Weekly Ocean News

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

21-25 April 2008

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2008 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2008. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the Tropics -- In western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Neoguri formed at the start of last week over the Sulu Sea southwest of the Philippines. During the week, it moved westward and then intensified to become a category 2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale as it traveled northwestward across South China Sea toward China. On Saturday morning (local time), this typhoon made landfall along the coast of China near Hong Kong as a tropical storm. On Sunday, this system was traveling northeastward across southern China. An image from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows the characteristic central eye and swirl of clouds surrounding Typhoon Neoguri last week. [NASA Earth Observatory] An image of the rainfall rate from this tropical system was generated from data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
In western South Pacific, a tropical cyclone identified as Tropical Cyclone 27 P formed late last week over Coral Sea and traveled southeastward passing to the north of New Caledonia before weakening after one day.
In the South Indian Ocean, an area of convective activity to the east of Diego Garcia on Sunday could develop into a tropical system.
Climate change effects on coral reefs discussed -- NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program and NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries hosted a conference in the Florida Keys this past weekend for an international group of coral experts to discuss strategies designed for mitigating and managing the impacts of climate change upon coral reefs in the Caribbean and other regions. [NOAA News]
Measures outlined to prevent overfishing of shark species -- The NOAA’s Fisheries Service recently released a final environmental impact statement for public comment that represents an outline of measures deemed necessary to prevent overfishing of sandbar and other shark species. [NOAA News]
New website provides collection of marine sanctuary research -- NOAA, along with partners that include the US Geological Survey, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the California Department of Fish and Game, has recently unveiled a new webpage called Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) that provides the public a unified resource of the environmental monitoring and scientific research conducted in Gulf of the Farallones, Cordell Bank and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries off California's northern central coast. [NOAA News]
New ocean wind atlases are available -- Researchers at the University of Hawaii and Oregon State University have assembled seven years of scatterometer data from NASA's QuikScat satellite and developed several atlases that depict the global ocean wind patterns, including those that identify the location and frequency of the highest winds. [NASA]
Library of DNA barcodes of fish is assembled -- Researchers at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center have developed FISH-BOL, a global reference library of DNA barcodes from nearly 4600 fish species, which is approximately 15 percent of the number of known fish species. [Northeast Fisheries Science Center]
March 2008 weather reviewed -- Scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently reported that their analysis of preliminary data indicates the monthly temperature averaged across the coterminous US for March 2008 was close to the 113-year average March temperatures. Many of the northern tier of states had below average temperatures, while only Rhode Island, Arizona and New Mexico had above average statewide temperature for the period when detailed records with sufficient density began in 1895. With numerous storms traveling northeastward from the Plains to New England, most of the states in a band from Oklahoma to Vermont reported much above average precipitation in March. California, Arizona and New Mexico reported much below average March precipitation. Below average precipitation was also reported across the northern Plains, the Great Basin and the Southeast. While snowpack was diminishing over many of the western mountains, the western snowpack was deemed the healthiest in more than a decade.
The March monthly average land temperatures from around the global were the warmest since global records commenced in 1880, while the month's ocean surface temperatures were the thirteenth warmest, due in part to a continued La Nina episode. Thus the globally averaged March temperature was the second highest since 1880. [NOAA News]
Microseisms show increased ocean storm frequency -- A geophysicist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology reports that seismographic stations around the world have noted an increase in the faint earth tremors or microseisms that have been caused by wind-driven ocean waves. He claims that this increase is caused by more frequent extreme ocean storms due to increased sea surface temperatures. [EurekAlert!]
Meltwater lake helps grease Greenland ice cap -- Scientists from the University of Washington and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who have been studying a glacial lake and surrounding ice in Greenland have found that the summertime meltwater contributes to a seasonal acceleration of ice loss as this water cuts through cracks in the ice and helps lubricate the bottom of the ice. The researches used data from a variety of NASA satellites and Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment to measure ice movement. [NASA] [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
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:

21 April 1910...The U.S. Government took over sealing operation of Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea from private lessees. (USCG Historian's Office)
21 April 1906...Commander Robert Peary, USN, discovered that the supposed Arctic Continent did not exist. (Naval Historical Center)
22 April 1500...Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral became the first known European to sight Brazil, claiming it for Portugal. (Wikipedia)
23 April 1924...A tube transmitter for radio fog-signal stations, developed to take the place of the spark transmitters in use, was placed in service on the Ambrose Channel Lightship and proved successful. (USCG Historian's Office)
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)