WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

4-8 May 2009

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2009 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 31 August 2009. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- In the Southern Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Kirrily formed early last week over the waters between New Guinea and northern Australia. This tropical cyclone, which had tropical storm force winds, weakened and dissipated after two days. Additional information and satellite images on Kirrily, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
Hurricane awareness tour of East Coast embarks -- Flying aboard a NOAA "hurricane hunter" aircraft, hurricane experts from NOAA will begin a five-day tour of five East Coast cities this Monday as a means of raising public awareness concerning threats that could occur due to hurricanes. These experts, including the Director of NOAA's National Hurricane Center, will also advise of the danger that could occur if personal hurricane plans were not prepared. [NOAA News]
Four hurricane names are placed on the retired list -- The hurricane committee of the World Meteorological Organization has retired the names of Gustav, Ike and Paloma from the rotating list of hurricane names in the North Atlantic and Alma from the eastern North Pacific list due to the deaths and damage that hurricanes carrying these names caused in 2008. [NOAA News]
Pacific salmon fisheries disaster declaration is extended -- The Secretary of the US Department of Commerce announced last week that he was extending the 2008 West Coast salmon disaster declaration for California and Oregon due to poor salmon returns to the Sacramento River. [NOAA News]
Advisory council to meet on historic marine sanctuary -- The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council has announced that a public meeting will be held on 19 May 2009 in Hatteras, NC to get public advice and input to the management of the sanctuary located in the coastal waters off North Carolina that contains the wreck of the famous Civil War ironclad, the USS Monitor. [NOAA News]
Students can take a virtual field trip of estuaries -- As part of NOAA’s "EstuaryLive" webcast series, scientists from NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System are helping students take virtual field trips to the marshes and bays that are part of four estuaries found along our nation's coasts. One of the "EstuaryLive" webcasts will be run on Friday, 15 May 2009. [NOAA News]
Protection made for "threatened" sea turtles in Gulf -- Last week, NOAA’s Fisheries Service announced an emergency rule that will take effect in two weeks designed to protect threatened loggerhead sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico by requiring the commercial fishery fleet to fish in deeper waters. [NOAA News]
Scientific consultations restored in endangered species protections -- The Secretaries of the US Departments of Commerce and Interior recently announced that their two departments were revoking an "eleventh-hour" rule that the Bush Administration had mandated to limit scientific consultations concerning the implementation of species protections under the Endangered Species Act. This past week's announcement will require federal agencies to consult with federal wildlife experts in NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service prior to taking action on threatened or endangered species. [NOAA News]
Tracking climate change by monitoring sea salt by satellites -- A new satellite mission called Aquarius is planned for launch in May 2010 that is designed to track sea salinity from space. Researchers hope that this mission will permit them to monitor a changes in climate associated with changes in global temperature and in the hydrological cycle, including droughts and floods [NASA JPL]
Chemical that contaminates seafood increases in ocean -- Scientists with the US Geological Survey have found that increased emissions of mercury attributed to human activity especially in Asia has entered the North Pacific Ocean from the atmosphere as methylmercury and contaminated tuna and other types of seafood. According to current projections of mercury emissions, a 50 percent increase in the mercury levels in the Pacific could occur by 2050. [US Department of Interior]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
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 May 1869...The first U.S. patent for an offshore oil-drill rig was issued to T.F. Rowland for his "submarine drilling apparatus" (No. 89,794). (Today in Science History)
4 May 1904...Construction began on the Panama Canal. (Wikipedia)
4 May 1910...Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States to be equipped with radio (100-mi radius) and a qualified operator. (USCG Historian's Office)
5 May 1990...A strong Pacific cold front moving rapidly inland caused weather conditions at the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State to quickly change from sunny and calm to westerly winds of 60 mph and ten-foot waves. Three recreational fishing boats capsized in heavy seas off Port Angeles resulting in five deaths. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
6 May 1994...The rail tunnel under the English Channel, or "Chunnel," that connects Folkestone, England, with Sangatte, France was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President Mitterrand. (The History Channel)
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 in 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)