MarinersMariners WEATHER LOGWEATHER LOG Volume 61, Number 2 August 2017 From the Editor Greetings and welcome to the August edition of the Mariners Weather Log. In this issue, I would invite you to read our cover story, an interesting article on efforts to collect oceanic and mete- orological data supporting Arctic research. This article was sub- mitted by VOS’s German colleague, Henry Kleta, who was able to ride on the German Research Vessel POLARSTERN and engage Mariners Weather Log in the many scientific data collections: deployment of drifters, Argo floats, and upper-air soundings (to name just a few), in efforts Editorial Supervisor to collect vital Arctic environmental data. Paula M. Rychtar Globally, the need for data collection and analysis is ever so impor- Technical Writer Frank McEvoy tant, and it is this data that gives us our ability to gauge the health of our planet. Data monitoring and collecting from regions of the Layout and Design world (such as the Arctic) have become increasingly more valuable Stuart Hayes NTSC Technical Publications Office and concerning. ARTICLES, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND LETTERS SHOULD A NOAA-sponsored report, part of NOAA’s Arctic Program, BE SENT TO: shows that unprecedented warming air temperature in 2016 over Ms. Paula M. Rychtar, Editorial Supervisor the Arctic contributed to a record-breaking delay in the fall sea ice Mariners Weather Log freeze-up, leading to extensive melting of Greenland ice sheet and NDBC (W/OPS 51) Bldg. 3203 land-based snow cover. NOAA’s Arctic Program provides a Web Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000 site and a report card giving the latest science from top experts to Phone: (228) 688-1457 Fax: (228) 688-3923 E-Mail: [email protected] track changes in the Arctic. SOME IMPORTANT WEB PAGE ADDRESSES A joint effort between multiple international agencies, government NOAA http://www.noaa.gov as well as commercial entities, conventional (such as the POLARSTERN) and non-conventional (such as VOLVO Racing National Weather Service http://www.weather.gov Yachts), provide the opportunity to collect and provide data neces- sary for the understanding of the complex Arctic system. This National Data Buoy Center http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov includes the complicated linkages among melting sea ice, changing climate, ecosystems, and weather patterns in the Arctic and around AMVER Program 1 http://www.amver.com the globe. VOS Program For a video clip of the 2016 Arctic report card, please go to this http://www.vos.noaa.gov link: Mariners Weather Log http://www.vos.noaa.gov/mwl.shtml http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2016 Marine Dissemination Thank you all for being part of the Voluntary Observing Ship http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm (VOS) Program. Your participation is so valuable to us and our TURBOWIN e-logbook software mission. Only YOU know the weather at your position. Report it! http://www.knmi.nl/turbowin U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center Now sit back and enjoy the latest issue. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/ Cheers! See these Web pages for further links. - Paula 1http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Research Mariners Weather Log Volume 61, Number 2, August 2017 Table of Contents En Route to the Arctic with RV POLARSTERN . .4 Relation between Significant Wave Height and Dominant Period during Hurricanes . .7 Eastern Pacific Offshores and Low Bandwidth Graphical Composite Page . .10 Departments: Marine Weather Review Mean Circulation Highlights and Climate Anomalies – January through April 2017 . .13 Marine Weather Review - North Atlantic Area – September through December 2016 . .17 Marine Weather Review - North Pacific Area – September through December 2016 . .38 Tropical East Pacific Area – January through April 2017 . .59 VOS Program VOS Program New Recruits: March 1, 2017, through July 31, 2017 . .65 VOS Cooperative Ship Report: March 1, 2017, through June 30, 2017 . .66 Points of Contact . .81 The views and opinions stated herein are solely those of the authors and should not be construed to reflect the views and opinions of NOAA or the Department of Commerce. En Route to the Arctic with RV POLARSTERN Henry Kleta DWD Marine Network Manager Chair JCOMM SOT VOS Panel, Chair E-Surfmar VOS Expert Team RV POLARSTERN POLARSTERN RV The Polar Regions are important components in Henry Kleta, Marine Network Manager from the global climate system. The widespread sur- Germany, and as such responsible for the face snow and ice cover in Polar Regions strong- German VOS fleet, has been on board. ly impacts the surface energy budget, which is tightly coupled to global atmospheric and ocean- The cruise led from Bremerhaven on a direct ic circulations. The interaction of different Arctic route into the central Arctic, where at approxi- feedback mechanisms is not yet completely mately 82°N 10°E, POLARSTERN berthed at an understood. For