27-31 December 2010

DataStreme Ocean will return for Spring 2011 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 17 January 2011. All the current online website products, including updated issues of Weekly Ocean News, will continue to be available throughout the winter break period.

Sincerely,

• No "leap second" will lengthen 2010 -- The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) has determined that no "leap second" would be inserted to lengthen the calendar year of 2010. However, back on 31 December 2008, the service's atomic clocks were stopped for one second just before midnight (2359Z, or 6:59 PM EST, 5:59 PM CST, etc) to readjust the time scale based on the atomic clock to the time scale based upon the rotation of the Earth with respect to the sun. At the time, tidal friction and other natural phenomena had slowed the Earth's rotation rate by approximately two milliseconds per day. [US Naval Observatory]

• Eye on the tropics -- Tropical Storm Omkea formed late Sunday night (Hawaii Time) in the Central North Pacific basin, near the International Dateline south of Midway Island. This tropical storm was the first named tropical cyclone that formed in the central North Pacific in over a decade. However, after traveling to the northeast, Omkea weakened to a remnant low pressure system one day after it formed. For more information and satellite imagery involving Tropical Storm Omkea, see NASA Hurricane Page .
  In the western South Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Tasha formed on Christmas Eve in the waters off the northeastern coast of Australia. This tropical storm made landfall along the coast on Christmas Day, where it dissipated rapidly.
• Several indicators point to a strong La Niña event--An oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently provided several images generated from data collected from satellites that demonstrate one of the strongest La events in the last 50 years is currently underway. One of the images was a sea surface temperature anomaly map for the Pacific basin obtained from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, which indicates unusually cold and nutrient-rich waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean off the South American coast. Another image is of the sea surface anomaly across the basin from the US-French Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 satellite helps depict the heat content of the near surface water. A third image is that of the rainfall anomaly across the tropics and subtropics from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). He believes that this event should continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Growing hypoxic zones found to reduce billfish and tuna habitat -- Scientists from NOAA, the Billfish Foundation, and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science recently reported that an expanding hypoxic zone, or a zone of low dissolved oxygen, in the Atlantic Ocean has been encroaching upon the preferred oxygen-abundant habitat for billfish and tuna. The expansion of the hypoxic zone has forced these two important commercial and recreational fish species into shallower coastal waters where they are more likely to be caught. [NOAA News]
• "Red tide disaster" declared in Maine -- During the last week, US Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke determined that the economic effects of closing shellfish fisheries in Maine in 2009 due to a harmful algal bloom, commonly known as "red tide", caused a commercial fishery failure as defined by the requirements specified under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. [NOAA News]
• An update on the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system -- On the sixth anniversary of the disastrous tsunami that battered nations surrounding the Indian Ocean, the technical setup of the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean (GITEWS) has been completed. [EurekAlert!]
• Confederate gunboat wreck discovered -- Archaeologists who retrieved two cannon from the Pee Dee River report that they have discovered the wreck site of the 170-foot Confederate gunboat CSS Peedee, which was burned in 1865 before falling into the hands of advancing Union troops. [USA Today]

• Local sea level study made for Chesapeake Bay -- Using data collected from NOAA satellites and tide gauges, researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have found that local sea-level trends along the shores of Chesapeake Bay contain a component of the absolute level of the Bay, a measure of the volume and mass of ocean water, that has been rising only half as fast as the global sea level rise. However, they also found a component in the relative sea level, or the level of the ocean measured relative to land, associated with local subsidence that has contributed to a significant increase in the Bay's water level. They caution that relatively moderate rates of absolute sea-level rise, when combined with locally high rates of land subsidence and an increasing coastal population, could result in a significant and growing threat along Chesapeake Bay. [Virginia Institute of Marine Science]

• Microscopic marine life could be altered by increased greenhouse gases -- A team of researchers from the University of California, Merced, the University of Hawaii, the University of Southern California and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences conducted experiments in the Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean where they increased ocean acidification (decreased the pH level of ocean water). The researchers found that the increased acidification caused a decrease in the production of the oxidized forms of nitrogen used by phytoplankton and other microorganisms. They warn that increased greenhouse gas emissions, which would cause ocean acidification could alter the nitrogen cycles in the ocean and impact microscopic marine life. [EurekAlert!]
• Reconstructing the climate from Dead Sea cores -- Scientists from Israel's Tel Aviv University along with a team of colleagues from other nations are planning to obtain a 500-meter long core of sediments from under the Dead Sea in an effort to collect information concerning climate change and earthquake patterns over a half million year span in that region. [American Friends of Tel Aviv University]

