Bedford Institute of Oceanography provides ocean data · the second warmest year in the U.S. since...

U.S. DEPARTMENTOF COMMERCE

National Oceanicand AtmosphericAdministration

Vol. 10, No. 3 ● March 2000

EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

A guide toNOAA's data and

informationservices

INSIDE

3News briefs

6NODC coral reef

website

8NOAA’s Space

Environment Center

10Coral reef task force

protection plan

11Data products and

services

Bedford Institute of Oceanographyprovides ocean data

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▲ Figure 1. Climate Query Form. SST and ODI applications share a similar form for their queries.

Doug GregoryHead, Data Management ServicesBedford Institute of Oceanography

Physical oceanographic data made available to the scientific community

— continued on page 2

For many years, the Ocean Science Division(OSD) of the Bedford Institute of Oceanographyhas maintained large databases of physicaloceanographic data for use by research programswithin the Canadian Federal Department of Fish-eries and Oceans (DFO). Due to the widespreadusefulness of these databases, OSD has recentlyundertaken an ambitious program to provideopen access to these data for use by the widerscience community. There are three databaseswhich share a common user interface andWWW/database technology (Figure 1), with asingle entry point at:http://www. maritimes.dfo.ca/science/ocean/data-base/data_query.html.

Climate DatabaseThe Climate Database is an assembly of all

available hydrographic (temperature and salinity)data for the area 35°- 80° N, and 42° - 100° W(Figure 2). The source of the data is the MarineEnvironmental Data Service (MEDS), the Cana-dian oceanographic data center for DFO.Through international data exchange agree-ments, data from other national data centerswithin the target area are also included. Nearreal-time data are obtained by MEDS as IGOSSBathy/Tesac messages from the Global Telecom-munications System. The database is updatedmonthly and contains over 525,000 profiles with15 million individual observations from 1910 tothe present. The data come from a number ofinstruments including CTD casts, hydrographicbottles, and a variety of bathythermographs.

2 March 2000EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

The Earth System Monitor (ISSN 1068-2678) is published quarterly by the NOAAEnvironmental Information Services office.Questions, comments, or suggestions forarticles, as well as requests for subscrip-tions and changes of address, should bedirected to the Editor, Roger Torstenson.

The mailing address for the EarthSystem Monitor is:

National Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS E/OC1SSMC3, 4th Floor1315 East-West HighwaySilver Spring, MD 20910-3282

EDITORR. Torstenson

Telephone: 301-713-3281 ext.107Fax: 301-713-3302

E-mail: [email protected]

DISCLAIMERMention in the Earth System Monitor ofcommercial companies or commercialproducts does not constitute an endorse-ment or recommendation by the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administrationor the U.S. Department of Commerce.Use for publicity or advertising purposes ofinformation published in the Earth SystemMonitor concerning proprietary productsor the tests of such products is notauthorized.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCEWilliam M. Daley, Secretary

National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration

D. James Baker,Under Secretary and Administrator

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Oceanographic databases, from page 1


▲ Figure 2. Distribution of TS profiles within 10 boxes from the Climate database.Boxes with less than 10 stations have been omitted. Half the boxes shown contain100 profiles or more.

All data, regardless of source, areinitially validated by MEDS. The pri-mary validation procedures at MEDSare described in the IOC publicationGTSPP Real Time Quality ControlManual (UNESCO, 1990). At BIO, thedata are subjected to a further set oftests before being incorporated into thedatabase.

One of the primary functions ofthe BIO tests is the determination andelimination of duplicate profiles. Forclimatological purposes, a duplicate isdefined as any profile that is within0.02° of latitude and 0.03° of longitude(roughly 3 km) and 30 minutes time ofanother profile. Determining whichduplicate to include in the database is

based on a data type hierarchy. A CTDdown cast is at the highest level, downthrough bottle casts, the various BTtypes, and finally the low resolutionIGOSS Tesac and Bathy messages. Bathyand Tesac messages are replaced withthe higher resolution CTD or XBT dataas they become available, a process thatmay take a number of years. In addi-tion to the standard quality control, theentire database is subjected to variousstatistical tests to improve the overallconfidence in the data.

The spatial temporal criteria allowqueries with user defined polygons,multiple depth ranges, and timewindowing options. Processing optionsinclude the ability to select only thoserecords that contain both temperatureand salinity observations and an optionto average the values within a profileaccording to the depth specification.This reduces the resolution of highlysampled data to more closely resembleobservations sampled much less fre-quently.

Ocean SciencesBedford Institute of OceanographyP.O. Box 1006Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y4A2CanadaE-Mail: [email protected]

3March 2000 EARTH SYSTEM MONITOR

News briefsNGDC to study urban sprawl A proposal to NASA titled ”Develop-ment Sprawl Impacts on the TerrestrialCarbon Dynamics of the United States,”submitted by Chris Elvidge of the NationalGeophysical Data Center (NGDC), hasbeen selected for funding by NASA's Of-fice of Earth Science. Under this three-yearproject NGDC will produce a 1-kilometerresolution map depicting the surface den-sity of manmade materials (buildings,roads, parking lots, etc.) using DefenseMeteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)nighttime lights.

