hot molten lava wells up from the Earth's mantle, cools and solidifies into new oceanic crust.

Eruptions that produced Surtsey began on the ocean floor, some 130 m (427 ft) below sea level. The accumulating lava, cinders, and ash first emerged from the sea on 15 November 1963. Over the next 3.5 years, episodic eruptions built an island that eventually covered 2.5 square km (1 square mi) and attained a maximum elevation of 171 m (560 ft) above sea level. The initial eruptions were explosive as hot magma interacted with cold seawater producing dark jets of ash and steam that shot up to 200 m (656 ft) above two main volcanic vents. At this time, clouds of ash and steam rose into the atmosphere to altitudes perhaps as great as 10 km (6.2 mi). Subsequent eruptions were much more peaceful, consisting of quiescent flows of lava. When the eruptions ceased in early June 1967, a cubic kilometer of ash and lava had built up on the ocean floor with 9% of this volcanic material above sea level.

No volcanic activity has occurred on Surtsey since 1967 and geologists consider the volcanic island to be extinct with little risk of future eruptions. Nonetheless, Surtsey remains off limits to visitors except for scientists who obtain permission from the Icelandic government. The island offers scientists a unique opportunity to study not only the geology but also the establishment of plants and animals on the island, a process known as ecological succession. For example, by 1987, some 25 species of higher plants were growing on the initially barren island and 20 species of birds were nesting there.

Unless volcanic activity begins anew, the future is not bright for Surtsey. Some geologists predict that in a hundred years or so the island will be reduced to scattered stacks of rock. The island is composed of basaltic rock that is particularly vulnerable to weathering and erosion, ocean waves are eroding its shores, and the island is gradually sinking into the sea. Scientists reported a total subsidence of about 1.1 m (3.6 ft) between 1967 and 1991. Compaction of the volcanic material and the underlying sea-floor sediments are likely causes of the subsidence. For NASA topographical images of Surtsey, go to http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/research/garvin/surtsey.html . These images were obtained using a scanning airborne laser altimeter.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The volcanism responsible for the formation of Surtsey was associated with a [(divergent)(convergent)] tectonic plate boundary.

[(are)(are not)]

Historical Events

30 January 1790...The Original, the first boat specialized as a lifeboat to rescue people from stormy seas was tested on the River Tyne. This 30-foot long self-righting craft went out to shipwrecks for 40 years, saving hundreds of lives. William Wouldhave and Lionel Lukin both claimed to be the inventor of the first lifeboat. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
30 January 1997...Surf up to 12 feet, with sets to 15 feet, pounded the north and west shores of Hawaii. A wave swept eight people into the ocean at Keane Point on Maui. Four tourists who were taking pictures of the waves drowned. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 February 1788...A patent for a steamboat was issued by the state of Georgia to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet. The patent was the only one ever to be issued by Georgia, and first in the U.S. for a steamboat. Much development had to follow before the steamboat would be commercially viable. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1838...A U.S. patent (No. 588) was issued for the screw propeller to John Ericsson, (1803-89), a Swedish American engineer, who later designed and built the Monitor for the Union Navy in the War of the Rebellion. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1811...The Bell Rock Lighthouse was lit for the first time eleven miles off the east coast of Scotland. Using 24 lanterns, it began flashing its warning light atop a 100-foot white stone tower. As the oldest sea-washed lighthouse in existence, it was built by Robert Stevenson on a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies submerged just beneath the waves. In the centuries before, the dangerous Bell Rock had claimed thousands of lives, as vessels were wrecked on its razor-sharp serrated rocks. (Today in Science History)
1 February 1953...An intense low-pressure system (966 millibars or 29.52 inches of mercury) swept across the North Sea. Wind speeds at Aberdeen, Scotland exceeded 125 mph. A storm surge of 13 feet, aided by a high spring tide, breached the dams in as many as 100 places along the Zuider Zee in The Netherlands, flooding 3.95 million acres or one-sixth of the country. More than 1800 deaths were attributed to drowning and 50,000 people were evacuated. In addition, this storm was responsible for the loss of 100,000 poultry, 25,00 pigs and 35,000 cattle. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2-3 February 1952...The only tropical storm of record to hit the U.S. in February moved out of the Gulf of Mexico and across southern Florida on the 3rd; it also represents the earliest reported formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin. The storm produced 60-mph winds, and two to four inches of rain. (2nd-3rd) (The Weather Channel)
2 February 1976...Groundhog Day Storm, one of the fiercest Maritimes storms ever battered the Bay of Fundy region around Saint John, New Brunswick with winds clocked at 118 mph, generating 39 foot waves with swells of 32.5 feet. (The Weather Doctor)
3 February 1488...The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Diaz landed at Mossal Bay, Cape of Good Hope, the first European known to have landed on the southern extremity of Africa. He was also the first known European to have traveled this far south and round the Cape. (Wikipedia)
3 February 1880...Date of a terrific gale on the New Jersey coast. Six vessels came ashore with 47 persons on board--all but two survived. Nineteen USLSS crewmen won Gold Life-Saving Medals during the wreck of the George Taulane. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1943...The torpedoing of the transport Dorchester saw USCGC Comanche and Escanaba respond. The crew of the Escanaba used a new rescue technique when pulling survivors from the water. This "retriever" technique used swimmers clad in wet suits to swim to victims in the water and secure a line to them so they could be hauled onto the ship. Although Escanaba saved 133 men (one died later) and Comanche saved 97, over 600 men were lost, including the Four Chaplains. (USCG Historian's Office)
3 February 1953...The French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau published his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World, which was made into a film three years later. (The History Channel)
5 February 1924...Hourly time signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were broadcast for the first time. (Wikipedia)
5 February 1997...High winds pushed mountains of ice against the northern shore of Lake Erie crushing several houses and cottages in Colchester, Ontario. This phenomenon is known as ice shove. (The Weather Doctor)
5 February 2004 - Nineteen Chinese cockle-pickers from a group of 35 drowned after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. (Wikipedia)