No, a new Nikita series is not on its way. But the code name the character was given while working for the top-secret agency Section One is now being used as an alias for a new tropical depression formed in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean just south of the Cape Verde Islands. The depression, once its maximum sustained winds reach 39 miles per hour, will go by the Tropical Storm Josephine name.

The National Hurricane Center announced that the depression formed early Tuesday about 170 miles south-southeast of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa and was expected to intensify, becoming a tropical storm within three days.

This is the tenth tropical depression of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which started on June 1 and is due to end on November 30. For the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, pre-forecasts issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted above-average activity with 12 to 16 storms, 6 to 9 hurricanes and 2 to 5 major hurricanes.

The season kicked off on May 30, when Tropical Storm Arthur formed near the Belize coast, causing an estimated $78 million worth of damage and killing 9 people before dissipating inland on June 2.After Hurricane Bertha (July 1), Tropical Storm Cristobal (July 18), Hurricane Dolly (third week of July), Tropical Storm Edouard (August 1) and Tropical Storm Fay (mid-August), category 4-second highest-Hurricane Gustav formed on the morning of August 25, killing 97 people in the US and the Caribbean Islands.

On August 28, Hurricane Hanna, category 1, formed in the Leeward Islands and, few days later, Tropical Storm Ike developed off the coast of Africa.