The product will be calibrated usingLandsat Thematic Mapper data andtransects of high-resolution aerial photog-raphy. The NGDC product will be used totest the hypotesis that urban sprawl hasreduced the capacity of the United Statesland surface to absorb carbon dioxidefrom the atmosphere. Project co-investi-gators include Ramakrishna Nemani,School of Forestry, University of Montana,and James E. Vogelmann of the U.S. Geo-logical Survey. As principal investigator,Dr. Elvidge will join the NASA Land Cover-Land Use Change Science Team.

Elephant sealsThe National Geophysical Data Cen-

ter is establishing a collaboration with theGovernment of Argentina (CentroNacional Patagonico) and the British Ant-arctic Survey to analyze the distribution ofsatellite-tagged elephant seals and alba-tross species foraging on the PatagonianShelf, and the location of squid fishingboats visible in nighttime Defense Meteo-rological Satellite Program (DMSP) data.During recent years, large increases in thefishing activity have raised questions re-garding impacts on the elephant sealsand marine bird species. NGDC will beproviding a georeferenced time series onnighttime DMSP data back to 1992 foruse by the Argentine and British scientists.The tagging program begain in the early-to-mid 1990s, corresponding with theDMSP archive.

The long-term agenda of the collabo-ration is to set up a conservation programon the Patagonian shelf with the objectiveof minimizing the impact of fisheries onwildlife. A meeting to discuss this conceptis being organized at the New York Zoo-logical Society over the next severalmonths.

December was exceptionally dry in thesouthwest with Arizona reporting its dri-est December on record, Nevada its sec-ond driest, and California its third driest.

Adriatic Sea cold water formation The National Climatic Data Center(NCDC) is assisting a group of Italianoceanographers in determining whichsatellite data sets would be most useful intheir research to prove a cold water flowtheory in the Adriatic Sea. This cold waterformation phenomenon occurs in coldwinters, with strong bora-wind episodesin the northern Adriatic. The cold watersinks and spreads southward to theJabuka Pit, then further south to thePalagruza Sill. The current theory predi-cates that the cooling phenomenon oc-curs in only a few days, but the sinkingand spreading south takes months.AVHRR (Advanced Very High ResolutionRadiometer) level 1B data from NOAA-14and 15 and/or SST Global data will beprovided to the oceanographers.

First half of 19th Century recordsfound

Eighty-five (85) additional ships' logbooks that are a part of the Maury collec-tion have been discovered in Germany.Apparently, these records were trans-ported to Europe during the U.S. CivilWar in an effort to raise funding and wereleft behind when personnel returned tothe United States. One of the log bookswill be forwarded to the National ClimaticData Center to obtain an estimate onkeying of the SST (Sea Surface Tempera-ture) and meteorological observations.

Bathymetry extraction fromaerial photography

The National Geophysical Data Cen-ter (NGDC) staff is testing a new softwaremodule designed to extract bathymetryfrom stereo pairs of aerial photographs.The capability to perform this analys relieson the visibility of bottom features andhas been known for decades. However,no commercial package for performingthis analysis could be found. NGDC con-tracted with BAE Systems to implement aset of algorithms published in the Manualof of Remote Sensing. NGDC is currentlytesting and evaluating results using coloraerial photography acquired of coral reefareas in the U.S. Virgin Islands by theNational Ocean Service.

NSIDC DAAC working groupThe National Snow and Ice Data

Center (NSIDC) Distributed ActiveArchive Center (DAAC) user workinggroup met at NSIDC February 7-8. Thegroup reviewed current NSIDC DAACstatus for ingest and distribution of Mod-erate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer(MODIS) data from the Terra satellite laterthis year. Also discussed was the futurestatus for processing of the ice, cloudsand land Elevation Satellite laser altimetrydata from the Geoscience Laser Altimeterand passive microwave data from theAdvanced Microwave Scanning Radiom-eters on the Advanced Earth ObservingSystem, and the next Earth ObservingSystem platforms. No major issues wereraised by the user working group al-though several actions will be taken toclarify MODIS sea, ice, and snow coverproducts, and the disposition of NSIDCDAAC processing of Special Sensor Micro-wave Imager Sounder data.

Annual climate wrap-up onlineNCDC's final version of The 1999

Global Climate has been placed online.The annual summary also includes a briefsummary of December's climate. Theannual summary confirmed the prelimi-nary conclusions for 1999 published inmid-December. December's warmth inthe United States solidified 1999's rank asthe second warmest year in the U.S. since1900, following last year's record warmth.Twenty-five states, in 1999, ranked in thetop 10 warmest for the period of record.Drought development in the Ohio Valleyand Southeast was noted with Georgiaand Kentucky experiencing their sixth andtenth driest year, respectively.

