Littering...a major pet-peeve of mine

I don't know how you feel about people who litter.  To me littering is one of the greatest signs of arrogance a person can exhibit.  "Oh, someone else will pick up after me."  Disgusting.

Check out this article from NOAA's Ocean Service about the cleanup of marine debris along the Oregon coast.

Marine Debris Article

The Dead Zone

Don't expect to find "Dirty Harry" in this blog.  The dead zone to which I am referring is not in Inspector Callahan's San Francisco but in the Gulf of Mexico.  This year's dead zone approximates the size of New Jersey.    The link below will take you to an excellent NOAA video about the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.

NOAA Dead Zone Video

The Tropics Continued...

Here's an impressive satellite record of Hurricane Irene's path, including over Long Island.  Irene was significant in that it did quite a bit of damage to our power grid, but also because tropical weather systems exert a good deal of influence on the ocean's mixed layer and vice versa.  Hurricanes are enormous heat engines, almost a "pressure relief valve" for the atmosphere.

The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is right around September 14, not in August as many people suspect.

Watch out! Tropical Depression #14A has formed and has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Maria.  It'll be interesting, as always, to watch where it goes.  Click on the link to see the latest info: TS Maria Information

TS Lee's Evolution

Watch this impressive clip from NASA to see the evolution of Tropical Storm Lee.  Tropical cyclones and the tropical ocean have a lot of feedback on each other.

Impressive, to say the least.

Sea Surface Salinity

NASA's Aquarius instrument has finished its testing and calibration and is now measuring the salinity of world ocean surface waters.

Click below to read more:
NASA Aquarius Article

Irene's Wrath

The image below is a three day barometric pressure plot from Chaminade's weather station.  One can clearly discern the passing of the storm's center around 9 am Sunday.  I can't figure out how to post the pdf plot in the blog, so you'll have to take my word for it.

You can also see in it how the peak wind gusts are shortly before and shortly after the arrival of Irene's center.

Chaminade High School; Mineola, NY



Next thought...where does Katya wind up going? Hmmm....stay tuned.