Tracking Cristobal in the Gulf
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Hurricane and tropical storm season has gotten off to a busy start this year, and we’re already on our third named storm of the season. Gulf residents and emergency managers are currently tracking Tropical Storm Cristobal as it makes its way into the upper Gulf of Mexico.
According to the National Weather Service, damaging and deadly flooding has already taken place in Mexico and Central America. In the U.S., life-threatening storm surge is possible in Florida’s Big Bend and portions of southeastern Louisiana. Tropical storm force winds could begin impacting the U.S. Gulf region from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Alabama/Florida border Sunday morning. Heavy rain is also expected from east Texas to Florida throughout the weekend and into early next week.
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“The 2020 hurricane season is off to an active start,” said Brian LaMarre, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service Tampa Bay office and NOAA's regional collaboration team lead for the Gulf of Mexico. “As Tropical Storm Cristobal tracks over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, GCOOS has innovative tools to assist in monitoring and decision-making.”
2020 is expected to have more storms and hurricanes in the Gulf and Western Atlantic Ocean due in part to neutral La Niña conditions, said GCOOS Board Member, Dr. Lynn K. (Nick) Shay, Associate Dean of Research and Professor, Department of Ocean Sciences Meteorology and Physical Oceanography Program in the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.
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“To understand the impact of the upper ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, ocean observing assets from GCOOS are needed to measure ocean fields such as temperature, salinity and current from a variety of platforms such as floats,” he said.
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You can follow Cristobal’s path and see the data being collected in real-and-near real time using these GCOOS products and assets:
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https://geo.gcoos.org/hurricane/
provides information Gulf Coast residents can use to monitor the strength and movement of tropical systems and how to prepare if a storm is heading toward your home. Users can access the current location, intensity, and movement of tropical systems, latest predictions, local emergency contacts, and guidance for storm preparations.
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https://products.gcoos.org/gliders/
typically tracks gliders in the Gulf of Mexico and along the U.S. eastern seaboard in the Atlantic. It is currently tracking a University of South Florida glider named Gansett. During Cristobal, the U.S. Navy is deploying a series of Argo floats that will be gathering temperature information from about 500 meters reporting daily, that will also be tracked here.
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https://stonesdata.tamucc.edu
, the Stones Metocean Observatory Project (Stones MetObs), is a long-term deep ocean observatory in the Gulf of Mexico created from a converted ocean mooring owned by Shell. This permanent deep-water observation site will allow observers to see changes in the Loop Current, along with deep sea temperatures. Thanks to funding from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, this is the first season that the data will be streaming to a dedicated GCOOS product.
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“Once a storm gets over the Gulf basin, it will certainly make landfall and chances of it intensifying are likely given the warm ocean features, such as warm eddies and the Loop Current. Cristobal's predicted track takes it over an isolated eddy at about 90W and 25N (as in the image above), where OHC is about 50 kJ cm-2. Thus, there is more than enough heat to maintain a storm or intensify it to hurricane strength.”
One new asset in the Gulf is the
Stones Metocean Observatory Project (Stones MetObs)
, a deep-ocean monitoring project that will bring unprecedented data about the deep Gulf of Mexico to the public for at least two decades. The project is a collaboration among Shell Exploration & Production, University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Texas A&M University and Fugro. Through is, Shell is sharing data from the mooring line located in the Stonesfield, 200 miles south of New Orleans and in 9,500 feet (2,900 meters), with the USM and TAMU. USM and TAMU to attach additional subsurface Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) and additional sensors to the buoy’s mooring line down to seafloor. Fugro services the moorings. GCOOS is hosting the Stones MetObs data through a grant from the
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program.
“Ocean circulation patterns — especially the Loop Current — remain somewhat of a mystery in the Gulf and there are critical gaps in the scientific understanding of this major current system,” said Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, GCOOS Executive Director. “The role this current plays in ocean heat transport, storm trajectories and ecosystem connections is critical to predicting weather and navigation hazards and other threats to human safety. So having Stones MetObs online and sharing data with the research and meteorological communities is exciting.”
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Learn More About Glider Operations During Hurricane Season in Webinar Recording
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GCOOS recently hosted the webinar "Gliders in the Gulf," with presenter Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Kerri Whilden, Texas A&M University's Geochemical and Environmental Research Group.
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GCOOS is the Gulf of Mexico regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the only certified system dedicated solely to the Gulf of Mexico. Our mission is to provide timely, reliable and accurate information on the open ocean and coastal ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico to ensure a healthy, clean, productive ocean and resilient coastal zone.
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Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick
, Executive Director •
Bill Lingsch
, U.S. Glider User Group Coordinator •
Dr. Chris Simoniello
, Outreach & Education Coordinator •
Felimon Gayanilo
, Interim DMAC Co-Manager & Systems Architect •
Dr. Shinichi Kobara
, Assistant Research Scientist, Product Developer •
Bob Currier,
Interim DMAC Co-Manager, Research Specialist & Product Developer •
Marion Stoessel
, Senior Research Associate •
Dr. Steven Baum
, Associate Research Scientist •
Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson
, Research Associate •
Grant Craig
, Program Coordinator •
Nadine Slimak
, Public Relations & Content Marketing, Vetted Communications, LLC •
Dr. Chuan-Yuan Hsu
, Post Doctoral Research Associate •
Robbie Iles
, Graduate Research Assistant •
Laura Caldwell
, Program Assistant
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In Memoriam: Matt Howard, 1952-2018
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