13-17 December 2004

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2005 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 17 January 2005. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the break period.

• Major oil spill reported in Alaskan waters -- A freighter ran aground along the Aleutian Islands last week, resulting in a major spillage of oil near a sensitive wildlife habitat as the ship broke up, with the loss of 6 crew members. [ENN]
• Oil spill requires NOAA to fulfill multiple roles -- Last month's oil spill from a foreign tanker on the Delaware River near Philadelphia, PA has required that the various agencies within NOAA fulfill multiple roles, to include providing scientific support to the US Coast Guard and consultation on endangered species. [NOAA News]
• Executive Branch acts on conservation of coral reefs -- The White House, NOAA and the Interior Department recently announced that funding has been requested for the support of state and local efforts to project coral reefs as part of the US Coral Reef Task Force. [NOAA News]
• "Climate witnesses" testify at global change conference -- Three "climate witnesses" were brought to an UN-sponsored environmental conference last week to testify how recent global climatic changes have had an impact upon their countries. One of the witnesses, a Fiji Islander, spoke on the rising sea levels that could inundate her island along with shortages in fresh water. Another witness, a rice farmer from India, discussed the loss of mangrove swamps and a third witness, a Nepalese Sherpa guide, described the flooding from accelerated glaciers melting in the Himalayan Mountains. [USA Today]
• Tighter controls on shrimp imports could help turtles -- A new policy announced by the US Department of State concerning the documentation concerning the importation of shrimp from foreign countries may help provide more protection for sea turtles that are accidentally killed during shrimp harvesting operations. [ENN]
• Deep-sea hydrocarbon factory found -- Scientists at the University of Minnesota report discovering that superheated fluids circulating beneath the floor of the Atlantic Ocean can cause submarine iron and chromium-rich rocks to produce methane and other hydrocarbons. [EurekAlert!]
• Coral reefs could expand -- Australian scientists recently suggested that coral reefs could expand in size by one third in response to elevated ocean temperatures, in marked contrast with previous envisioned catastrophic declines. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean tides, icebergs and the "Big Freeze"--An international team of scientists have proposed that ocean tides in the Labrador Sea dislodged huge Arctic icebergs that subsequently floated across the North Atlantic to contribute to the low temperatures during the Pleistocene glaciations, from approximately 60.000 to 10,000 years ago. [EurekAlert!]
• Link between agricultural runoff and oceanic algae blooms found -- Using satellite imagery, scientists at Stanford University have documented a direct link between the large-scale coastal farms and the increased algae bloom in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico's Gulf of California. [EurekAlert!]
• Rate of tectonic plate separation studied -- Scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology recently reported on their research of the earth's mantle below the ocean floor of the central Atlantic and how their findings reveal a mechanism by which the rate of tectonic plate separation influences a variety of other geophysical processes runs counter to current thinking. [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.

• 13 December 1577...Five ships and 164 men under the command of English seaman Francis Drake (later knighted) set sail from Plymouth, England, to embark on Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, the first by a British explorer. The journey took almost three years. (The History Channel)
• 13 December 1642...Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman became the first European explorer to sight the South Pacific island group now known as New Zealand. (The History Channel)
• 13 December 1816...The first US patent for a dry dock was issued to John Adamson of Boston, MA. (Today in Science)
• 13 December 1879...The first federal fish-hatching steamer was launched at Wilmington, DE.
• 14 December 1287...Zuider Zee seawall in the Netherlands collapsed with the loss of over 50,000 lives. (Wikipedia)
• 14 December 1902...The British Cable Ship Silverton set sail from the San Francisco Bay Area to lay the first telephone cable between San Francisco and Honolulu. The project, which involved laying a cable across 2277 nautical miles, was completed by 1 January 1903 as the ship landed and the first test message sent the same day. (Today in Science)
• 14 December 1988...The first transatlantic underwater fiber-optic cable went into service.
• 14 December 1991...A ferry, the Salem Express, carrying 569 passengers sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Safaga, Egypt, after hitting a coral reef. Over 460 people were believed drowned.
• 15 December 1488...Bartholomeus Diaz returned to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope.
• 15 December 1582...The Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and Norway adopted the Gregorian calendar.
• 15 December 1965...The third cyclone of the year killed another 10,000 people at the mouth of the Ganges River, Bangladesh.
• 16 December 1897...The Argonaut, the first US submarine with an internal combustion engine, was demonstrated on the Patapsco River. Simon Lake invented and patented the engine. (Today in Science)
• 16-17 December 1997...Torrential rain from Super Typhoon Paka fell on Guam with nearly 21 inches of rain observed at Tiyan before instrumentation failed two hours before Paka's eye passed to the south. Winds gusted to 171 mph before wind instruments failed. However, unofficial sources at Andersen Air Force Base believed that wind gusts may have reached 236.7 mph during the height of the storm. This super typhoon left major damage to 60 percent of the homes on Guam and caused 500 million dollars in damage. Fortunately, no one was killed and only two injuries were reported. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 16 December 2000...NASA announced that an ocean was most likely located beneath the icy surface of the Jovian moon Ganymede. (Wikipedia)
• 17-18 December 1832...The HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin onboard rounded Cape San Diego at Tierra del Fuego (the southern tip of South America) then sailed through the Strait of Le Maire, to anchor at Good Success Bay and visit Vurland.
• 18 December 1603...Admiral Steven van der Haghens fleet departed to East Indies.
• 18 December 1997...The 9.3-mile toll expressway, Tokyo Bay Aqualine bridge and tunnel spanning the narrowest gap of Tokyo Bay was opened to traffic the cities of Kawasaki and Kisarazu after 8-1/2 years of construction. The $17 billion project includes a 2.7-mile bridge, a 5.9-mile shield tunnel and two artificial islands. The tunnel is the world's longest undersea tunnel, running 197 feet deep under the surface of the water. (Today in Science)
• 19 December 1551...The Dutch west coast was hit by a hurricane.
• 19 December 1741...Vitus J Bering, Dutch navigator/explorer, died on this date.
• 19-21 December 1835...The HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin approached New Zealand and sailed into the Bay of Islands.

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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
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.