Globally, the combined ocean/landtemperatures were the fifth warmest since1880. An interesting find was that mostof the cooling from 1998's record valuewas confined to the tropical latitudes of20 N - 20 S. Both hemispheres in the 20 -90 degree latitude band experienced onlyminor cooling from 1998.

For December in the U.S., recordwarmth continued in the northernRockies and Plains with Montana experi-encing its warmest December on record.


Oceanographic data, from page 2

▲ Figure 3. Distribution of current meter and thermograph moorings contained in the ODI database.

The information returned optionallyincludes:

1) a monthly times series of the aver-age, minimum, maximum and count ofobservations for each year, month anddepth level for which there are data2) a seasonal cycle based on an un-weighted average over all months fromthe time series statistics3) individual observations of tempera-ture and salinity referenced to depth,latitude, longitude and date. These filescan be very large.4) a station index of latitude, longitudeand date/time for each profile selected.

Sea-surface Temperature DatabaseSST is based on the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory (JPL) multichannel sea-sur-face temperature (MCSST) 18kmdataset. The product, distributed by theJPL Physical Oceanography ArchiveCenter, consists of weekly global 18kilometer gridded temperatures derivedfrom the daytime NOAA Advance VeryHigh Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR).The data and a document describingthe JPL MCSST sea-surface temperaturedataset can be downloaded from a JPLftp site http://podaac-www.jpl.nasa.gov/mcsst.

In creating the SST database, dataare geo-referenced and stored as dis-crete data for the area 35° - 67° N and

35° - 77° W. The database consists ofover 4 million individual observationsfrom 1981 to the present. Updates aremade as the data become available fromJPL, typically every few months.

The application permits spatial andtemporal queries in an identical fashionto the Climate database. The databasewill be extended in the next fewmonths to include chlorophyll datafrom SeaWifs as biweekly compositeson a 9 km. grid. A review of the Path-finder dataset is also in progress with aview to eventually replacing MCSST.The information returned is very simi-lar to Climate. Options include amonthly time series, a seasonal cycle,or individual observations.


Ocean Data Inventory (ODI)ODI is an inventory of current

meter and thermograph time series dataheld by the Bedford Institute (Figure 3).A substantial amount of the data hasoriginated from sources other than re-search programs at BIO and includesdata from Canadian and U.S. agenciesand universities as well as the privatesector. There are approximately 8000time series in total, half of which arecurrent meter deployments. Geographiccoverage is for the area 35° - 80° N, and40° - 100° W, however the overwhelm-ing majority of the data are from thecontinental shelf. Temporal coverage isfrom 1960 to present.

Unlike Climate and SST, ODI doesnot contain the individual data obser-vations, but includes monthly statisticsfor temperature, salinity and currents.For temperature and salinity, the statis-tics include the mean, maximum, mini-mum and standard deviation for eachmonth of data. For vector (current)data, the statistics include maximumspeed (without regard to direction),mean speed and direction, and theprincipal axis components for the dataas observed, and with the tide removed.The principal axes analysis determinesthe orientation of the maximum andminimum variance and is a measure of

the variability of the current. Whenused with the vector mean, and makingsome assumptions about the distribu-tion, (i.e. mean +/- N standard devia-tions), the current extremes in both thesub-tidal (low frequency) and tidal(mid-frequency) bands can be esti-mated. Individual time series can bereadily identified and a request forcomplete time series made by email.Requests are usually fulfilled within oneday.

In addition to the usual temporalspatial criteria, users may specify whichparameters (temperature, salinity, andcurrent) are required. Users are given aparameter count of the number of se-ries identified that meet the selectioncriteria. This provides an opportunityto change the criteria before proceedingif too few (or too many) time serieshave been identified.

Information returned includes thestation information as well as the scalarand vector statistics. These files can bereadily imported into a spreadsheet ordatabase for further analysis. The scalarand vector statistics are also provided asformatted text reports.

QueriesAccessing these databases requires

an Oracle plug-in called Jinitiator,which is available on the Ocean Science

web site. Registration is required; a username and password will be assignedand can be used for any application.

Queries are assigned a unique num-ber and saved under the user name.Existing queries can be rerun or editedand submitted as new queries. Queriesare run off-line, with users being in-formed via e-mail when their query hascompleted. Results are downloaded asASCII files using a web browser.

For obvious reasons, we have hadto put some constraints on the size ofthe result sets. The constraints are quitegenerous, and with the exception ofrequesting individual data values fromClimate or SST, the limits should notpresent a problem. Climate is restrictedto 1.5 million observations and SSTlimited to 1.8 million. If your queryexceeds the limits, you will get an e-mail message that your query has re-turned too many rows and didn’texecute. The solution is to break yourquery up into smaller sub-areas and tryagain. The web site provides more in-formation to help with taking some ofthe guesswork out of this process.

