WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

29 June-3 July 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.

ITEMS OF INTEREST --

• Way out there! The earth will reach aphelion, the point in its annual orbit when it is farthest from the sun Friday evening (officially at 02Z on Saturday, 4 July 2009, which is equivalent to 10 PM EDT or 9 PM CDT on Friday night). At aphelion, the earth-sun distance is 152,089,000 km, or 3.4% greater than the distance at perihelion, the smallest earth-sun distance, which occurred earlier this year during midmorning on 4 January 2009.
• National Clean Beaches Week -- The Clean Beaches Council has declared the upcoming week of 1-7 July 2009 as National Clean Beaches Week, which is meant to focus public attention on the role of sustainable beaches in American life. Four themes deemed important to people going to the beach will be emphasized for this event identified as "the 'Earth Day' for beaches": food, recreation, travel and the environment. [Clean Beaches Council]

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the Tropics -- During the week following the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice, the tropical ocean basins showed little significant tropical weather activity:
  • In the North Atlantic basin, a tropical wave with a disorganized area of clouds, showers and thunderstorms developed at the end of last week over the waters of the western Caribbean, moved northwestward over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and toward the western Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. Additional information and satellite images for this potential disturbance can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  • In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Andres formed offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico on the previous weekend. By early in the week, it intensified briefly to become the first hurricane of the 2009 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific basin. By midweek, this minimal hurricane weakened and dissipated off the coast of Mexico. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on former Hurricane Andres.
  • In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Nangka developed east of the Philippines early last week and moved westward and then northwestward across the Philippines and the South China Sea. Information and satellite images associated with this system are found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Condition of USS Monitor surveyed -- During the past week, NOAA and several partnering organizations had scuba divers use an autonomous underwater vehicle along with other sophisticated technology to study of the conditions of the USS Monitor, the famous Civil War ironclad that resides in the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, located in the waters of the western North Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina. [NOAA News]
• Fishery management council members appointed -- The US Department of Commerce recently announced the appointment of 30 members to the eight regional fishery management councils that work closely with NOAA's Fisheries Service in the development of plans designed to manage the marine fish stocks in their regions, focusing upon those that stocks that have been overfished. [NOAA News]
• Members of a new Catch Share Task Force are announced -- Last week, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco appointed 15 members from around the nation to a new Catch Share Task Force that will assist NOAA and the regional fishery management councils concerning the implementation. [NOAA News]
• New geosynchronous environmental satellite reaches orbit -- Last Friday night, NASA and NOAA officials reported that a new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) successfully reached orbit after it was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This new satellite, which will be identified as GOES-14, will become operational following approximately six months of testing and will provide improved surveillance of a variety of environmental conditions, including atmospheric storm systems along with solar activity. [NOAA News]
• "Bycatch" whaling poses a threat to coastal whales -- Scientists at Oregon State University and the University of California-Irvine warn that the commercial sale of whales killed as a part of fisheries "bycatch" (entanglement in fishing nets) may threaten the stocks of several types of whale species in coastal waters, such as the minke whales. [EurekAlert!]
• Relationship between past warming and sea-level rise seen -- A team of researchers from the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of Bristol and Germany's University of Tübingen have reconstructed sea level fluctuations over the last 520,000 years and compared this record with data on global climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels obtained from Antarctic ice cores. The record shows a systematic relationship between global temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations and sea level changes over the most recent five glacial cycles. [EurekAlert!]
• Prehistoric glacier shows rapid ice sheet retreat -- Paleoclimatologists at New York State's University at Buffalo who studied a prehistoric glacier in the Canadian Arctic have discovered that it rapidly retreated in just a few hundred years, which they termed "in a geologic instant." They are concerned that the rapid retreat rate is greater than that observed for modern glaciers, and if equaled could result in a sharp rise in global sea level. [University at Buffalo News]
• A region of minimal biological activity found in South Pacific -- An oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island and colleagues on an international oceanographic expedition to the middle of the South Pacific gyre (a large scale circulation regime) have found that collected sediments have few organisms and little biomass, making the region the least inhabited sediment explored. [EurekAlert!]
• 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:

• 29 June 1860...The replacement to the first iron-pile lighthouse in the U.S. was completed at Minot's Ledge, near Scituate, Massachusetts, replacing the one at the same site that was built between 1847 and 1850, lighted 1 Jan 1850 but destroyed in a storm in April 1851. In 1860, the last stone was laid for the new Minot's Ledge lighthouse, five years minus one day after workmen first landed at the ledge. The final cost of about $300,000 made it one of the most expensive lighthouses in U.S. history. It stood off Boston's south shore, just outside Boston Harbour to warn ships of rocks that had claimed many vessels. The first granite block was laid for the new lighthouse on 9 Jul 1857. The lantern room and second order Fresnel lens were put into place and illuminated on 22 Aug 1860. This structure has withstood all storms since, and stands to this day. (Today in Science History)
• 29 June 1982...The Soviet Union launched COSPAS I, the first search and rescue satellite ever launched. In combination with later SARSAT satellites, a new multi-agency, international, search and rescue service was made operational. On 11 September 1982, it was credited with helping to save the crew of Cessna 172, a Canadian airplane. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 30 June 1886...The second destructive hurricane in nine days hit the Apalachicola-Tallahassee area of Florida. (David Ludlum)
• 30 June 1972...The entire state of Pennsylvania was declared a disaster area because of the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes, which claimed 48 lives, and caused 2.1 billion dollars damage. (The Weather Channel)
• 30 June 1989...The remains of tropical storm Allison dropped copious amounts of rain on Louisiana. Winnfield, LA reported 22.52 inches of rain in three days, and more than thirty inches for the month, a record for June. Shreveport received a record 17.11 inches in June, with a total for the first six months of the year of 45.55 inches. Thunderstorms also helped produce record rainfall totals for the month of June of 13.12 inches at Birmingham, AL, 14.66 inches at Oklahoma City, OK, 17.41 inches at Tallahassee, FL, 9.97 inches at Lynchburg, VA, and more than 10.25 inches at Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh had also experienced a record wet month of May. (The National Weather Summary) (Intellicast)
• 1 July 1792...A tremendous storm (a tornado or hurricane) hit Philadelphia and New York City. Many young people were drowned while out boating on that Sunday. (David Ludlum)
• 1 July 1885...The United States terminated reciprocity and a fishery agreement with Canada. (Wikipedia)
• 2 July 1578...The British seaman and explorer, Martin Frobisher sighted Baffin Island, one of Canada's Arctic islands. (Wikipedia)
• 2-6 July 1994... Heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Alberto produced major flooding across northern and central Georgia. Three-day rains exceeded 15 inches at Atlanta. An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA on the 6^th to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. Numerous road closures and bridge washouts. Thirty people were killed and 50,000 were forced from their homes, as 800,000 acres were flooded. Total damage exceeded $750 million.. (NCDC) (Intellicast)
• 2 July 1578...The British seaman and explorer, Martin Frobisher sighted Baffin Island, one of Canada's Arctic islands. (Wikipedia)
• 2-6 July 1994... Heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Alberto produced major flooding across northern and central Georgia. Three-day rains exceeded 15 inches at Atlanta. An impressive 21.10 inches of rain fell at Americus, GA on the 6^th to establish a 24-hour maximum precipitation record for the Peach State. Numerous road closures and bridge washouts. Thirty people were killed and 50,000 were forced from their homes, as 800,000 acres were flooded. Total damage exceeded $750 million.. (NCDC) (Intellicast)
• 3 July 1903...The first telegraph cable across the Pacific Ocean was spliced and completed between San Francisco on the US West Coast, Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila in the Philippines. After testing, the first official message was sent the next day. A cable between San Francisco and Hawaii had been established at the beginning of the same year, with its first official message sent on 1 Jan 1903. This technological event ended Hawaii's isolation by connecting it to the mainland U.S. and the rest of the world. The cable was a mainstay of communications into the early 1950s when newer technology rendered it obsolete. (The 1902 all-British telegraph line from Canada to Australia and New Zealand was the first line to cross the Pacific Ocean.) (Today in Science History)
• 3 July 1992...At 11 PM EDT, several waves to heights of 18 feet crashed ashore at Daytona Beach, FL. Sailboats were tossed onto cars, 200 vehicles damaged and 75 minor injuries reported. While the exact cause was unknown, morning storms were moving parallel to the coast approximately 430 miles to the east. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 July 1687...An early experience of a tropical revolving storm was made by Captain William Dampier, whose ship survived what he called a "tuffoon" off the coast of China. In New Voyage Round the World, (published in 1697) Dampier wrote that this violent whirlwind storm had a calm central eye, and its winds moved from opposite directions as the storm moved passed. This was one of the earliest known European descriptions of a typhoon, which also presented a new understanding that storms somehow move, rather than remain stationary. During his ocean travels, he kept a detailed journal, noting native cultures, and made careful descriptions of natural history which in effect made him an early contributor to scientific exploration. (Today in Science History)
• 4 July 1840...The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer, RMS Britannia, departed from Liverpool, England bound for Halifax, NS on its first transatlantic passenger cruise. (Wikipedia)
• 4 July 1903...President Theodore Roosevelt sent the first official message over the new cable across the Pacific Ocean between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila. (Today in Science History)
• 5 July 1805...Robert FitzRoy, British naval officer, hydrographer and meteorologist, was born. He was also commanded the voyage of HMS Beagle aboard which Charles Darwin sailed around the world as the ship's naturalist. That voyage provided Darwin with much of the material on which he based his theory of evolution. FitzRoy retired from active duty in 1850 and from 1854 devoted himself to meteorology. He devised a storm warning system that was the prototype of the daily weather forecast, invented a barometer, and published The Weather Book (1863). His death on 30 April 1865 was by suicide, during a bout of depression. (Today in Science History)
• 5 July 1916...An early season hurricane produced 82-mph winds, an 11.6-foot tide, and a barometric pressure of 28.92 inches at Mobile, AL. (David Ludlum)
• 5 July 1989...Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Middle Atlantic Coast Region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to ten inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in seventy years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2009, The American Meteorological Society.