example, the coupling of sea ice, ice floe for 14 days. En route, several SVP clouds, and aerosol in the transition zone Drifters and Argo Floats were deployed in inter- between open ocean and sea ice has not been national waters. well investigated so far. While POLARSTERN remained in the ice, iden- This issue has been addressed in PASCAL proj- tical measurements were carried out from the ect (physical feedbacks of Arctic PBL, Sea Ice, AWIPEV Base (German-French Research Base) Cloud, and Aerosol). Within this project, the in Ny-Ålesund, close to the open ocean. The expedition PS106.1 with the polar research ves- observations of both surface stations were close- sel POLARSTERN (DBLK, Alfred Wegener ly coordinated with collocated airborne activities Institute, Germany) has been undertaken. The of the Polar 5 and Polar 6 AWI aircraft operating cruise started on 24 May from Bremerhaven and between both stations along the gradient of sea- ended on 21 June in Longyearbyen. ice concentration, as well as close to POLARSTERN. August 2017 ~ Mariners Weather Log En Route to the Arctic with Arctic the Route to En Log Weather ~ Mariners 2017 August Figure 1. Niels Fuchs and Henry Kleta deploy an SVP drifter (photo: Ulrich Küster). 4 RV POLARSTERN POLARSTERN RV Figure 2. RV POLARSTERN in the ice (photo: Henry Kleta). Figure 3. Polar bears investigate scientific equipment (photo: Henry Kleta). August 2017 ~ Mariners Weather Log En Route to the Arctic with Arctic the Route to En Log Weather ~ Mariners 2017 August 5 These airborne observations were supplemented re-used during the MOSAiC Project by observations of the boundary-layer structure (Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the (mean and turbulent quantities) from tethered Study of Arctic Climate, FS POLARSTERN, balloon and several small Unmanned Airborne 2019–2020). Additionally, logistical support Vehicles (UAVs), operated during the ice station could be provided as Skidoo coresponsible and nearby POLARSTERN. In parallel with atmos- as AWI trained, armed bear guard on the ice. pheric studies, we will conduct oceanographic, physical, and biological research on the drifting Within the many impressions gained during work RV POLARSTERN RV ice floe. on an Arctic ice floe, the visit of a polar bear with her cub that investigated closely all scientific Procedures and methods experienced and used equipment installed on the flow was certainly a during these 14 days at and on the ice floe will be highlight. (See Figure 3.) Figure 4. Apherusa Glacialis seen with a microscope on RV POLARSTERN (photo: Henry Kleta). August 2017 ~ Mariners Weather Log En Route to the Arctic with Arctic the Route to En Log Weather ~ Mariners 2017 August 6 es Relation between Significant Wave Height and Dominant Period during Hurricanes Professor S. A. Hsu Louisiana State University E-mail: [email protected] In the August 2016 Issue of this Journal, the During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Figure 1 author proposed following formula under hurri- shows that Hs increased from less than 2 to cane conditions: approximately 17 meters and Tp from around 2 to over 14 seconds at Buoy 42040 as measured Hs = 0.47 U10 – 3, (1) by the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Using these Hs data, Equation (3) may be used Here, Hs (in meters) is the significant wave to estimate Tp. The results appear in Figure 2, height, and U10 (in meters per second) is the indicating that the slope is unity and the coeffi- wind speed at the height of 10 meters. Moreover, cient of determination, R2 = 0.88, meaning that in the April 2017 issue of this Journal, the author 88 percent of the variation between Hs and Tp presented the following equation between wind can be explained by Equation (3). In other words, speed and wave parameters such that: if one accepts the high correlation coefficient (R = 0.94), Equation (3) may be used to estimate Tp U10 = 36 Hs /Tp, (2) from Hs as a first approximation during hurri- canes. More verification is presented in Figure Here, Tp is the dominant or peak wave period (in 3, which is based on pertinent measurements seconds). made at NDBC Buoy 42003 during Katrina. Further verifications for Equation (3) appear in Now, by substituting U10 from Equations (2) into Figure 4 based on the datasets Table 1 pro- (1) and rearranging, we have: vides. Tp = 17 Hs / (Hs + 3). (3) Figure 1. Significant Wave Height (in blue, see vertical scale on the left) and Dominant Period (in green, on the right) at Buoy 42040 during Hurricane Katrina. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/hur- ricanes/2005/katrina/ August 2017 ~ Mariners Weather Log Relation between Significant Wave Height and Dominant Period during Hurrican during Period and Dominant Height Wave Significant between Relation Log Weather 2017 ~ Mariners August 7 Again, if one accepts the statistics shown in the Figure 4, Equation (3) is validated. For quick esti- es mates of Tp from Hs, a graphic representation for Equation (3) is also provided in Figure 5.