WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

4-8 December 2006

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 15 January 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- In the western North Pacific, Typhoon Durian continued to move across the South China Sea toward the central coast of Viet Nam on Sunday as a Category 2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity scale. This typhoon initially formed on 25 November 2006 in the western Pacific and intensified to become a supertyphoon with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph just before making landfall in the Philippines. The torrential rain from this typhoon resulted in flooding and mudslides that may have caused the deaths of as many as 1000 Filipinos according to Philippine authorities. [USA Today] A visible satellite image from Japan's MTSAT satellite shows Supertyphoon Durian before it made landfall in the Philippines. [NOAA OSEI]
El Niño onset results in near normal hurricane season in North Atlantic -- In issuing a preliminary report on the 2006 official North Atlantic hurricane season that ended last Thursday, NOAA scientists noted that the onset of the anomalous atmospheric and oceanic circulation regime identified as El Niño appears to be responsible for a hurricane season that was below what the scientists had originally expected last spring. However, the nine named tropical cyclones that included five hurricanes, two of which were major (Category 3 of higher on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), were close to the long-term averages. [NOAA News]
Florida to tackle hurricane insurance woes -- The Florida legislature will meet in a special session during mid-January to tackle the insurance crisis that developed in the Sunshine State due to the devastating hurricanes that hit the state during 2004 and 2005. Homeowners have been faced with major increases in homeowners insurance rates during the last several years. [USA Today]
First DART buoys deployed in the Indian Ocean -- A ship recently left Thailand with the first DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoy station that will be deployed in the Indian Ocean. This instrumented buoy will be moored midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka to serve as early warning to residents around the coast of the Indian Ocean of an impending tsunami. An additional DART will be deployed in the Indian Ocean in several months. [NOAA News]
Environmental data to be found along a new "global highway" -- Officials from the US, Europe, China and the World Meteorological Organization recently announced the implementation of GEONETCast, a cooperative international service that is intended to make essential environmental data to users around the world on a timely basis. These data will assist in decision-making involving the public health, agriculture, energy, weather and climate sectors. [NOAA News]
Famous Texas seaport seen from space -- A photograph made by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows the impact that humans have had upon Galveston Island and adjacent coastal waters along the upper Texas Gulf Coast. The Houston Ship Channel is seen, along with the seawall built to protect the city of Galveston after the disastrous September 1900 hurricane that claimed as many as 8000 people. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Chilean sea bass is still in trouble -- Although the Patagonian toothfish, also known as the Chilean sea bass, is being sold again because the Marine Stewardship Council has ruled that one of the fisheries in the South Pacific near Antarctica is now considered sustainable, conservationists warn that this fish remains in trouble elsewhere due to overfishing. [National Geographic News]
Early detection of harmful algal blooms sought -- Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have been awarded a grant to develop technology that would detect deadly toxins in harmful algal blooms, such those form in the Gulf of Mexico. [EurekAlert!]
A national climate service sought -- Members of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington are urging the creation of a national climate service that would represent an interagency partnership led by NOAA that would be charged with understanding climate dynamics, assessing climate impacts and preparing climate forecasts. [EurekAlert!]
Aging sewage systems threaten Great Lakes -- The Sierra Legal Defense Fund recently reported that a study of the discharge from the municipal sewage treatment facilities in 20 Canadian and US cities along the Great Lakes indicates that untreated urban sewage and effluents continue to flow into the Great Lakes, in part because of aging treatment facilities. [US Water News Online]
Withdrawal of water from Great Lakes would need approval -- The Alliance for the Great Lakes has warned the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources needs to obtain approval from the governors of the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces before permitting a Milwaukee suburb from withdrawing and thereby diverting nearly two million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan for use in the suburb located in a neighboring watershed that is a tributary to the Mississippi River. [US Water News Online]
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.

Historical Events:

4 December 1786...The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced high seas at Nantucket that did great damage. (David Ludlum)
4-13 December 1991...Tropical Cyclone Val with gusts to 150 mph caused $700 million damage. Seventeen deaths were reported in American and Western Samoa, with 95 percent of the housed in Savaii either destroyed or badly damaged. Savaii was essentially hit twice by Val as the system completed a loop on the 8^th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
4 December 2003...A tropical depression became Tropical Storm Odette in the Caribbean well south of Kingston, Jamaica, becoming the first December tropical storm of record to form in the Caribbean Sea. Odette made landfall on near Cabo Falso, Dominican Republic on 6 December, causing eight deaths and destroying 35 percent of the banana crop. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
5 December 1872...A British brigantine, the DeGratia, discovered the American ship Mary Celeste derelict and boarded her. The Mary Celeste, a brigantine had set sail from New York harbor for Genoa, Italy, on 5 November 1872. Everyone aboard the Mary Celeste had vanished-her captain, his family, and its 14-man crew. The ship, which appeared to have been abandoned for approximately nine days, was in perfect order with ample supplies and there was no sign of violence or trouble. The fate of the crew remains unknown. (Infoplease.com) (Wikipedia)
5 December 1492...The explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, which now contains the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (Wikipedia)
5 December 1949...A typhoon struck fishing fleet off Korea; several thousand men reported dead. (Infoplease.com)
5-6 December 1968...High surf from an intense storm near Alaska swept rocks and seawater into pavilions at Onekahakaha Beach near Hilo, HI. Water reached 150 feet above high-tide mark at Napili Beach and swept into the swimming pool and ground floor of a hotel there. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
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 Guide 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 3 1/2-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 History)
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 814.6 ft by beam 96.1 ft, 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 History)
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 History)
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 History)
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 Guide 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)
9 December 2003…A subtropical storm became Tropical Storm Peter approximately 700 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. With Tropical Storm Odette having formed in the Caribbean on the 4th, the development of Peter marked the first time since 1887 that two tropical storms formed in the Atlantic Basin in December. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
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 History)
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 prize winners that year were Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein.
10 December 1978 (date approximate)…A 90-foot research ship chartered by the University of Hawaii left Honolulu on the 9th, but failed to arrive in Kawaihae on the 11th. Except for an empty box, no trace of the ship, crew or scientists was found by an extensive air and sea search operation. Gusty trade winds prevailed over the area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)