WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

24-28 April 2006

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2006 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 28 August 2006. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

First set of tsunami buoys deployed in the Atlantic Basin -- NOAA officials announced that five Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) buoys have been deployed off the East and Gulf Coasts of the US and in the Caribbean as part of an expanded tsunami warning system. These buoys, the first to be placed in the Atlantic Basin, are similar to the 11 DART stations in the eastern Pacific and Gulf of Alaska. [NOAA News]
Research vessel gets a green award -- The Federal Energy Management Program of the US Department of Energy recently presented an award to the NOAA Research Vessel Huron Explorer for converting from petroleum-based to bio fuels. This vessel is operated by the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory for research at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve on northern Lake Huron. [NOAA News]
Sailors are helped to avoid whales -- The NOAA Fisheries Service has been forwarding information on the reported locations of the endangered North Atlantic right whales obtained from aircraft and ships to participants in the Volvo Ocean Race. This effort, a part of the NOAA Right Whale Sighting Advisory System, is designed for the safety of both the whales and the sailors operating on the last leg of their round-the-world race across the North Atlantic. [NOAA News]
Gulf Coast restoration efforts begin -- Several projects have commenced that are designed to restore Gulf Coast wetlands affected by human development and last year's devastating hurricanes:
- A nearly $18 million wetlands restoration contract has been awarded to an Arkansas construction company by the NOAA Restoration Center and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to create and protect 1500 acres of intertidal wetlands and intermediate marsh southwest of New Orleans as part of to the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection & Restoration Act. [NOAA News]
- An estuarine marsh gardening project has begun in Alabama and Mississippi as part of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program's Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan in an effort to establish or rehabilitate salt marshes and submerged grass beds in the Mobile Bay area. [Dauphin Inland Sea Lab]
Another tropical cyclone affects Australia -- Tropical Cyclone Monica (the South Pacific's counterpart to a hurricane) developed off the northeast coast of Australia last week and moved across Queensland's Cape York Peninsula late last week. An image from the MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows the system approaching the Cape York Peninsula coast. [NASA Earth Observatory] A satellite image of Monica from the Japan Meteorological Agency's geosynchronous satellite, MTSAT (Meteorological Satellite), was obtained when Monica was intensifying as it moved over the Gulf of Carpentaria, after the cyclone traveled across the Cape York Peninsula. [OSEI-NOAA]
"Cool free stuff for students and teachers" -- NOAA's National Ocean Service has unveiled a special "NOAA Kids Page" that provides links to free NOAA Science educational and instructional material for both students and teachers. [NOS NOAA]
Studying the century-old San Francisco earthquake using satellite data -- One hundred years after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on California's San Andreas Fault devastated much of San Francisco, scientists have assembled an image that shows the amount of slip that resulted in the tectonic plates lying along the Pacific coast. These data are superimposed upon a topographic map generated using data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. [NASA]
Forecast of potential "red tide" remains uncertain -- Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recently reported that they are not sure that a repeat of last year's major toxic algal bloom (incorrectly termed "red tide") along the New England coast will occur during this upcoming summer. [ENN]
Fossil fish teeth help identify start of a cold episode -- University of Florida scientists studying fossil fish teeth report that the opening of the Drake Passage between South America's Cape Horn and the Antarctic continent connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans occurred 41 million years ago, thereby allowing an ocean current to surround Antarctica and resulting in the beginning of a major cooling trend and widespread glaciation. [BBC News]
Drilling continues deep under the ocean -- Scientists associated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program reported on their recovery of gabbro, a hard black rock that formed in a pool of molten magma, from a nearly mile-long drill hole made in the eastern Pacific Ocean. [EurekAlert!] [EurekAlert!]
Red Sea expedition to study coral reefs -- The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation will conduct a three-week expedition of the coral reefs in the Red Sea equipped with cutting-edge technology in an effort to study the threats to the coral health posed by global climate change, pollution, overfishing and tourism. [EurekAlert!]
Update on whaling -- Japan has resumed commercial whaling after ending a 19-year moratorium on whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission:
- Local and national Japanese governments are determined to expand its whaling operation despite the lack of a major market for the meat among the population. [Time]
- The Japanese whaling fleet returned from a four-month whaling expedition to the waters off Antarctica with a large catch from last year. [ITV]
- Increased whaling is planned despite international criticism. [ABC News]
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:

24 April 1884...USS Thetis, Bear, and Alert sailed from New York to search for Greeley expedition lost in the Arctic. (Naval Historical Center)
24 April 1928...The fathometer was patented by Herbert Grove Dorsey (No. 1,667,540). The invention measured underwater depths by using a series of electrical sounds and light signals. (Today in Science History)
25 April 1859...Ground was broken at Port Said, Egypt for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway that was to cross the isthmus of Suez to connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. (The History Channel)
25 April 1959...With the first ocean-going ships passing through locks along the St. Lawrence River, the St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened to shipping, serving as the international waterway connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The official dedication of the Seaway was on 26 June 1959. (Wikipedia)
27 April 1521...The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives during a tribal skirmish on Mactan Island in the Philippines after completing nearly three-quarters of a trip around the world. One of his ships, the Victoria, under the command of the Basque navigator Juan Sebastiýn de Elcano, continued west to arrive at Seville, Spain on 9 September 1522, the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. (The History Channel)
28 April 1947...Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and five others set out in a balsa wood craft known as Kon Tiki to prove that Peruvian Indians could have settled in Polynesia. The trip took 101 days.
29 April 1770...The British explorer, Captain James Cook, arrived at and named Botany Bay, Australia. (Wikipedia)
30 April 1492...Spain gave Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. (Wikipedia)
30 April 1894...An Antarctic iceberg fragment was sighted at a latitude comparable to Rio de Janeiro. Reported by the ship Dochra, this sighting remains the nearest to the equator that an iceberg has been seen. (Today in Science History)
30 April 1991...Southeast Bangladesh was devastated by a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of approximately 150 mph during the early morning. A 20-foot storm surge inundated offshore islands south of Chittagong, taking water from the Bay of Bengal inland for miles. This cyclone resulted in up to 200,000 deaths and $1.4 billion damage. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)