ReferenceUNESCO, 1990. GTSPP Real-time Quality Con-trol Manual, Intergovernment OceanographicCommission, Manuals and Guides, No. 22. ■

Table 1. Common Features of all three databases

Single entry point at http://www.maritimes.dfo.ca/science/ocean/database/data_query.html

User Interface (Navigation) — Similar query form (common set of buttons to create, edit, view and submitqueries and to create new areas (polygons).Registration is required; user name and assigned password can be used for any application

Oracle plug-in (Jinitiator) required to run applications

Off-line queries, with e-mail notification when query completed; results downloaded as ASCII files.Since queries are assigned a unique number and saved under the user name, they can be rerun or edited andsubmitted as new queries.User defined areas (polygons) can be created and saved for subsequent queries. Areas can be created in anyof the applications and accessed by the others.

Geographical search areas can be defined in three ways: 1) Choose from a list of predefined polygons 2) Provide a polygon definition by latitude/longitude coordinates 3) Define a rectange by latitude/longitude coordinates; rectangles can be subdivided into x and y blocks to produce a set of subqueries within the rectangle

A time window may be specified by a continuous period and/or by months.


S. Phillips, M. Ford, S. Tomlinson,and A. PiccioloNational Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDIS

As part of the National Oceano-graphic Data Center’s (NODC) missionto collect, archive, distribute, and pre-serve marine data, and in support ofthe 1998 Executive Order for Coral ReefProtection, the NODC is developing aCoral Reef Data and Information Man-agement System that will integratebiological data from reef ecosystemmonitoring and research programs withinterrelated chemical, biological, andphysical data of surrounding marineareas. These data will include, inter alia,quantitative and descriptive biology ofcoral reef communities, includingmeasurements of species occurrences,numbers, life stages, pathology, produc-tivity, and nonbiological measure-ments, e.g., sea water chemistry,turbidity, temperature, salinity, cur-rents, bio-optical data, and substratumfeatures. Additonally, data from in situmeasurements, laboratory studies,remote-sensed data, and digital video-tapes and photographs will also bearchived and made available throughthe website. This work also supports thegoals of the U.S. Coral Reef Task ForceNational Action Plan; these goals in-clude the mapping of coral reefs, assess-ment and monitoring, thedevelopment and management of Ma-rine Protected Areas, the mitigation ofthreats to coral reefs, and the dissemi-nation of information and the provid-ing of public education. Critical datacollected in support of these goals will

be provided with a permanent archiveand accession point through whichdata can be retrieved by future manag-ers and scientists in order to determinethe efficacy of U.S. reef conservation,protection, and management efforts.

Data and information from associ-ated marine areas that form an integralpart of a healthy reef system (seagrassbeds, mangrove forests) will also bearchived and made available, as well asdata from investigations of reef damage(physical, anthropogenic contamina-tion, overfishing, etc.). In order toavoid the development of a redundant

website, direct links are provided toother government web pages whichhave coral reef data holdings. Links toregional, state, academic, and otherdomestic and foreign organizations arealso incorporated; the system is beingdesigned to provide a central “hub”providing direct and immediate accessto worldwide coral reef system and as-sociated habitat data. Investigators maysubmit datasets to the NODC for per-manent archival and dissemination. Asthe system develops, users will be ableto download NODC-held biological reefsystem data in conjunction with data

NODC Coral Reef WebsiteDeveloping system provides reef community access to data and information

National Oceanographic Data CenterNOAA/NESDISSSMC3, 4th Floor1315 East-West HighwaySilver Spring, MD 20910-3382Phone: 301-713-3280 x140E-mail: [email protected]

▲ Figure 1. Opening page of the the NODC Coral Reef Website; thesite is designed to integrate biological data from reef ecosystem monitor-ing and research programs into a central location to aid environmentalscientists and managers.


from NODC’s large holdings of oceano-graphic datasets. Long service and expe-rience as the nation’s data manager foroceanographic data will support theNODC effort to collect and preservedata permanently for these endangeredand fragile ecosystems.

This newly opened website (March2000; see Figure 1) is accessible throughthe NODC homepage at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov. The website wasdesigned with a basic HTML table for-mat, initially avoiding the use of framesand complex scripts which may preventthe site from being easily accessedworldwide. Additional components willbe incorporated based on the needs andrequests of users and as data holdingsincrease. Items are easily accessed fromthe sidebar on the left of each page. Ofnote are the U.S. coral reef locationmaps generated by GIS software andincorporated into the site as .GIF files;the location maps include a clickableoverview map of a coral reef region andaccompanying close-up views with listsof geographical coordinates of the coralreefs (Figure 2).

