WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

8-12 May 2006

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2006 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 28 August 2006. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

Waters where hurricanes form have warmed -- Scientists at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory have reported that the tropical Atlantic where many hurricanes and other tropical cyclones typically form has warmed by several tenths of a Celsius degree during the 20th century. These researchers claim that their climate model simulations appear to suggest that human activity has contributed significantly to this warming. [NOAA News]
Hurricane awareness tour completed -- NOAA's 2006 Hurricane Awareness Tour was completed last Friday in Tampa, FL after a five-day trip along the Gulf Coast. This tour, which included a NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft, began in Brownsville, TX and was meant to make the public aware of the need for hurricane preparedness. [NOAA News]
Stricter enforcement of aquarium reef fish harvesting announced -- The US Coral Reef Task Force announced initiatives designed to reduce the illegal harvesting of aquarium reef fish by the use of cyanide through field-based cyanide detection and stricter enforcement of regulations. The Task Force also announced that it was endorsing the designation of 2008 as the "International Year of the Coral Reef". [NOAA News]
Coral species listed as threatened -- NOAA Fisheries Service recently listed elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis), once the most dominant reef-building species in waters off Florida and in the Caribbean, as threatened under Endangered Species Act. [NOAA News]
La Niña should have little affect on 2006 Atlantic hurricanes -- Using sea-surface height and surface wind data from two NASA satellites in a coupled atmosphere-ocean land computer model, NASA oceanographers believe that the current La Niña event, with lower than average sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, should not have much of an impact on the number of hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin during this upcoming hurricane season. While La Niña events typically increase the number of hurricanes in that basin, the La Niña event appears to be waning. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Climatic change could be slowing the tropical Pacific atmospheric circulation -- A scientist with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research claims that changes in the global climate associated with higher temperatures appear to be reducing the strength of an atmospheric circulation regime called the Walker circulation that parallels the equator, extending from Indonesia eastward across the Pacific to South America. He notes that observations since the mid-nineteenth century indicate a 3.5% weakening of this circulation. [EurekAlert!]
Strong earthquake does not generate tsunami -- The strongest earthquake of 2006, with an intensity of 8.0, was reported below the ocean floor off the South Pacific island nation of Tonga late last week. Although tsunami warnings were posted, no significant tsunami was generated. [BBC News]
Sea "bugs" found in the deep ocean -- Scientists with the Census of Marine Life recently completed a 20-day cruise across the tropical Atlantic from the Southeastern US to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, capturing, photographing and inventorying roughly 500 species of zooplankton, or sea "bugs" found at depths to five miles. Some of these tiny animals are previously unknown species. [BBC News]
Critical milestone reached in the US tsunami warning system -- NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher announced that NOAA had reached a significant milestone that included expansion of the tsunami detection and warning program, along with the completion of new tsunami impact forecast models for specific coastal regions. [NOAA News]
Russian peninsula was pushed by the North America Plate -- Several earthquakes along the Bering Sea coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula during the month of April have led geologists from the University of Washington, China and Russia to conclude that this peninsula sits on a tectonic plate called the Okhotsk block that had been deformed and uplifted by the convergence of the North American, Eurasian and Pacific Plates. [EurekAlert!]
Cold-water corals are at risk -- A Scottish marine scientist warns that the cold-water corals, such as the large colony in the Sula Ridge Complex off the Norwegian coast, could be threatened by deep water fishing practices and increased acidification of the ocean. [National Geographic News]
Dead Sea is vanishing -- During the last half-century, the surface area of the Dead Sea in the Middle East has shrunk by one-third and the surface level has dropped by 80 feet, the result of the diversion of Jordan River water flowing into the Dead Sea by Syria, Jordan and Israel for agricultural and hydroelectric purposes. Concerned with major ecological and economic disaster, officials are considering running water from the Red Sea by a canal. [BBC News]
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:

8 May 1961...The first practical seawater conversion plant in the U.S. was opened in Freeport, TX by the Office of Saline Water, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. The plant was designed to produce about a million gallons of water a day at a cost of about $1.25 per thousand gallons. (Today in Science History)
8 May 1992...The source of a "red tide" in the Gulf of Mexico was suggested by scientists at a conference on the ecology of the Gulf. The red tide produced huge blooms of reddish algae in sufficient quantity to kill fish and cause severe respiratory problems for humans. A "green river" that started 60 miles inland of Florida was indicated as the source of the algae. The wind and water currents that bring nutrients from the floor of the ocean to the surface provided the food that caused the algae population to explode once it reached the Gulf. (Today in Science History)
9 May 1502...The explorer Christopher Columbus left Spain for his fourth and final journey to the "New World". (Wikipedia)
9 May 1926...The Baden-Baden, a ship propelled by two 50-ft high cylindrical rotors arrived in New York having left Hamburg on 2 Apr 1926, and completed a transatlantic crossing from Germany. Utilizing the aerodynamic power of the Magnus Effect (discovered 1852), which builds air pressure behind a rotating cylinder, these rotors drove 45-hp electric motors that powered the ship. Although a theoretical success, it was not sufficiently effective for commercial application. (Today in Science)
9 May 1980...A blinding squall, followed by dense fog, reduced visibility to near zero at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. The Liberian freighter SS Summit Venture hit the bridge piling, causing a 1200-foot section of the bridge to fall 150 feet into the bay. Several vehicles, including a bus, drove off the edge of the span, resulting in 35 deaths. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (Wikipedia).
9 May 1990...A tropical cyclone hit the southeast coast of India, killing 1000 people, even though 400,000 people evacuated because of early warning of the storm. More than 100 miles of coast were devastated as winds reached 125 mph and a storm surge measured at 22 feet flooded inland as far as 22 miles. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
10 May 1497...The Italian cartographer Amerigo Vespucci allegedly left the Spanish coastal city of Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World. (Wikipedia)
10 May 1503...Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands and named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles that he found there. (Wikipedia)
10 May 1960...The submarine, USS Triton (SSRN-586), completed a submerged circumnavigation of world in 84 days following many of the routes taken by Magellan and cruising 46,000 miles. (Naval Historical Center)
11 May 1833...The ship Lady of the Lake struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic while bound from England to Quebec, resulting in the loss of 215 lives. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
11-12 May 1965...The first of two cyclones that struck East Pakistan (now called Bangladesh) during the year made landfall. This system, along with the one on 1-2 June killed about 47,000 people.
12 May 1916...Plumb Point, Jamaica reported 17.80 inches of rain in 15 minutes, which set a world record. (The Weather Doctor)
12 May 1978...The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.
14 May 1836...U.S. Exploring Expedition authorized to conduct exploration of Pacific Ocean and South Seas, the first major scientific expedition overseas. LT Charles Wilkes USN, would lead the expedition in surveying South America, Antarctica, Far East, and North Pacific. (Naval Historical Center)