NOS/NOAA routinely generates HAB bulletins for the Southeast US coastal waters over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida basin using ocean color products from SeaWiFS and lately MODIS sensor on Aqua. From the consideration of life and safety,... more
NOS/NOAA routinely generates HAB bulletins for the Southeast US coastal waters over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida basin using ocean color products from SeaWiFS and lately MODIS sensor on Aqua. From the consideration of life and safety, availability of products that can provide continuity in case the current sensors retire or fail before VIIRS becomes operational is very important. NOAA CoastWatch program is exploring the suitability of products from non-US satellite platforms as a possible option. We need to investigate inter-sensor product variation. We present results from such an evaluation study done with data from MERIS for the US coastal waters. A time series of the variability of color products available from the three sensors is presented. Comparisons are analyzed for different geographical areas and different optical ranges with a view to investigate systematic effects. We plan to extend this analysis to other sensors in future.
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Altimeter data are of great interest for studying ocean dynamics. Sea surface height measurements aid scientists in many ways, such as improving model results, tracking eddies, and estimating upper layer depths. In an operative... more
Altimeter data are of great interest for studying ocean dynamics. Sea surface height measurements aid scientists in many ways, such as improving model results, tracking eddies, and estimating upper layer depths. In an operative environment, altimeter-derived sea surface height anomalies (SHA) are available through NOAA/NESDIS in a near-real-time basis, with a 2-day average delay. A Web-interface has been developed to
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ABSTRACT The intensification of hurricanes involves a combination of different favorable atmospheric and ocean conditions. After a series of events where the sudden intensification of hurricanes occurred when their path passed over... more
ABSTRACT The intensification of hurricanes involves a combination of different favorable atmospheric and ocean conditions. After a series of events where the sudden intensification of hurricanes occurred when their path passed over oceanic warm features, it is now speculated that the ocean may have a more important role on storm intensification than previously thought. While the investigation of the importance of warm rings and eddies on hurricane sudden intensification is a topic of research at a very early stage, preliminary results have shown their importance on the intensification of hurricane Opal (1995) and Bret (1999) in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, the monitoring of the upper ocean thermal structure has become a key element in the study of of hurricane-ocean interaction with respect to the prediction of sudden hurricane intensification. Although AVHRR-derived sea surface temperature observations can be obtained several times a day, they only provide information of the temperature of the skin surface layer which could very well not be realted to the ocean thermal conditons in the upper tens of meters. Alternatively, sea height anomaly data, as derived from altimetry, may provide information of the upper ocean thermal structure and its dynamics when combined with historical hydrographic data. The hurricane heat potential is a parameter proportional to the integrated vertical temperature between the sea surface and the 26oC isotherm, which is the approximate sea surface temperature needed for a storm to mantain hurricane strength. Specific research objectives are now focussed to determine the hurricane heat potential in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and tropical Atlantic, and with special emphasis on warm core rings, the Loop and Florida currents and the Gulf Stream. The close relationship that exists between the dynamic height and the ocean mass field allows these two parameters to be used within a two-layer reduced gravity ocean scheme to monitor the upper layer thickness, which is defined to go from the surface to the depth of the 20oC isotherm. Although there are many factors controlling the sea height anomaly, it is assumed here that most of its variability is due to changes in the thickness of the upper layer and to steric and barotropic effects. The thermal profiles are then constructed using near-real time altimeter-derived upper layer thickness from three altimeters by NOAA/NESDIS along with the sea surface temperature fields. Estimates of this parameter are posted daily during hurricane season to help forecasters and scientists on identifying regions of high hurricane heat potential and possible hurricane intensification.
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Background In the past decades, climate change has been impacting human lives and health via extreme weather and climate events and alterations in labour capacity, food security, and the prevalence and geographical distribution of... more
Background In the past decades, climate change has been impacting human lives and health via extreme weather and climate events and alterations in labour capacity, food security, and the prevalence and geographical distribution of infectious diseases across the globe. Climate change and health indicators (CCHIs) are workable tools designed to capture the complex set of interdependent interactions through which climate change is affecting human health. Since 2015, a novel sub-set of CCHIs, focusing on climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability indicators (CCIEVIs) has been developed, refined, and integrated by Working Group 1 of the “Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change”, an international collaboration across disciplines that include climate, geography, epidemiology, occupation health, and economics. Discussion This research in practice article is a reflective narrative documenting how we have developed CCIEVIs as a discrete set of quantifiable i...
