3-7 May 2010

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2010 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2010. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

• Global forum on oceans --
The United Nations and the French government will be hosting the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands during this upcoming week (3-7 May 2010) at UNESCO in Paris France. The theme of this conference is "Ensuring survival, preserving life, improving governance." This conference is also celebrating 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity and the 50th anniversary of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. [Global Form on Oceans, Coasts and Islands]
• Oil spill in Gulf having widespread environmental impact --
A change in the prevailing winds has caused the oil slick created after last week's explosion and sinking of the Deep Horizon oil rig to approach the environmentally sensitive Delta region along the southeastern Louisiana Gulf Coast. [USA Today] Various groups within NOAA, including the Office of Response and Restoration in NOAA's Fisheries Service, have been providing on-scene support for the other federal, state and local organizations. [NOAA NOS] A variety of images satellite images show the spreading oil slick, including images from the MODIS sensors on NASA's Terra satellite [NASA GSFC] and the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) on board the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite. [ESA]
• Eye on the tropics ---
During the last week, no organized tropical cyclones were detected over the world's ocean basins. However, a tropical disturbance, identified as System 90W, formed in the western North Pacific basin over the waters of the Sulu Sea northwest of Zamboanga in the Philippines early in the week. By late in the week, this tropical disturbance had weakened. For more information on this system, along with satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Public comment requested on fisheries imports involving marine mammals --
During the last week, NOAA's Fisheries Service has officially requested public comment on options involved with implementing those parts of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that concern the incidental catch of marine mammals such as whales and dolphins in foreign fisheries intended for import into this country. [NOAA News]
• Satellite derived ocean temperature observations could be used to enhance coastal weather predictions --
Researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have developed the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SpoRT) project that provides ocean temperature data obtained from the NASA Earth observation satellite sensors to National Weather Service forecasters four times daily. With an enhanced ability to detect changes in sea-surface temperatures because of these satellite derived data, the forecasters appear to be improving their ability to forecast the weather in coastal regions of the nation. [NASA Marshall]
• IceBridge Mission passes its midpoint --
Within the last two weeks, the 2010 Operation IceBridge mission to the Arctic, a NASA sponsored airborne survey of the Earth's polar ice, passed its halfway point. During the previous four weeks, NASA scientists flew 14 successful missions over the Arctic Ocean and the Greenland Ice Sheet with several aircraft including NASA's DC-8 research airplane, collecting data that could show changes in glacial and sea ice over time. [NASA Earth Science News Team
• First thermal images of Earth from new weather satellite --
NOAA and NASA scientists released a set of the first thermal images of Earth obtained early last week from the new GOES-15 spacecraft that had been launched into a geosynchronous orbit back in early March. This satellite, which was launched by NASA and then placed under NOAA's operational control, has sensors that provide images in four infrared bands (shortwave window, water vapor, longwave window and a CO2 sensitive band), as well in one visible band. [NOAA News]
• Optimizing the positioning of tsunami warning buoys --
Mathematicians at Australia's University of Technology Sydney have developed a mathematical model that could be used to find as many as ten optimal sites for the installation of tsunami detection buoys and sea-level monitors for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System. They claim that their model could save money and lives in the selection process. [EurekAlert!]
• Major ocean current discovered in Southern Ocean --
Japanese and Australian researchers have discovered a major ocean current at a depth of least three kilometers below the surface of the Southern Ocean southwest of Australia. This current not only transports large quantities of oxygen-rich water that sinks around the Antarctic continent northward, but also influences climate patterns through its interaction with the global ocean current network. [CSIRO]
• Sea ice melting may be a major cause of Arctic warming --
Recent research conducted at Australia's University of Melbourne indicates that the rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic during the last two decades has been responsible for increased temperatures across the basin the lack of sea ice increases the amount of solar radiation that is absorbed by the seawater. [EurekAlert!]
• Melting icebergs cause a rise in sea level --
Using a combination of satellite observations and a computer model, scientists at the United Kingdom's University of Leeds have discovered that recent losses of floating ice in the polar oceans have resulted in a rise of sea level by approximately 49 micrometers per year. These researchers caution that the amount of sea ice melting could increase in the future. [EurekAlert!]
• Reconstructing climate history of Antarctica's glaciation from ocean cores --
An international team of scientists participating in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Wilkes Land Glacial History Expedition have collected geological samples from 2000-meter long sediment cores drilled in the seafloor off the Antarctic coast. These new cores should help reconstruct the climatic history of Antarctic glaciation, extending back approximately 53 million years. [EurekAlert!]
• Underwater asphalt volcanoes discovered --
Using the research submersible Alvin, scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of California at Davis, the University of Sydney and the University of Rhode Island have discovered several large underwater "asphalt volcanoes" located on the bottom of southern California's Santa Barbara Channel. These researchers estimate that these columns of solidified petroleum located at depths of 700 feet below the surface developed approximately 40,000 years ago when the petroleum seeped from the ocean floor.  [EurekAlert!]
• Seamounts are relatively unexplored --
Scientists from NOAA and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi have found that while seamounts can be considered some of the most common ocean habitats on Earth, they remain relatively unexplored. These seamounts, or mountains that rise from the seafloor, exhibit wide marine biodiversity and the researchers estimate that only 200 of the more than 45,000 seamounts in the world's oceans have been explored. [EurekAlert!]
• 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.