These maps and lists will be modi-fied and added to, as higher-resolutionshape files are made available and addi-tional coordinates of coral reef loca-

tions are con-firmed. The geo-graphiccoordinates willlater be directlylinked to associ-ated datasets. Inaddition, a di-rect link on theopening page isprovided to theWorld Conser-vation Monitor-ing Centre,which offersworld distribu-tion maps ofcoral reefs andmangrove for-ests online.Links to coralreef sites world-wide and cat-egorized byregional area arelisted on the

sidebar in order to aid users in research-ing for information on a given area; inparticular, all links are accompanied bya brief description and the site addressto support informationsearch efforts and helpusers provide the NODCwith site feedback.

DownloadableNODC-held data is cur-rently accessible and be-ing added to in the “DataSources” section alongwith the links to otherorganizations with reefdata holdings. This sec-tion also includes the“List of Extant Stony Cor-als” (Cairns, et al, 1999), aglossary of reef terminol-ogy, and a developing“Seagrasses and Man-groves” section with links(Figure 3).

The NODC encourages researchersglobally to submit a copy of their valu-able reef data and associated metadatato the NODC for permanent archivaland distribution. Data submission pro-cedures may be obtained from theNODC homepage or, alternatively,please contact the NODC Coral ReefTeam Lead, Dr. Anthony Picciolo, orother team members through thewebsite for more information. As re-searchers and coastal managers race topreserve coral reefs, it is particularlydesirous to build and maintain a cen-tral location for access to data on them.The NODC encourages commentaryand feedback on this developing site;we also hope that smaller programs andresearchers that lack the funding and/or facilities to permanently manage andstore valuable coral reef, seagrass bed,and mangrove forest data will contrib-ute a copy of these data for permanentarchival at the NODC.

ReferenceCairns, S.D., Hoeksema, B.W., and Van DerLand, J., Appendix: List of Stony Coral. pp.13-16. In Cairns, S.D. 1999. Species richness ofRecent Scleratinia. Atoll Res. Bull. 459:1-46. ■

▲ Figure 2. “Zoomed” view of location of coral reefs of the up-per Florida Keys; maps such as these for all U.S. coral reef regionsare included in the NODC Coral Reef Website.

▲ Figure 3. New "seagrasses and mangroves" section.


NOAA’s Space Environment CenterThe nation's official source for space weather alerts and warnings

Space Environment CenterNOAA/OAR325 BroadwayBoulder, Colorado 80303E-Mail: [email protected]

Barbara McGehanSpace Environment CenterNOAA/OAR

Each day when you check theweather, you might think that thesun is just a big happy face shiningdown on Earth, like some hugeNerf ball in the sky. It looks quitecalm and makes the day warm andcomfortable for us. But in reality,the sun is a smoldering caldron ofgases that are constantly exploding,sending streams of solar wind outinto space. Sunspots, some ofwhich are larger than Earth, con-stantly pop up, and sometimes so-lar flares and Coronal MassEjections (CMEs) explode sendingbillions of tons of plasma intospace and occasionally towards theEarth. Really then, between theEarth and the sun, there lies not avoid but an area of swirling, turbu-lent activity that we call spaceweather.

So space weather refers to thedisturbances and storms that swirlthrough space causing variations ofelectromagnetic fields (Figure 1) andenergetic particle fluxes. And whilesunspots have been observed andcounted for centuries, not until re-cently have “weather” conditions inspace become a topic of wide-spreadinterest. As the world becomes increas-ingly complex and computerized, withnew technologies such as satellites,satellite-based communications net-works, and the global positioning sys-tem, space weather becomes morerelevant and interesting for us.

At the annual meeting of theAmerican Association for the Advance-ment of Science in February, ErnieHildner, director of NOAA’s Space En-vironment Center, said he expects ma-

jor effects from the current solar cycle(Figure 2). “The sun is definitely ramp-ing up as we head into the periodknown as Solar Maximum, and I haveno doubt that we will see at least threeto four episodes of stormy spaceweather with some adverse affects onvarious systems on Earth,” he said.

Many activities on the ground in-cluding communication and powergeneration are affected by changingconditions in space. For instance, in1989, the entire province of Quebecwas thrown into darkness when a geo-magnetic storm caused an overload onpower lines. In space, astronauts faceunique hazards when venturingoutside the safety of the space shuttleand need to be alerted to the dangers ofenergetic particle emissions from thesun. This need will increase as teams ofastronauts construct the InternationalSpace Station. As our use of space in-creases, so must the ability to predictconditions in space, to safeguard hu-man lives and to protect the nation’sinvestment in these new technologies.