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This NCEI accession contains a high-quality dataset of derived products from over a million observations of surface water partial pressure/fugacity of carbon dioxide (pCO2w/fCO2w), for the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and North-East... more
This NCEI accession contains a high-quality dataset of derived products from over a million observations of surface water partial pressure/fugacity of carbon dioxide (pCO2w/fCO2w), for the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and North-East Atlantic Ocean covering the timespan from 2003-03-01 to 2018-12-31. Prior to installation of automated pCO2 systems on cruise ships of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and subsidiaries (Explorer of the Seas, Celebrity Equinox, Allure of the Seas), very limited surface water carbon data were available in this region. With this observational program, the Northern Caribbean Sea has now become one of the best sampled regions for pCO2 of the world's ocean. The derived quantities include total alkalinity (TA), acidity (pH), aragonite saturation state (ΩAr) and air-sea CO2 flux.
This archive package contains estimates of the transport of the Yucatan Current generated by NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). The Yucatan Current flows from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico,... more
This archive package contains estimates of the transport of the Yucatan Current generated by NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). The Yucatan Current flows from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, carrying the warm upper limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and part of the return flow from the wind-driven subtropical gyre circulation in the North Atlantic. Estimates of the Yucatan Current transport are carried out by NOAA/AOML using satellite altimetry as the main dataset, and hydrographic observations. For more information, please visit: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/indexes/index.php
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Nous présentons ici una méthode pour réaliser cartes thermiques marines d'haute resolution (120 mxl20m) en combinant des données des satellites NOAA and Landsat. Nous employons l'algorithme split-window pour calculer la carte... more
Nous présentons ici una méthode pour réaliser cartes thermiques marines d'haute resolution (120 mxl20m) en combinant des données des satellites NOAA and Landsat. Nous employons l'algorithme split-window pour calculer la carte thermique de la surface marine (SST) des données du NOAA. Nous corrélons cette carte thermique NOAA avec la bande six du Landsat. Nous selectionnons des points geographiques, pour obtenir pairs (TM,SST), en utilisant trois méthodes. Les coefficients de regression calculés pour les trois méthodes furent très semblables et assignent la même temperature aux valeurs numerisées de la bande six du Landsat. Nos resultats coincident avec les obtenu pour Anuta et collaborateurs. En utilisant la valeur du coefficient de regression obtenu por Anuta, nous calculons la curve de calibration
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ABSTRACT The intensification of hurricanes involves a combination of different favorable atmospheric and ocean conditions. After a series of events where the sudden intensification of hurricanes occurred when their path passed over... more
ABSTRACT The intensification of hurricanes involves a combination of different favorable atmospheric and ocean conditions. After a series of events where the sudden intensification of hurricanes occurred when their path passed over oceanic warm features, it is now speculated that the ocean may have a more important role on storm intensification than previously thought. While the investigation of the importance of warm rings and eddies on hurricane sudden intensification is a topic of research at a very early stage, preliminary results have shown their importance on the intensification of hurricane Opal (1995) and Bret (1999) in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, the monitoring of the upper ocean thermal structure has become a key element in the study of of hurricane-ocean interaction with respect to the prediction of sudden hurricane intensification. Although AVHRR-derived sea surface temperature observations can be obtained several times a day, they only provide information of the temperature of the skin surface layer which could very well not be realted to the ocean thermal conditons in the upper tens of meters. Alternatively, sea height anomaly data, as derived from altimetry, may provide information of the upper ocean thermal structure and its dynamics when combined with historical hydrographic data. The hurricane heat potential is a parameter proportional to the integrated vertical temperature between the sea surface and the 26oC isotherm, which is the approximate sea surface temperature needed for a storm to mantain hurricane strength. Specific research objectives are now focussed to determine the hurricane heat potential in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and tropical Atlantic, and with special emphasis on warm core rings, the Loop and Florida currents and the Gulf Stream. The close relationship that exists between the dynamic height and the ocean mass field allows these two parameters to be used within a two-layer reduced gravity ocean scheme to monitor the upper layer thickness, which is defined to go from the surface to the depth of the 20oC isotherm. Although there are many factors controlling the sea height anomaly, it is assumed here that most of its variability is due to changes in the thickness of the upper layer and to steric and barotropic effects. The thermal profiles are then constructed using near-real time altimeter-derived upper layer thickness from three altimeters by NOAA/NESDIS along with the sea surface temperature fields. Estimates of this parameter are posted daily during hurricane season to help forecasters and scientists on identifying regions of high hurricane heat potential and possible hurricane intensification.
