WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

DATASTREME OCEAN SPRING BREAK WEEK: 8-12 March 2004

• Sudden high winds linked to deadly water-taxi accident -- Winds that gusted to 50 mph appeared to have contributed to the capsizing of a water-taxi in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, MD last Saturday. One person of the 22 people rescued died, while as many as three additional passengers remained missing on Sunday. [CNN]
• Sonar images of sunken ship released -- At the end of last week, the US Coast Guard authorized the release of side-scan sonar and multi-beam images of the sunken tanker Bow Mariner made by the NOAA hydrographic ship RUDE. [NOAA News]
• Early oceans appear to have lacked oxygen -- Scientists from the University of Rochester and the University of Missouri developed a new method for detecting oxygen in early oceans and they report that the oceans appear to have had less dissolved oxygen than previously thought until about 500 million years ago. [EurekAlert!]
• The ocean surface could impact air quality -- A chemistry professor at the Ohio State University reported that halogen ions, or halides, residing near the ocean's surface and in droplets formed by waves may play a role in increasing ozone levels in the air. [Ohio State University Research News]
• Changes in climate could affect amount of carbon reaching the Arctic Ocean -- Scientists from the United States and Germany used radiocarbon data to determine that most of the carbon that reaches the Arctic ocean is relatively young at present. However, the recent warming of the Arctic could affect northern peat soils, one of the largest reservoirs of organic carbon on Earth, making the carbon more susceptible to transport to the ocean by rivers. [EurekAlert!]
• The Navy considers hybrid vessels -- The US Navy's Office of Naval Research is developing innovative propulsion systems based on new fuel-cell technology for efficient generation of electrical power on future ships. [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.

• 9 March 1454...Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian navigator, was born in Florence, Italy. The North and South American continents were named in his honor by Matthias Ringmann, a German mapmaker.
• 9 March 1995...The Canadian Navy arrested a Spanish trawler for illegally fishing off of Newfoundland.
• 10 March 1496...Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere when he left Hispaniola for Spain.
• 10 March 1849...Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent for a device to lift vessels over shoals by means of inflated cylinders.
• 11 March 2002...The National Ice Center reported that satellite images indicated that an iceberg with an area larger than the state of Delaware had calved from the Thwaites Ice Tongue, a region of snow and glacial ice extending from the Antarctic mainland into the South Amundsen Sea (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 13-15 March 1952...The world's 5-day rainfall record was set when a tropical cyclone produced 151.73 inches rain at Cilos, Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The 73.62 inches that fell in a 24-hour period (15^th-16^th) set the world's 24-hour rainfall record. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 14 March 1891...The submarine Monarch laid telephone cable along the bottom of the English Channel to prepare for the first telephone links across the Channel.
• 15 March 1493...Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.
• 15 March 1778...Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island was discovered by Captain Cook.
• 15 March 1946...For the first time, U.S. Coast Guard aircraft supplemented the work of the Coast Guard patrol vessels of the International Ice Patrol, scouting for ice and determining the limits of the ice fields from the air. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 15 March 1960...Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve in the Florida Keys was established as the nation's first underwater park. This preserve currently includes John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

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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
© Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.