NOAA’s Space Environment Center(SEC), located in Boulder, Colo., is thenation’s official source of space weatheralerts and warnings. It continuallymonitors and forecasts Earth’s spaceenvironment 24 hours a day, every dayof the year. While space weather hasrecently become a “hot topic”, theSpace Environment Center, evenbefore NOAA was formed as an agency,was serving the nation, issuing dailyspace weather forecasts for the last 35years. SEC’s Forecast Center is jointlyoperated by NOAA and the U.S. AirForce, providing forecasts, alerts andwarnings of geomagnetic storms, par-ticle events and electromagnetic activ-ity to users in the government,industry, and the private sector(Figure 3).

The sun, like the Earth, has its sea-sons, but its “year” equals eleven ofours. These eleven year cycles havebeen monitored for centuries and aredetermined by the number of sunspotsobserved on the sun (Figure 4). Solarminimum refers to the several Earth

▲ Figure 1. The protective magnetic field surrounds the Earth shielding it from many of theharmful effects of the sun.


years when the sunspot numbers arelowest; Solar Maximum occurs in theyears when sunspots are most numer-ous.

As Dr. Hildner pointed out at theAAAS meeting, we are now in the midstof solar cycle 23 and are approachingSolar Maximum. This means we canexpect an increase in the number ofgeomagnetic storms and other effectson our Earth systems. One ofthe most spectacular effects is the au-rora borealis or northern lights. Thesespectacular curtains of light can appearas red or greenish yellow bands in thesky.

During the current Solar Maxi-mum, the aurora is expected to appearseveral times per year over the conti-nental U.S. It may even reach as farsouth at the Gulf of Mexico at leastonce during this period.

The electric currents that flow dur-ing auroral displays disturb the iono-sphere and wreak considerable havocon long distance radio communicationsand on satellite to ground connections.And it’s possible that at least one elec-tric power system operator will losesome of their power grid and bechallenged to avoid triggering awidespreadblackout sometime during

solar maximum. When theaurora is visible overhead, itcauses earth currents to flowthrough the ground under-neath. The currents leak intopower systems, pipelines, andother long metal conductors.

Satellites are also sensitiveto the charged particles re-leased by the sun. Since thelast solar cycle we have be-come increasingly dependenton satellites for cell phones,pagers and other communica-tion needs. In the last tenyears, more and more satel-lites have been sent into orbit.In fact, more than 900 com-munications satellites areslated to be in orbit by 2003.And these satellites with theirsensitive electronic wiring aresusceptible to the energeticcharged particles of the solarwind.

To help the public better un-derstand the problems that canoccur when the sun waxes andwanes, NOAA recently developeda set of space weather scales, simi-lar to those used for earthquakes,tornadoes and hurricanes. Thesescales identify the possible effectsof space storms on Earth systems.

According to Dr. Hildner, thereare three types of storms, eachwith different effects. “The S-scaledescribes radiation events. Thisoccurs when the sun erupts in asolar flare and energetic particlelevels near Earth increase,” saidHildner. “These can cause healtheffects for high altitude pilots,astronauts, and any of us flying athigh altitude and latitude in anaircraft during a solar storm.”

▲ Figure 2. The Sunspot Cycle, well documented over the last 300 years,reveals a 10-11 year pattern of solar activity.


▲ Figure 3. Many industries and technologies areaffected by solar storms, including satellites, powercompanies, aviation, navigation, and astronauts.


U.S. Coral Reef Task Force unveils groundbreakingplan to protect 20 percent of reefs by 2010

In a groundbreaking step, the U.S.Coral Reef Task Force today unveiledthe first-ever National Action Plan tocomprehensively and aggressively ad-dress the most pressing challenges fac-ing coral reefs today. As members of theU.S. Coral Reef Task Force, the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion of the U.S. Department of Com-merce, the U.S. Department of theInterior and other federal agencies arejoining with coastal states and territo-ries to launch this cooperative effort tohelp save the world’s remarkable coralreefs.

U.S. Coral Reef Task Force co-chairSecretary of the Interior Bruce Babbittsaid, “I commend everyone whose hardwork paid off in developing the Na-tional Action Plan. We stand at a verycritical point for the preservation ofvital coral reefs resources. Today’sagreement to protect and set aside 20percent of coral reefs in this nation’swaters by 2010 will increase the long-term survival of coral reefs and the vastarray of marine species that dependupon them. The action plan, whenimplemented, will also lead to morerobust economies and safer, healthierfutures for people and islands protectedand sustained by these ancient andmagnificent coral reefs.”

“Protecting 20 percent of all U.S.reefs and other decisive actions calledfor in the new plan is crucial becausetwo-thirds of the world’s reefs may bedying. If current conditions continue,an alarming 70 percent of the world’sreefs may be gone by 2050. This rapiddecline represents a serious threat tobusinesses, consumers, communities,and the environment,” said D. JamesBaker, Task Force co-chair and NOAAadministrator.