Historical Events:

• 3 May 1494...The explorer Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Jamaica in the West Indies. He named the island Santa Gloria. On the following day, he landed on Jamaica. (Library of Congress)
• 3 May 1761...Large tornadoes swept the Charleston, SC harbor when a British Fleet of 40 sails was at anchor. It raised a wave 12 feet high, leaving many vessels on their beam-ends. Four people drowned. (Intellicast)
• 4 May 1869...The first U.S. patent for an offshore oil-drill rig was issued to T.F. Rowland for his "submarine drilling apparatus" (No. 89,794). (Today in Science History)
• 4 May 1904...Construction began on the Panama Canal. (Wikipedia)
• 4 May 1910...Congress required every passenger ship or other ship carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States to be equipped with radio (100-mi radius) and a qualified operator. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 5 May 1990...A strong Pacific cold front moving rapidly inland caused weather conditions at the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington State to quickly change from sunny and calm to westerly winds of 60 mph and ten-foot waves. Three recreational fishing boats capsized in heavy seas off Port Angeles resulting in five deaths. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 6 May 1994...The rail tunnel under the English Channel, or "Chunnel," that connects Folkestone, England, with Sangatte, France was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President Mitterrand. (The History Channel)
• 8 May 1961...The first practical seawater conversion plant in the U.S. was opened in Freeport, TX by the Office of Saline Water, U.S. Dept. of the Interior. The plant was designed to produce about a million gallons of water a day at a cost of about $1.25 per thousand gallons. (Today in Science History)
• 8 May 1992...The source of a "red tide" in the Gulf of Mexico was suggested by scientists at a conference on the ecology of the Gulf. The red tide produced huge blooms of reddish algae in sufficient quantity to kill fish and cause severe respiratory problems for humans. A "green river" that started 60 miles inland of Florida was indicated as the source of the algae. The wind and water currents that bring nutrients from the floor of the ocean to the surface provided the food that caused the algae population to explode once it reached the Gulf. (Today in Science History)
• 9 May 1502...The explorer Christopher Columbus left Spain for his fourth and final journey to the "New World". (Wikipedia)
• 9 May 1926...The Baden-Baden, a ship propelled by two 50-ft high cylindrical rotors arrived in New York having left Hamburg on 2 Apr 1926, and completed a transatlantic crossing from Germany. Utilizing the aerodynamic power of the Magnus Effect (discovered in 1852), which builds air pressure behind a rotating cylinder, these rotors drove 45-hp electric motors that powered the ship. Although a theoretical success, it was not sufficiently effective for commercial application. (Today in Science)
• 9 May 1980...A blinding squall, followed by dense fog, reduced visibility to near zero at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. The Liberian freighter SS Summit Venture hit the bridge piling, causing a 1200-foot section of the bridge to fall 150 feet into the bay. Several vehicles, including a bus, drove off the edge of the span, resulting in 35 deaths. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (Wikipedia).
• 9 May 1990...A tropical cyclone hit the southeast coast of India, killing 1000 people, even though 400,000 people evacuated because of early warning of the storm. More than 100 miles of coast were devastated as winds reached 125 mph and a storm surge measured at 22 feet flooded inland as far as 22 miles. (The Weather Doctor) (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
© Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.