WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

1-5 January 2007

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.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Sincerely,

Ed Hopkins and the AMS DS Ocean Central Staff

Ocean in the News:

• Hundreds die as storm sinks an Indonesian ferry -- Officials report that more than 500 people were missing and presumed dead following the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea off the coast of central Indonesia during a storm late last week. [CNN]
• Improved sea turtle bycatch monitoring proposed -- The NOAA Fisheries Service is proposing to increase the number of days that an observer would be required to be onboard US fishing vessels to evaluate fishing operations that could interact with sea turtles in an effort to aid in the recovery of sea turtle populations declining in part by being caught in fishing nets. [NOAA News]
• New autonomous underwater vehicles pass muster -- Officials with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science report that they have successfully tested a new generation of small robotic type submarine vessels called autonomous underwater vehicles that will be used to collect data such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and water depth in the shallow waters of tidal rivers and estuaries. [NOAA News]
• An update on rare monk seal twins -- A pair of young Hawaiian monk seals, members of a critically endangered seal species, appears to be nearly ready to be released into the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge nearly nine months after they were rescued and weaned at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Kewalo Research Facility in Honolulu, HI. [NOAA News]
• Grass shrimp serves as indicator of estuarine health -- Researchers with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science have discovered a direct link between the sediment contaminant levels in estuaries and grass shrimp populations in along the South Carolina coast, meaning that the shrimp size and population densities could be used as indicators of sediment contamination and estuarine health. and shrimp [NOAA News]
• Satellite images capture the unfolding El Niño event -- Scientists have determined that an El Niño episode has developed during the second half of 2006 based upon several indicators, including elevated sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, drought conditions across Oceania and Australia and stormy weather along the West Coast of North America. Some of these indicators can be seen in the following:
  • An image of sea surface temperature anomalies across the world's oceans during November 2006, as determined from differences between November temperatures obtained from the Japanese Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite and the long-term (1985-1997) average temperatures generated from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers on a series of NOAA satellites indicates anomalously warm water across a large section of the eastern equatorial Pacific. However, the western section of the equatorial Pacific had colder than average waters near Australia and Indonesia. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image of the precipitation differences (anomalies) between November 2006 and the long-term (1999-2005) precipitation across much of the tropical sections of the Eastern Hemisphere as obtained by data collected by NASA's TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite indicates significantly drier than average conditions across Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia and surrounding waters of the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. Farther to the west, above average November precipitation was found across eastern equatorial Africa and the western Indian Ocean. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image obtained from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite late last week shows major wildfires burning near Victoria, Australia, as indicated by the red dots associated with elevated temperatures in the fires, along with the smoke plume. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  • An image of the land surface temperature anomalies (differences between observed and average temperatures) over Australia and neighboring islands for November 2006 generated from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite indicates that most of Australia experienced an abnormally warm month. Only some small and widely scattered areas in Western Australia and in southwestern Tasmania had below average temperatures. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Top ten list of achievers hailed on NOAA's 200th anniversary -- With 2007 marking the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (a predecessor to the current NOAA organization), a list has been prepared of ten distinguished individuals who made significant contributions to the scientific, service and stewardship missions of NOAA and its various predecessor agencies. Meteorologists, oceanographers, ecologists and marine scientists from the 19th and 20th Centuries help form this list. [NOAA Magazine]
• Western wildfires linked to surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean -- Paleontologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Argentina's University of Comahue who analyzed tree rings report that periodic wildfire outbreak episodes across the Western states appear to be linked with periods of relatively warm sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean associated with the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Dispersal of marine larvae linked to ocean temperature -- A study released by the marine scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports that the dispersal distance traveled by marine larvae before maturing is directly linked to ocean temperature. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• A "heartbeat" in global climate found in Pacific -- An international team of researchers participating in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Project reported that their analysis of the carbonate shells from foraminifera collected from ocean cores in the central Pacific Ocean indicate that changes in the earth's climate corresponds with variations in the planetary orbital characteristics (Milankovitch cycles) and the carbon cycle during the Oligocene epoch (23 to 34 million years ago) [EurekAlert!]
• Saving the polar bears -- The Bush Administration has proposed that polar bears being listed as a "threatened" species, as the number of the bears continues to decline as their habitat, the ice on the Arctic Ocean continues to shrink. [USA Today]
• Ancient ice shelf breaks free in the Canadian Arctic -- Scientists recently confirmed that the Ayles Ice Shelf broke from the coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Archipelago in August 2005. They also claim that climate change appears to be the "major" reason for this event. [USA Today]
• Voyage to Antarctica yields surprises -- Members onboard the research vessel Polarstern that is maintained by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research sailing across the Southern Ocean toward Antarctica have provided some new information to the "Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources."
  • They harvested five tons of Antarctic cod, the largest catch in nearly one quarter of a century, indicating the banning of fishing activities in these waters has helped increase the stock. [EurekAlert!]
  • The crew also sighted four Arnoux's Beaked Whales, one of the least known species of cetaceans (marine mammals). [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.