• New fossil site helps trace recovery of life after massive ancient extinction -- Scientists from the United Kingdom's University of Bristol recently reported discovery of a major new fossil site in southwest China that could help shed light on how life recovered from what appears to be the greatest mass extinction in Earth history at the end of the Permian (approximately 250 million years ago). During this time, a sustained period of massive volcanic eruption and devastating global warming nearly extinguished all life on the planet. A diverse set of marine fossils found at this site shows that life recovered in the subsequent Triassic. [University of Bristol]

• Software being trained to help monitor changing climate -- Researchers at Penn State University have developed a computer program that they envision will help climate scientists analyze the large quantities of available data and satellite imagery so as to monitor the complex environmental conditions associated with a changing climate. Using probability theory, the researchers initially developed the program to analyze mesoscale regional ocean structures that are evident on satellite images. They hope that the data on these oceanic features will offer clues on subtle changes in oceanic temperature and global climate conditions. [Penn State University Live]

• 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, drought, floods, 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, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 28 December 1857...The light was first illuminated in the Cape Flattery Lighthouse, located on Washington State's Tatoosh Island at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. "Because of Indian trouble it was necessary to build a blockhouse on Tatoosh Island before even commencing the construction of the lighthouse. Twenty muskets were stored in the blockhouse, and then the lighthouse work began." (USCG Historian's Office)
• 28 December 1903...An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the non-contiguous territory of the Hawaiian Islands. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 28 December 1908...An early morning earthquake under the Straits of Messina leveled cities in Sicily and southern mainland Italy, as well as producing a tsunami with 40-foot waves that inundated coastal communities. This earthquake, estimated to by a magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale, and the resulting tsunami killed an estimated 100,000 people. Long stretches of coastline sunk into the Messina Straits and disappeared from view. A steady rain also added to the woes of the survivors. (The History Channel)
• 29 December 1897...Congress prohibited the killing of fur seals in the waters of the North Pacific Ocean. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 30 December 1972...The 86-foot high wave measured by the ship Weather Reporter was the world's highest measured wave. The wave was measured in the North Atlantic Ocean at 59 degrees North latitude and 19 degrees West longitude. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 1 January 1850...The lamp was lit at the first iron pile lighthouse in the U.S. built on Minot's Ledge, just outside the Boston (MA) Harbor. The Minot's Ledge Light, the first lighthouse in the U.S. to be exposed to the ocean's full fury, was swept away in a great gale on 16 April 1851. (Today in Science History)
• 1 January 1903...The first message telegraphed on the transpacific cable was sent from Honolulu, Hawaii to President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, DC. The Cable Ship Silvertown began laying the 2620-mile long cable on 14 December 1902 when it left San Francisco, CA and it completed the project following its arrival at Oahu's Waikiki on 26 December. The cable now lies abandoned on the bottom of the Pacific after being abandoned in November 1951. (Today in Science History)
• 1 January 1954...The "Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1948" commonly known as the "Revised International Rules of the Road" became law. These were a result of the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, 1948. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 1 January 1958...The U.S. Coast Guard ceased listening continuously for distress calls on 2670 kilohertz. Although the countries of the world had agreed at the Atlantic City Convention of the International Telecommunication Union in 1947 to use 2182 kilohertz for international maritime mobile radiotelephone calling and distress, the U.S. Coast Guard had continued listening on the old frequency until the public had had sufficient time to change to the new one. (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
• 1 January 1959...The U.S. Naval Observatory introduced the system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures. (Naval Historical Center)
• 1 January 1987...A winter storm brought rain, snow and high winds to the Southern and Middle Atlantic Coast Region. The storm, which occurred in a period of unusually high astronomical tides, produced a tide of 9.4 feet at Myrtle Beach, SC (their highest since Hurricane Hazel in 1954) which caused a total of 25 million dollars damage in South Carolina. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1 January 1997...Two 12-foot waves generated by an intense Pacific storm swept 27 people into the Pacific Ocean from the King Harbor Breakwater at Redondo Beach, CA. All survived the ordeal. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 2 January 1955...Hurricane Alice battered the Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 85 mph on this day. Alice was upgraded as a full tropical system on 31 December 1954, making Alice the latest and earliest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean. (Intellicast)
• 2 January 1993...Cyclone Kina battered Fiji with wind gusts to 130 mph and heavy rain. Up to 21.65 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, resulting in the worst flooding in 60 years. Twenty-three people were killed and damage was estimated to be in excess of 547 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 January 1998...Tropical Cyclone Ron (the Southwest Pacific's counterpart of a hurricane) destroyed most of the structures on Swains Island in American Samoa. The island's 49 residents sought safety in a concrete structure, which withstood the cyclone's 90-mph sustained winds. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.