Driven largely by such human ac-tivities as pollution, overfishing anddredging, the coral reef crisis places amultitude of human, natural andeconomic needs in jeopardy. As the“rain forests of the sea,” coral reefsprovide services estimated to be worthas much as $375 billion annually, a

staggering figure for an ecosystem cov-ering less than one percent of theEarth’s surface.

In the U.S. alone, coral reef ecosys-tems support millions of jobs. Theysupport billions of dollars in tourismeach year, over $1.2 billion in theFlorida Keys alone. In Hawaii, grossrevenues generated from just a single,half square mile coral reef reserve areestimated to exceed $8.6 million eachyear.

The annual dockside value of com-mercial U.S. fisheries from coral reefs isover $100 million. The annual value ofreef-dependent recreational fisheriesprobably exceeds $100 million per year.In developing countries, coral reefscontribute about one-quarter of theannual total fish catch, providing foodto about one billion people in Asiaalone.

Further threatened by the currentglobal reef crisis is the exciting promiseof life-saving and other critical pharma-ceuticals. Coral reefs are the medicinechests of the 21st century – they areconsidered to be one of the primarysources of new medicines andbiochemicals in the new century.Examples include many pharmaceuti-cals now being developed as possiblecures for cancer, arthritis, viruses, andother diseases.

The new National Action Plan isdesigned to be the nation’s roadmap tomore effectively understand coral reefecosystems and reduce the adverse im-pacts of human activities. Respondingto the urgency of the current situation,the new plan draws on the expertiseand commitment of hundreds of publicand private stakeholders. The plan callsfor:

1) Designating 20 percent of all U.S.coral reefs as no-take ecologicalreserves by 2010. With the fishing com-munity and a broad range of otherstakeholders, the existing network ofcoral reef protected areas will beexpanded to ensure the survival of keysites.

2) Mapping all U.S. coral reefs by 2009.Right now, just five percent of all U.S.reefs have been adequately mapped. Tomeet critical management needs, thefirst priority will be to complete ongo-ing mapping of Caribbean reefs andreefs on the eight main Hawaiian Is-lands.

3) Monitoring to build an integratednational reef monitoring system thatprofiles and tracks the healthy of U.S.coral reefs. This monitoring will buildon and link existing federal, state andterritorial monitoring in addition toimplementing new monitoring to,wherever possible, fill in current gaps.

4) An All-Islands Coral Reef Initiativeto address the highest priorities of U.S.state and territorial islands. Since 1994,the islands of Hawaii, American Samoa,Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin is-lands, and the Commonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islands have beenworking together to protect andsustainably use coral reefs. In FY 2000,NOAA and the Department of the Inte-rior will provide $1.35 million to assistU.S. islands to improve coral reef man-agement and protection, includingmonitoring, education and designationof marine protected areas.

—Madelyn Appelbaum Office of the

UndersecretaryHCHB

14th and Constitution Ave, NW Washington, D.C. 20230

[email protected] ■


Data productsand services

CONTACT POINTS

National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)828-271-4800

Fax: 828-271-4876E-mail: Climate Services - [email protected] Satellite Services -

[email protected]: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/

National Geophysical Data Center(NGDC)

303-497-6419Fax: 303-497-6513

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

National Oceanographic Data Center(NODC)

301-713-3277Fax: 301-713-3302

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/

NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory

301-713-0572Fax: 301-713-1249

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.esdim.noaa.gov/

#data-products

NOAA Central LibraryReference Services:

301-713-2600Fax: 301-713-4599

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.lib.noaa.gov/

Tropical cyclones of the NorthAtlantic Ocean, 1871-1998 The National Climatic Data Center(NCDC) in partnership with the TropicalPrediction Center/National HurricaneCenter has published Tropical Cyclones ofthe North Atlantic Ocean, 1871-1998. The206 page book, featuring a satellite im-age of hurricane Mitch near peak inten-sity on its cover, is divided into two mainsections.

The first section is a narrative abouttopics such as: the characteristics andclassification of tropical cyclones, datacollection sources, accuracy of the trackand intensity classifications, and the fre-quency of North Atlantic tropicalcyclones. Section two is subdivided into athree (3) part track map series. The firstgrouping of maps displays, on a yearlybasis, the tracks of all recorded NorthAtlantic tropical cyclones for the years1871- 1998, with 1999 included as anattachment. Tracks are coded by stage ofdevelopment from 1886 onward. Thesecond and third sets of track maps de-pict the 1886 to 1998 North Atlantictropical cyclone activity by inter-seasonalperiods first by months, May though De-cember, and then by 10 or 11 day peri-ods from June 1 to November 30.

