6-10 December 2004

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2005 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 17 January 2005. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the break period.

• Hurricane news:
• Another deadly typhoon batters the Philippines -- Typhoon Nanmadol traveled across Luzon and the northern Philippine Islands late last week, bringing more death and destruction to a nation that has experienced two other deadly tropical cyclones during recent weeks. [USA Today] By Sunday, more than 1100 Filipinos were reported as either dead and missing as a result of the these storms. [USA Today]
• An active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season -- NOAA hurricane specialists recently issued a press release that provides a collage of images taken from this just-concluded Atlantic hurricane season, which was more active than usual, with 15 named tropical cyclones (to include tropical storms and hurricanes), of which 9 became hurricanes and 6 became major hurricanes. [NOAA News]
• Hurricane forecast for 2005 -- Professor Bill Gray of Colorado State University released his first forecast for the 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season last Friday. He predicts a slightly above-average season with 11 named tropical cyclones (both tropical storms and hurricanes), six of which should be hurricanes. He also forecasts that three of the hurricanes could be intense, reaching at least Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity scale. Long-term averages for the basin include 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 intense hurricanes. He anticipates an above average probability that a major hurricane would make landfall along the U.S. coastline. However, he does not believe that the number of US landfalling hurricanes that marked 2004 will be duplicated in 2005.
• A milestone in float deployment -- NOAA and its partners recently reached the halfway point in the deployment of 3000 Argo floats when the 1500th temperature/salinity-profiling float was put into operation. These floats are intended as a key element of the Global Climate Observing System/Global Ocean Observing System. [NOAA News] [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
• Effort launched to improve estuaries -- NOAA and the University of New Hampshire have announced the inauguration of a research and development center called "The Center for Stormwater Technology Evaluation and Verification" that will demonstrate and field test various storm water treatment technologies in order to reduce the effects of non point source pollution in estuaries associated with runoff from storm water. This center will be a part of the university's Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology. [NOAA News]
• An Australian barrier reef named for a NOAA scientist -- Administrators at Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park recently announced that a section of the Great Barrier Reef would be named in honor of the late Nancy Foster, a NOAA scientist and administrator who was an advocate for coral reef ecosystems. [NOAA News]
• Sea level changes could provide clue to climate change -- A scientist at the University of Illinois-Chicago recently reported that core samples along Louisiana's Mississippi Delta indicate an abrupt rise in sea level at about 8200 years ago, which corresponds to a time of major climatic change across the northern hemisphere. [EurekAlert!]
• Changes in elevation of continents tracked -- A curator at the Field Museum in Chicago has developed a new method for determining changes in the elevation of continents during the last 65 million years. The ability to track these changes in the continents are important for understanding how the planetary climate has evolved. [EurekAlert!]
• Glacial movement studied -- A team of scientists monitoring Jakobshavn Isbrae, a glacier on Greenland, by satellite and aircraft has recently reported that the glacier has doubled its speed toward the ocean during the last seven years. This discovery is important for understanding the processes involved with ice sheet thinning and sea level rise. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes-- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 6 December 1830...The US Naval Observatory, the first U.S. national observatory, established as the Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, DC, under commander of Lieutenant Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough. Its primary mission was to care for the U.S. Navy's chronometers, charts and other navigational equipment. (Naval Historical Center)
• 7-8 December 1703...A monstrous storm raked southern England and adjacent waters with winds in excess of 100 mph. Approximately 8000 deaths were the result of this storm, mostly at sea. Many naval and supply ships were anchored in harbors or in the English Channel. The Eddystone Lighthouse disappeared. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 7 December 1872...An expedition put to sea from Sheerness aboard the corvette H.M.S. Challenger under the command of Captain George Nares on a 31/2-year world oceanographic cruise. During the 68,890 nautical mile cruise that ended on 24 May 1876, the ship traversed the North and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, traveled north of the limits of drift ice in the North Atlantic polar seas and south of the Antarctic Circle. The scientists onboard the Challenger sounded the ocean bottom to a depth of 26,850-ft, found many new species, and provided collections for scores of biologists. (Today in Science)
• 7 December 1932...The first gyro-stabilized vessel to cross the Atlantic, the Conte di Savoia of the Italian Line, arrived in New York City. The ship had 48,502 gross tons, an overall length 814.6ft by beam 96.1ft, two funnels, two masts, four screws and a speed of 27 knots. As one of the first ships to be fitted with gyrostabilizers, it was claimed that rolling was limited to a maximum of three degrees. The maiden voyage began from Genoa to Villefranche and New York on 30 November 1932. (Today in Science)
• 8 December 1777...Captain James Cook left the Society Islands (French Polynesia).
• 8 December 1866...The first transpacific side-wheeler steamship launched in the U.S. was the Celestial Empire (later named China) with capacity for 1,300 passengers. The builder, William H. Webb of New York, introduced many features of naval architecture in this liner, since in common use. (Today in Science)
• 8 December 1993...The U.S. Secretary of Defense declared that the Global Positioning System (GPS), accurate within 100 meters, had 24 GPS satellites operating in their assigned orbits, available for navigation use at Standard Positioning Service (SPS) levels for civil users. This worldwide satellite-based radionavigation system used as the Defense Department's primary radionavigation system provided authorized users encrypted Precise Positioning Service accurate to at least 22 meters. (Today in Science)
• 8 December 2002...Super-typhoon Pongsona hit Guam with sustained winds of 144 mph and gusts to 173 mph, along with a storm surge to 20 feet. The 40-mile wide diameter eye was over Anderson AFB for 2 hours. One indirect death and 193 injuries were attributed to the typhoon. Some bridge pavement was "scrapped off" by wind and wave action. Damage was estimated at $700 million. (Accord Weather Calendar)
• 9 December1938...A prototype shipboard radar designed and built by the Naval Research Laboratory was installed on the battleship, USS New York (BB-34). (Naval Historian Center)
• 10 December 1582...France began use of the Gregorian calendar.
• 10 December 1799...The metric system was made compulsory by law in France. (Today in Science)
• 10 December 1922...Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian oceanographer explorer, author, athlete and statesman in recognition of his work for refugees and the famine-stricken. Other prizewinners that year were Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein.
• 11 December 1901...Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, covering over 2000 miles from Cornwall in England to Newfoundland, Canada. (The History Channel)
• 12 December 1966...A Greek passenger ferry foundered in heavy seas near Heraklion, Crete with the loss of 241 lives.

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URL: DSOcean/news.html

Prepared by AMS DSOcean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.