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Drifters designed to mimic floating marine debris and small patches of pelagic Sargassum were satellite tracked in four regions across the North Atlantic. Though subjected to the same initial conditions at each site, the tracks of... more
Drifters designed to mimic floating marine debris and small patches of pelagic Sargassum were satellite tracked in four regions across the North Atlantic. Though subjected to the same initial conditions at each site, the tracks of different drifters quickly diverged after deployment. We explain the clustering of drifter types using a recent Maxey‐Riley theory for surface ocean inertial particle dynamics applied on multidata‐based mesoscale ocean currents and winds from reanalysis. Simulated trajectories of objects at the air‐sea interface are significantly improved when represented as inertial (accounting for buoyancy and size), rather than as perfectly Lagrangian (fluid following) particles. Separation distances between simulated and observed trajectories were substantially smaller for debris‐like drifters than for Sargassum‐like drifters, suggesting that additional consideration of its physical properties relative to fluid velocities may be useful. Our findings can be applied to m...
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SummaryAs microbiologists we live in exciting times. A variety of technical and conceptual developments, particularly in the last decade have revolutionized the field of microbiology, redrawing the landscape, and entirely redefining what... more
SummaryAs microbiologists we live in exciting times. A variety of technical and conceptual developments, particularly in the last decade have revolutionized the field of microbiology, redrawing the landscape, and entirely redefining what is possible. Perhaps this paradigm shift is no more apparent than in the study of vibrios. The family Vibrionaceae are almost unique as a group of bacteria to study in microbiology: they are genomically, phylogenetically and functionally diverse yet a distinct group of environmental bacteria encompassing important human and animal pathogens as well as non‐pathogenic species such as ecologically critical symbionts. Sensitive to physiochemical stimuli, they are among the fasting replicating bacteria studied, capable of responding almost immediately to favourable environmental conditions such as those afforded by climate warming. Characterized by an unusual double chromosome and frequently carrying numerous cryptic plasmids – their genomes are often po...
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We present results from an experiment designed to better understand the mechanism by which ocean currents and winds control flotsam drift. The experiment consisted of deploying in the Florida Current and subsequent satellite tracking of... more
We present results from an experiment designed to better understand the mechanism by which ocean currents and winds control flotsam drift. The experiment consisted of deploying in the Florida Current and subsequent satellite tracking of specially designed drifting buoys of various sizes, buoyancies, and shapes. We explain the differences in the trajectories described by the special drifters as a result of their inertia, primarily buoyancy, which constrains the ability of the drifters to adapt their velocities to instantaneous changes in the ocean current and wind that define the carrying flow field. Our explanation of the observed behavior follows from the application of a recently proposed Maxey–Riley theory for the motion of finite-sized particles floating on the ocean surface. The nature of the carrying flow and the domain of validity of the theory are clarified, and a closure proposal is made to fully determine its parameters in terms of the carrying fluid system properties and ...
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Ocean flows are routinely inferred from low-resolution satellite altimetry measurements of sea surface height assuming a geostrophic balance. Recent nonlinear dynamical systems techniques have revealed that surface currents derived from... more
Ocean flows are routinely inferred from low-resolution satellite altimetry measurements of sea surface height assuming a geostrophic balance. Recent nonlinear dynamical systems techniques have revealed that surface currents derived from altimetry can support mesoscale eddies with material boundaries that do not filament for many months, thereby representing effective transport mechanisms. However, the long-range Lagrangian coherence assessed for mesoscale eddy boundaries detected from altimetry is constrained by the impossibility of current altimeters to resolve ageostrophic submesoscale motions. These may act to prevent Lagrangian coherence from manifesting in the rigorous form described by the nonlinear dynamical systems theories. Here we use a combination of satellite ocean color and surface drifter trajectory data, rarely available simultaneously over an extended period of time, to provide observational evidence for the enduring Lagrangian coherence of a Loop Current ring detect...
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During the Southern Ocean Iron Fertilization Study, (SoFex) the iron-fertilized patches were tagged with the deliberate tracer Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) to be able to follow the iron enriched water mass. In conjunction with the SF6... more
During the Southern Ocean Iron Fertilization Study, (SoFex) the iron-fertilized patches were tagged with the deliberate tracer Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) to be able to follow the iron enriched water mass. In conjunction with the SF6 injection of the Southern patch a trace amount of the isotope 3He was added as well to determine the gas exchange rate from the change
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Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2019 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the... more
Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2019 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.
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Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2018 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the... more
Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2018 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.