The publication, which contains nu-merous maps, tables and graphs, is easilyread and is intended to be a referencetool for a diverse range of individuals-from the weather enthusiast to the re-searcher. Copies for NOAA agencies maybe ordered at no charge [email protected], or requested byU.S. mail, fax or telephone to the NCDC.The publication will also be posted to theNCDC home page at www.ncdc.noaa.gov.Requesters having the noaa.gov domainmay access at no charge. For non-noaa.gov users, the hard copy publica-tions cost $25.00 each and the electronicversion will be available for a one-timecharge of $15.00.Contact: NCDC

Earth System Monitor 1995-2000now online

The Earth System Monitor is nowonline, using the portable document for-mat (pdf), at NODC. All issues fromMarch 1995 through March 2000 areavailable at: http://www/nodc.noaa.gov/General/NODCPubs/.Contact: NODC

Earth System History programincreases paleoclimate data

After NOAA and the National ScienceFoundation (NSF) recently reminded sci-entists participating in the Earth SystemHistory (ESH) program to make their pub-lished scientific data publicly available,scientists are contributing more data tothe NOAA Paleoclimatology Programthan ever before. The contributed datasets provide evidence of past variations inclimate derived from paleo records suchas ice cores, tree rings, and ocean andlake sediments, and are made availablevia the NOAA Paleoclimatology Programweb site (http: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo).

NOAA and the NSF both support theESH program, which is designed to im-prove our understanding of past climatevariability and future climate change,including the effects of altered atmo-spheric trace gas composition.Contact: NGDC

January ice stormThe National Climatic Data Center

has placed a web page online with detailsregarding the recent winter storms in thesoutheast and mid-Atlantic areas. Theweb page includes narrative informationand precipitation data for the January 22-23 ice storm in Georgia and South Caro-lina, along with information and snowfalldata for the January 24-25 snowstorm inthe Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland.

A satellite movie loop of the stormsystem shows its movements along thesoutheast coast. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.,set a new storm event record with 20.3inches of snow, breaking the old recordset in 1902. An amazing 15 inches ofsnow fell in four hours. The page alsobriefly describes global events during themonth of January, and touches on thehistorical cold wave of 15 years ago whenstate minimum temperature records wereset in South Carolina, North Carolina, andVirginia. The page is also located in "TheSpotlight" on NCDC's homepage.

The website is: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/o1/climate/extremes/2000/January/extremes0100.html.Contact: NCDC

SHEBA reconnaissance imagery The National Snow and Ice DataCenter (NSIDC), affiliated with the Na-tional Geophysical Data Center, has madethe first of 57 formerly classified images ofthe SHEBA (Surface Heat Balance of theArctic) site available via worldwide web.During the yearlong SHEBA experiment,scientists on a Canadian icebreaker madeover 300 types of measurements to studyheat flux. The high resolution of the re-connaissance images (about 1 m) willallow investigators to characterize surfaceconditions and their impact on the netradiation balance.Contact: NGDC

Monterey Bay virtual tourA cooperative project between the

National Geographic Society and NOAA'sMonterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaryhas posted a 3-D "virtual tour" of theMonterey Canyon. The scroll-and -zoomperspective view, rendered by Peter Slossof NGDC in QuickTimeVR format, can beseen at: http://sustainableseas.noaa.gov/missions/monterey1/background/virtualtour.html.Contact: NGDC


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Space Environment Ctr, from page 9The G-scale describes the variation

in Earth’s magnetic field caused byCoronal Mass Ejections. This occurswhen a bubble of material is ejectedfrom the sun whichif it heads directlytoward Earth, interacts with our mag-netic field causing large electriccurrents to flow in our atmosphere.The effect of these currents can disruptelectric power grids, and satellites.

The R-scale reflects the size of solarflares that affect high frequency andshortwave radio propagation. Whenflares are occurring, radio signals thatnormally reflect off the ionosphere, anupper layer of Earth’s atmosphere, maybe lost or absorbed so the intended re-ceivers never get them.

Senior forecaster Gary Heckmansays the effects listed on the scale arethe “bumps” that are caused by spaceweather affecting our systems on Earth.“For instance, sometimes solar flaresproduce very intense bursts of radiostatic that are so strong that satellitereceivers on the ground, cell phones,airplane radios and television ground

receivers are able to detect nothing butnoise until the radio bursts are finished.This can last from a few minutes to anhour. At other times, a geomagneticstorm can hit a satellite or affect apower grid,” he said.

“Even though we may not realize it,the sun is the major driver, not only ofEarth’s weather, but also of the electro-magnetic activity that can affect thetechnical systems on which society de-pends,” Heckman continued.

NOAA has a program to developpartnerships with industries that areaffected by space weather, as well aswith other government agencies, todevelop more reliable methods of spaceweather measuring and forecasting sothat when the next solar cycle begins torise, they will be in a position to incor-porate space weather storm informationinto their systems and keep on func-tioning without costly losses or danger-ous failures.

For more information on the SpaceEnvironment Center, visit SEC’s websiteat http://www.sec.noaa.gov. ■

▲ Figure 4. The sun goes through its 10-11 year solar cycle.

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