WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

15-19 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:

• Deadly typhoon hits the Philippines -- Typhoon Chanchu (the western Pacific's counterpart to a hurricane), which was rated a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale, cut across the Philippines late last week, accompanied by strong winds and torrential rain. As of Sunday, the death toll associated with this typhoon had reached 32, following the retrieval of bodies from a capsized boat. The typhoon was heading northwestward across the China Sea and could make landfall in southern China early this week. [CNN]
• A new children's book focuses on hurricane awareness -- The NOAA Teacher at Sea program announced a second children's book entitled "Teacher in the Air" at the recent National Science Teachers Association conference. This book was co-authored by a NOAA Teacher in the Air and a navigator assigned to a NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft [NOAA News]
• Preparing for the upcoming hurricane season -- Speaking at last week's Governor's Hurricane Conference, Max Mayfield, the Director of the National Hurricane Center and Florida Governor Jeb Bush urged the public to prepare early for the upcoming hurricane season. They were also advised to heed evacuation warnings and not rely too heavily on the projected track of the hurricane. [USA Today] Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff also reported that the federal government is better prepared to respond to landfalling hurricanes this season. He also advised state and local officials, along with companies and the public to be equally ready. [USA Today]
• Hurricane season begins in the eastern North Pacific -- The 2006 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean basin begins today, 15 May 2006. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will begin in two weeks on 1 June. The official hurricane seasons in both basins end on 30 November 2006. NOAA has declared next week (21-27 May 2006) to be Hurricane Awareness Week across the nation.
• North American Safe Boating Week -- Commencing this coming Saturday, the week of 20-26 May has been declared 2006 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2006 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• Comments sought on possible incidental harassment of Arctic marine mammals -- Following a request by several petroleum companies, the NOAA Fisheries Service is seeking comments on the potential incidental harassment of marine mammals in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas north of Alaska during 2006 due to seismic surveys made for exploration of future oil and gas fields. [NOAA News]
• Dolphins whistle their names -- Based on acoustic recordings, scientists believe that dolphins using distinctive whistles are giving themselves "names" for identification. [National Geographic Society News]
• Plankton blooms found to precede earthquakes -- A US-Indian team report that their analysis of satellite imagery indicates that the amount of chlorophyll associated with phytoplankton increased in coastal waters near the epicenters of four recent earthquakes prior to the earthquake. [BBC News]
• Could monster hurricanes be in our future? --Scientists at the University of Virginia, who have been studying the sea surface temperatures along the path of major hurricanes over the last quarter century, conclude that increased ocean temperatures may account for only half of the increase in hurricane strength of this time, while the balance of the increased storminess was associated with other factors, such as vertical profiles in wind, atmospheric temperature and humidity. [EurekAlert!]
• The famous Cape Horn seen from space -- An image obtained by the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) instrument onboard NASA's Terra Satellite shows a portion of Cape Horn and the islands that are collectively called Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America. Strong winds, large waves and occasional icebergs in the waters off the Cape made travel around the Cape extremely hazardous, especially for sailing ships. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• An update on a small tsunami -- A magnitude 7.9 earthquake below the ocean floor off the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on 3 May 2006 produced a small tsunami that propagated northward across the Pacific. A tide gauge at Pago Pago, American Samoa and five other gauges along the Hawaiian Islands captured the extent and timing of the arrival of this tsunami, which caused water levels to be displaced upward by little more than one foot. [NWS Honolulu Forecast Office]
• Water supply in Sri Lanka remains crippled from tsunami -- More than 16 months after the devastating tsunami destroyed many coastal communities along the Indian Ocean, the water supply remains in short supply in coastal sections of Sri Lanka, with many wells either destroyed or contaminated. [EurekAlert!]
• Earth's oceans are subducted -- Based upon sampling of volcanic gases, scientists at the University of Manchester have found that ocean water appears to be absorbed or subducted into the Earth's mantle over time, resulting in "geological water cycle." [EurekAlert!]
• Restoring oyster beds is underway -- A researcher at the University of New Hampshire's Jackson Estuarine Laboratory and colleagues are using funding from a variety of sources, including NOAA, The Nature Conservancy and the New Hampshire Sea Grant program, to restore 20 acres of oyster beds in Great Bay, an estuary near Portsmouth, NH. [University of New Hampshire]
• 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:

• 15 May 1934...Lightship No. 117, occupying the Nantucket Shoals Station, in a dense fog, was struck by the RMS Olympic and sank on station with the loss of seven crewmembers. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 15-24 May 1951...Hurricane Able did a "loop-the-loop" north of the Bahamas and reached Category 3 strength off Cape Hatteras, NC. (The Weather Doctor)
• 16 May 1917...Marquette, MI had its latest opening of navigation on Lake Superior in history. (Intellicast)
• 17-21 May 1887...An early season tropical storm raked Cuba and The Bahamas. (The Weather Doctor)
• 17 May 1970...The Norwegian ethnologist, Thor Heyerdahl, and a multinational crew set sail on a trans-Atlantic voyage from Morocco on Ra II, a papyrus sailing craft modeled after the ancient Egyptian vessels in an effort to prove his theory that Mediterranean sailors reached the Americas in ancient times. After 57 days, the Ra II reached Barbados. (The History Channel)
• 19 May 1535...French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail on his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage). (Wikipedia)
• 19 May 1912...The US Navy established the North Atlantic Ice Patrol following the RMS Titanic disaster. (Naval Historical Center)
• 20 May 1497...John Cabot set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date). (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1498...The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama became the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) on the Malabar Coast, after departing Lisbon, Portugal in July 1497. (The History Channel) (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1570...Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas. (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1845...HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sailed from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands were lost. (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1964...The first U.S. atomic-powered lighthouse was put into operation in the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore Harbor, MD. Designed to supply a continuous flow of electricity for ten years without refueling, the 60-watt nuclear generator generated heat from strontium-90 in the form of strontium titinate, a safe radioisotope. The heat was converted to electricity by 120 pairs of lead telluride thermocouples. Complete with shielding, the unit was only 34.5 inches high and 22 inches in diameter. It was designed and produced by the nuclear division of Martin-Marietta Corp. (Today in Science History)
• 20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2006, The American Meteorological Society.