Historical Events:

• 1 January 1850...The lamp was lit at the first iron pile lighthouse in the U.S. built on Minot's Ledge, just outside the Boston (MA) Harbor. The Minot's Ledge Light, the first lighthouse in the U.S. to be exposed to the ocean's full fury, was swept away in a great gale on 16 April 1851. (Today in Science History)
• 1 January 1903...The first message telegraphed on the transpacific cable was sent from Honolulu, Hawaii to President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, DC. The Cable Ship Silvertown began laying the 2620-mile long cable on 14 December 1902 when it left San Francisco, CA and it completed the project following its arrival at Oahu's Waikiki on 26 December. The cable now lies abandoned on the bottom of the Pacific after being abandoned in November 1951. (Today in Science History)
• 1 January 1954...The "Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1948" commonly known as the "Revised International Rules of the Road" became law. These were a result of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1948. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 1 January 1958...The U.S. Coast Guard ceased listening continuously for distress calls on 2670 kilocycles. Although the countries of the world had agreed at the Atlantic City Convention of the International Telecommunication Union in 1947 to use 2182 kilocycles for international maritime mobile radiotelephone calling and distress, the U.S. Coast Guard had continued listening on the old frequency until the public had had sufficient time to change to the new one. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 1 January 1959...The U.S. Naval Observatory introduced the system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures. (Naval Historical Center)
• 1 January 1987...A winter storm brought rain, snow and high winds to the Southern and Middle Atlantic Coast Region. The storm, which occurred in a period of unusually high astronomical tides, produced a tide of 9.4 feet at Myrtle Beach, SC (their highest since Hurricane Hazel in 1954) which caused a total of 25 million dollars damage in South Carolina. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1 January 1997...Two 12-foot waves generated by an intense Pacific storm swept 27 people into the Pacific Ocean from the King Harbor Breakwater at Redondo Beach, CA. All survived the ordeal. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 2 January 1955...Hurricane Alice battered the Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 85 mph on this day. Alice was upgraded as a full tropical system on 31 December 1954, making Alice the latest and earliest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean. (Intellicast)
• 2 January 1993...Cyclone Kina battered Fiji with wind gusts to 130 mph and heavy rain. Up to 21.65 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, resulting in the worst flooding in 60 years. Twenty-three people were killed and damage was estimated to be in excess of 547 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 January 1998...Tropical Cyclone Ron (the Southwest Pacific's counterpart of a hurricane) destroyed most of the structures on Swains Island in American Samoa. The island's 49 residents sought safety in a concrete structure, which withstood the cyclone's 90-mph sustained winds. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 January 2006…The record 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season extended into the new year, as Tropical Storm Zeta reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph for the second time; the previous occurrence was on 1 January 2006. Never a threat to land as it traveled across the central North Atlantic, Tropical Storm Zeta was the 27th named tropical cyclone (including both tropical storms and hurricanes) of the season. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 January 1493...The explorer, Christopher Columbus, began his return to Spain and completed his first journey to the New World. (Wikipedia)
• 5 January 1841...The British explorer, James Clark Ross, was the first to enter pack ice near Ross Ice Shelf off Antarctica.
• 5 January 1875...CDR Edward Lull, USN, began an expedition to locate the best ship canal route across Panama. This route was followed 30 years later. (Naval Historical Center)
• 5 January 1903...The general public could use the San Francisco-Hawaii telegraph cable across the Pacific cable for the very first time.
• 6 January 1839...A two-day storm off the Irish and English coasts was immortalized as "The Big Wind".
• 6 January 1898...The first telephone message from a submerged submarine was transmitted by Simon Lake, the father of the modern submarine.
• 6 January 1928...An intense low pressure system over the North Sea created a storm surge that moved upstream along the Thames River to London in England. Water rose over embankments. The rapid rise of the river resulted in 14 deaths in basements. As many as 40,000 people were left homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 7 January 1904...The international Morse code distress signal "CQD" was established. Two years later, the 1906 International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea, resolved that the radio distress signal should become "SOS" because it was quicker to send by wireless radio. (Wikipedia)
• 7 January 1927...Transatlantic telephone service began between New York and London, with 31 calls made on this first day.

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.