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Fla. manatees die in record numbers from cold

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Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand

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Indonesian ferry sinks; 29 dead, some 240 rescued

Rescuers saved more than 240 people aboard a crowded Indonesian passenger ferry that sank Sunday in rough waters off Sumatra island, but 29 people have died and at least 17 others were missing, officials said.

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NOAA: Warmest Global Sea-Surface Temperatures for August and Summer

Global surface temperature anomalies for the month of August 2009. Temperature is compared to the average global temperature from 1961-1990.

Visualization of world’s land and ocean surface temperature.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record, and the warmest on record averaged for any June-August (Northern Hemisphere summer/Southern Hemisphere winter) season according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The preliminary analysis is based on records dating back to 1880.

NCDC scientists also reported that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for August was second warmest on record, behind 1998. For the June-August 2009 season, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was third warmest on record.

NOAA Report Explains Sea Level Anomaly this Summer along the U.S. Atlantic Coast

NOAA scientists install current measuring systems on a U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Buoy.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

Persistent winds and a weakened current in the Mid-Atlantic contributed to higher than normal sea levels along the Eastern Seaboard in June and July, according to a new NOAA technical report.

After observing water levels six inches to two feet higher than originally predicted, NOAA scientists began analyzing data from select tide stations and buoys from Maine to Florida and found that a weakening of the Florida Current Transport—an oceanic current that feeds into the Gulf Stream—in addition to steady and persistent Northeast winds, contributed to this anomaly.

“The ocean is dynamic and it’s not uncommon to have anomalies,” said Mike Szabados, director of NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. “What made this event unique was its breadth, intensity and duration.”

The highest atypical sea levels occurred closer to where the anomaly formed in the Mid-Atlantic, where cities like Baltimore, Md., at times experienced extreme high tides as much as two feet higher than normal. Data from NOAA’s National Water Level Observation Network tide stations, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, and National Data Buoy Center, are published in the report.

In hot water: World sets ocean temperature record

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Tsunami Symposium Sees NOAA Research Forecast in Action

NOAA’s Internet-based tsunami research forecast system.

Download as Quicktime (Credit: NOAA)

During a session on tsunami forecasting during an international meeting in Russia on July 15, scientists saw NOAA’s Internet-based tsunami research forecast system in action.

A tsunami was generated by a large earthquake off the southwest coast of New Zealand. Vasily Titov, of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., and session chair, immediately accessed the web-based NOAA tsunami forecast system and demonstrated, before a live audience of 60 international tsunami scientists, a real-time tsunami forecast.

His demonstration included real-time access to tsunami data from a nearby deep-ocean detection buoy, part of the DART® (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis) real-time tsunami monitoring system, developed by PMEL. The buoys are positioned at strategic locations throughout the ocean.

NOAA Scientists Find Tsunami “Shadow” Visible from Space

The ground track of the Jason-1 satellite is shown here as it crossed the Sumatra-Andaman tsunami at hourly intervals after the earthquake occurred. White stars show the location of the tsunami wave sources.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

For the first time, NOAA scientists have demonstrated that tsunamis in the open ocean can change sea surface texture in a way that can be measured by satellite-borne radars. The finding could one day help save lives through improved detection and forecasting of tsunami intensity and direction at the ocean surface.

“We’ve found that roughness of the surface water provides a good measure of the true strength of the tsunami along its entire leading edge. This is the first time that we can see tsunami propagation in this way across the open ocean,” said lead author Oleg Godin of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, in Boulder, Colo.

Large tsunamis crossing the open ocean stir up and darken the surface waters along the leading edge of the wave, according to the study. The rougher water forms a long, shadow-like strip parallel to the wave and proportional to the strength of the tsunami. That shadow can be measured by orbiting radars and may one day help scientists improve early warning systems. The research is published online this week in the journal, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.

