17-21 May 2004

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2004 with new Ocean News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2004. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Scanning the Monitor-- During this past week, the NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, the Mariner's Museum and the National Park Service have been using advanced laser scanning equipment to map and document the turret and steam engine of the submerged USS Monitor, the Union's Civil War ironclad. [NOAA News]
• Hurricane Awareness Week -- With the beginning of the official 2004 hurricane season for the North Atlantic Basin beginning on 1 June, this upcoming week (16-22 May) has been declared National Hurricane Awareness Week. The National Hurricane Center maintains a hurricane awareness website that provides information and educational material for the various hurricane hazards to include storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding. (A Spanish version of this website is also available.) Several Gulf Coast and Middle Atlantic States, to include will also conduct statewide Hurricane Awareness Weeks during this upcoming week. Since the 2004 hurricane season began in the eastern North Pacific basin on Sunday (15 May), Hawaii will also observe Hurricane Awareness Week. Check the Hurricane Awareness Calendar.
• North American Safe Boating Week -- Commencing this coming Saturday, the week of 22-28 May has been declared North American Safe Boating Week. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• 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.

• 17-21 May 1887...An early season tropical storm raked Cuba and The Bahamas. (The Weather Doctor)
• 17May1970...The Norwegian ethnologist, Thor Heyerdahl, and a multinational crew set sail on a trans-Atlantic voyage from Morocco on Ra II, a papyrus sailing craft modeled after the ancient Egyptian vessels in an effort to prove his theory that Mediterranean sailors reached the Americas in ancient times. After 57 days, the Ra II reached Barbados. (The History Channel)
• 19 May 1535...French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail for North America.
• 19 May 1912...The US Navy established the North Atlantic Ice Patrol following the RMS Titanic disaster. (Naval Historical Center)
• 20 May 1498...The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama became the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Calicut on the Malabar Coast, after departing Lisbon, Portugal in July 1497. (The History Channel)
• 20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 May 1819...The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• 22 May 1849...The future President, Abraham Lincoln, received a patent for the floating dry dock.
• 22-24 May 1948...A rare early season hurricane struck the island of Hispaniola, killing an estimated 80 people. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 May 1960...A 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of south central Chile triggered a tsunami that moved across the Pacific Ocean. Between 490 and 2290 people were estimated to have been killed by the earthquake and tsunami, and damage estimates were over one half billion dollars. Hilo, HI was devastated by the tsunami. (The University of Washington)
• 23 May 1850...The US Navy sent USS Advance and USS Rescue to attempt rescue of Sir John Franklin's expedition, lost in Arctic. (Naval Historical Center)
• 23 May 1946...Commodore Edward M. Webster, USCG, headed the U.S. Delegation to the International Meeting on Radio Aids to Marine Navigation, which was held in London, England. As a result of this meeting, the principal maritime nations of the world would make an intensive study of the World War II-developed devices of radar, LORAN, radar beacons, and other navigational aids with a view to adapt them to peacetime use. This meeting was the first time that the wartime technical secrets of radar and LORAN were generally disclosed to the public. (USCG Historian's Office)

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URL: DSOcean/news.html

Prepared by AMS DSOcean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.