WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

7-11 December 2009

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2010 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 January 2010. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Ocean News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Items Of Interest

GOES-10 is retired -- Last week, NOAA officially deactivated its GOES-10, a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite that was launched in April 1997 and monitored atmospheric and environmental conditions across the Americas for over ten years, surpassing its planned 5-year life. [NOAA News]
New environmental satellite put in storage -- After successful post-launch tests were run, NASA scientists and engineers are placing the new Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite identified as GOES-14 spacecraft in a geosynchronous storage orbit until it is needed as a replacement for the currently operating GOES-EAST or GOES-WEST satellites that monitor atmospheric conditions over the Americas. [NASA GSFC]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- No tropical cyclone activity was found across the North Atlantic along with the eastern North Pacific at the close of the official hurricane seasons in both basins this past week.
In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Nida, which had been a category-5 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), continued traveling to the north and then northwest over waters well east of Asia early last week. By midweek, this typhoon had weakened to a tropical storm and became an extratropical system. For more information and satellite imagery, see the NASA Hurricane Page.
A new tropical system identified as 97W formed late last week near Guam. Additional information and satellite images for this system can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page
Researchers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center recently posted an update to the effects upon the Middle Atlantic coast by a midlatitude coastal storm that formed from the remnants of former Hurricane Ida. For more details, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
Critical Alaskan habitat identified for endangered beluga whales -- As required under the Endangered Species Act, NOAA's Fisheries Service is currently seeking public comment on a proposal identifying a large section of Alaska's Cook Inlet as critical habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales. [NOAA News]
Temporary fishing rule announced to protect red snapper -- NOAA Fisheries Service recently announced an interim rule effective in early January that prohibits both recreational and commercial fishing of South Atlantic red snapper in waters off the Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in an effort to protect this fish species. [NOAA News]
Hudson Canyon seen as a rich marine ecosystem -- A research cruise off New York Harbor led scientists from Rutgers University and NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center to discover pits in the bottom of the submarine Hudson Canyon that appear to provide an environment that provides for an abundant and diverse marine ecosystem in the Canyon. [Rutgers University]
Some shell fish could increase shell production in a carbon-rich environment -- Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution report that some shell-building marine animals, including crabs, shrimp and lobsters, appear to build more shell when exposed to ocean acidification caused by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
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:

7-8 December 1703...A monstrous storm raked southern England and adjacent waters with winds in excess of 100 mph. Approximately 8000 deaths were the result of this storm, mostly at sea. Many naval and supply ships were anchored in harbors or in the English Channel. The Eddystone Lighthouse disappeared. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
7 December 1872...An expedition put to sea from Sheerness aboard the corvette H.M.S. Challenger under the command of Captain George Nares on a 3 1/2-year world oceanographic cruise. During the 68,890 nautical mile cruise that ended on 24 May 1876, the ship traversed the North and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, traveled north of the limits of drift ice in the North Atlantic polar seas and south of the Antarctic Circle. The scientists onboard the Challenger sounded the ocean bottom to a depth of 26,850-ft, found many new species, and provided collections for scores of biologists. (Today in Science History)
7 December 1932...The first gyro-stabilized vessel to cross the Atlantic, the Conte di Savoia of the Italian Line, arrived in New York City. The ship had 48,502 gross tons, an overall length 814.6 ft by beam 96.1 ft, two funnels, two masts, four screws and a speed of 27 knots. As one of the first ships to be fitted with gyrostabilizers, it was claimed that rolling was limited to a maximum of three degrees. The maiden voyage began from Genoa to Villefranche and New York on 30 November 1932. (Today in Science History)
8 December 1777...Captain James Cook left the Society Islands (French Polynesia).
8 December 1866...The first transpacific side-wheeler steamship launched in the U.S. was the Celestial Empire (later named China) with capacity for 1,300 passengers. The builder, William H. Webb of New York, introduced many features of naval architecture in this liner, since in common use. (Today in Science History)
8 December 1993...The U.S. Secretary of Defense declared that the Global Positioning System (GPS), accurate within 100 meters, had 24 GPS satellites operating in their assigned orbits, available for navigation use at Standard Positioning Service (SPS) levels for civil users. This worldwide satellite-based radionavigation system used as the Defense Department's primary radionavigation system provided authorized users encrypted Precise Positioning Service accurate to at least 22 meters. (Today in Science History)
8 December 2002...Super-typhoon Pongsona hit Guam with sustained winds of 144 mph and gusts to 173 mph, along with a storm surge to 20 feet. The 40-mile wide diameter eye was over Anderson AFB for 2 hours. One indirect death and 193 injuries were attributed to the typhoon. Some bridge pavement was "scrapped off" by wind and wave action. Damage was estimated at $700 million. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
9 December1938...A prototype shipboard radar designed and built by the Naval Research Laboratory was installed on the battleship, USS New York (BB-34). (Naval Historian Center)
9 December 2003...A subtropical storm became Tropical Storm Peter approximately 700 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. With Tropical Storm Odette having formed in the Caribbean on the 4th, the development of Peter marked the first time since 1887 that two tropical storms formed in the Atlantic Basin in December. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
10 December 1582...France began use of the Gregorian calendar.
10 December 1799...The metric system was made compulsory by law in France. (Today in Science History)
10 December 1922...Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian oceanographer explorer, author, athlete and statesman in recognition of his work for refugees and the famine-stricken. Other prizewinners that year were Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein.
10 December 1978 (date approximate)...A 90-foot research ship chartered by the University of Hawaii left Honolulu on the 9th, but failed to arrive in Kawaihae on the 11th. Except for an empty box, no trace of the ship, crew or scientists was found by an extensive air and sea search operation. Gusty trade winds prevailed over the area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
11 December 1901...Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, covering over 2000 miles from Cornwall in England to Newfoundland, Canada. (The History Channel)
12 December 1966...A Greek passenger ferry foundered in heavy seas near Heraklion, Crete with the loss of 241 lives.
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 History)
13 December 1879...The first federal fish-hatching steamer was launched at Wilmington, DE.