NASA: Atlantic Ocean Temperatures at End of June 2009

 

> Click to view larger image

The first month of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season drew to a close without so much as a tropical storm, but that isn’t unusual. According to the National Hurricane Center, the 1944-2002 average for named storms in June was only about 0.75, which means they don't occur every year. When they do form, it is usually the Gulf of Mexico that brews them up, and this image of sea surface temperatures on June 30, 2009, shows why.

Based on a blend of observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite and MODIS on the Terra satellite, the image shows temperatures that are generally warm enough to sustain hurricanes in yellow, orange and red. The waters of the Caribbean Sea (south of Cuba), the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic off the Southeast coast were all warm enough to fuel hurricanes, while most of the tropical Atlantic between the Americas and Africa was still too cool.

The northwestern Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the nearshore waters of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas are all considered “likely” areas for June tropical storm formation (white dashed outline), but storms are especially likely in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (white oval). The black lines on the image show the average paths that June storms tend to follow. One track takes storms through the Caribbean Sea, brushing the western tip of Cuba, and arcing across northern Florida to follow the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. The other track favored by June storms is in the western Gulf of Mexico. Storms cross Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and head north toward the Texas side of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Storms occur often enough in June and July for those months to be considered part of the hurricane season, but named storms don’t really start to accumulate until August. By the end of July there still will have been fewer than two named storms on average; by the end of August, the number is closer to five.

NASA image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

 

NOAA: NOAA Forecast Predicts Large "Dead Zone" for Gulf of Mexico this Summer

A team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University, and the University of Michigan is forecasting that the “dead zone” off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record. The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters.

Dead zone visualization.

Animation (Credit: NOAA)

Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles, or an area roughly the size of New Jersey. However, additional flooding of the Mississippi River since May may result in a larger dead zone. The largest one on record occurred in 2002, measuring 8,484 square miles.

NOAA and National Park Service Urge Beach-Goers to Break the Grip of the Rip

NOAA Rip Current Sign.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

With summer vacation on the horizon, NOAA and the National Park Service are alerting beach-goers to the threat of rip currents and how to prevent drowning from their strong and potentially fatal grip.

Rip currents are the leading surf hazard, claiming more than 100 lives per year nationally. For that reason, NOAA and NPS are teaming up to sponsor Rip Current Awareness Week, June 7-13, with the theme Break the Grip of the Rip®.

Rip currents are narrow channels of fast-moving water that pull swimmers away from the shore. Moving at speeds of up to eight feet per second, rip currents are surprisingly strong and swift. They account for more than 80 percent of the tens of thousands of rescues performed by beach lifeguards in the United States annually.

"Before going into the water, check the rip current outlook, swim on guarded beaches and know how to escape a rip current's grip," said Jack Hayes, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “Doing so can save your life.”

Network of Research Buoys in Indian Ocean to Improve Monsoon Prediction

Indian Ocean Buoy.

(Credit: NOAA)

A new array of moored buoys in the Indian Ocean will provide critical climate and ocean data to help scientists predict the dramatic variations between seasonal monsoon rains and droughts.

“The data from these buoys will provide us with much-needed information to advance our understanding of the oceanic and atmospheric processes that govern the monsoons,” said Michael McPhaden, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. “We want to improve computer models for seasonal forecasting to benefit farming communities and other weather-sensitive sectors of society.”

McPhaden and nine co-authors from Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States describe the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) in the April 2009 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The paper’s co-authors represent a range of monsoon-affected nations that support the array and participate in monsoon research.

Weather too hazardous to free entangled whale

Weather too hazardous to free entangled whale from Associated Press

Raw Video: Ship Loses Timber in Rough Seas

British authorities say a Russian-registered ship has lost a large part of its cargo of timber around 14 miles off the south coast of England. Officials estimate about 1700 tons of timber was knocked off the deck of the Sinegorsk.

Raw Video: Boat Capsizes, 2 Dead

This video is raw video released by the United States Coast Guard, and supplements the AP article already posted on NationalWeatherOnline.com. Two people were killed in Virginia Beach after their 18-foot-aluminum boat capsized in cold, choppy water. The Coast Guard plucked four others out of the Chesapeake Bay.

Two die, four saved after boat capsizes off Virginia

Police: 2 die, 4 saved after boat capsizes off Va. from Associated Press

NOAA: Jason-2 Satellite Data Now Available to Scientists

Jason-2 satellite.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

NOAA announced that scientists around the world now have access to valuable data from a new international satellite, the Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission. This information allows them to closely watch the rate of global sea-level rise and monitor changing ocean features around tropical cyclones.

Jason-2/OSTM, launched June 20, 2008, is a joint effort between NOAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). After five months of calibration and validation activities an international team of scientists, including representatives from NOAA, declared the near real-time Jason-2 data were ready for public distribution.

NOAA: NOAA announces 15-year plan to upgrade its fleet of research ships

Pisces christening ceremony.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

NOAA has completed a detailed plan to modernize its marine operations by replacing nine research ships and refurbishing a 10th in the next 15 years.

Three tourists apparently drown in Hawaii's high surf

3 tourists apparently drown in Hawaii's high surf from Associated Press

NOAA: NOAA and Nauticus deploy "smart buoy" in the Elizabeth River near Norfolk, VA

         

         

 

High resolution (Credit:   NOAA)

   

The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office will deploy a “smart buoy” Sept. 26 in the Elizabeth River near downtown Norfolk to observe the river's changing conditions. The buoy, developed in partnership with the Nauticus museum, will be the southernmost buoy in NOAA's Chesapeake Bay  Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), a network that provides mariners, scientists  and educators with real-time data about the Bay.

NOAA: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TO CONDUCT LIMITED TSUNAMI WARNING COMMUNICATIONS TEST ALONG U.S. WEST COAST

NOAA’s  National Weather Service will conduct a limited communications test of the tsunami warning system in the coastal areas of California, Oregon, and Washington on Wed., Sept. 24, between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

NOAA: COMMERCE SECRETARY GUTIERREZ DECLARES FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER FOR GULF OF MEXICO

MIAMI – U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today announced a formal determination of a fishery resource disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the devastation following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
         

         

 

Secretary Gutierrez announces a formal determination of fishery disaster inthe Gulf following hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

 

High resolution (Credit:   NOAA)

   

NOAA SCIENTIST HONORED WITH SERVICE TO AMERICA MEDAL FOR TSUNAMI DETECTION AND FORECASTING SYSTEM

Eddie Bernard,  director of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle has become the first NOAA scientist to be awarded a Service to America Medal for his work in establishing an international tsunami detection and forecast system.

         

         

 

Dr. Eddie Bernard.

 

High resolution (Credit:   NOAA)

   

NOAA: REEFS MAY "UNGLUE" IN OCEANS WITH HIGH CARBON DIOXIDE

Cements that bind individual coral skeletons and larger coral reef structures are predominantly absent in waters with naturally high levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂), making these reefs  highly susceptible to a wearing down of their physical framework, say  scientists with NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in  Miami, Fla. and other institutions.

         

         

 

Photo: Coral reefs that form in environments that are naturally high in carbon dioxide (CO2) are poorly formed and not as stable as those in lower CO2 areas.

 

High resolution (credit: UVI)

   

The study, released in the July 28 issue of  the Proceedings of the National Academy  of Sciences, found that the coral reefs of the eastern tropical Pacific provide a real-world example of the challenges all coral reefs will face under high-CO₂ conditions resulting in ocean acidification.

NOAA: SURVEY CRUISE RECORDS SECOND LARGEST "DEAD ZONE" IN GULF OF MEXICO SINCE MEASUREMENTS BEGAN IN 1985

         

          Map showing dead zone.

 

High resolution (credit: NOAA )

   

NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities  Marine Consortium found the size of this year’s Gulf of   Mexico dead zone to be 7,988 square miles, slightly smaller than the predicted record size of 8,800 square miles and similar to the area measured in 2007. Scientists think Hurricane Dolly’s wind and waves may have added oxygen to the zone to reduce its size.