25-29 July 2005

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2005 with new Ocean News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 29 August 2005. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Earthquake leads to tsunami warning -- An earthquake with a magnitude of approximately 7.3 near India's Nicobar Islands on Sunday prompted Thailand's National Disaster Center to issue a tsunami warning for portions of the west coast of Thailand, which was subsequently lifted. However, the International Tsunami Information Center in Hawaii stated that the earthquake was too weak to generate a major tsunami. [CNN]
• Tropics remain active --
• At the beginning of last week Hurricane Emily moved across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, then by mid week made a second landfall along the Gulf coast of Mexico south of Brownsville, TX. As Hurricane Emily crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the winds accompanying this tropical system appears to have destroyed most of the turtle eggs laid by a endangered sea turtles on a beach south of Cancun. [USA Today]
• By the weekend, two more named tropical cyclones had formed, one was Tropical Storm Franklin over the Bahamas and the other, Tropical Storm Gert over the western Gulf of Mexico. Franklin was weakening as it moved off to the northeast toward Bermuda. Gert was heading toward Mexico, where a tropical storm warning was issued. [USA Today]

• Bridging gaps between two ocean expeditions -- A Chinese oceanographer from the Polar Research Institute of China is accompanying a NOAA-funded expedition called "The Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005" to the Canada Basin in the Arctic Ocean. During this mission, he has been recording his experiences in Chinese and posting them on the NOAA "Ocean Explorer" web site using English text. [NOAA News]
• An ocean challenge puzzle included on web page -- NOAA officials recently unveiled a revamped "Ocean Explorer" web page featuring an ocean-related picture puzzle that encourages international participation. A link to lesson plans for teachers is also available from this website. [NOAA News]
• Protecting the back reef systems -- The US Coral Reef Task Force has been leading efforts at identifying and protecting back reef systems, a part of a coral reef ecosystem that extends from the reef crest to the neighboring coast, often including mangroves and various seagrasses. [NOAA Magazine]
• New England's hazardous algae bloom running its course -- The hazardous algae bloom (misnamed "red tide") that forced the closing of nearly all commercial fisheries along the New England coast earlier this summer appears to be ending, thereby allowing officials to reopen a few shellfish beds. [USA Today]
• Listening to the rumble of a major earthquake -- A scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has been analyzing the recordings of the underwater sounds produced last December by the magnitude 9.3 earthquake on the Sumatra-Andaman Fault that resulted in the major tsunami which traveled across the Indian Ocean. [The Earth Institute at Columbia University]
• Testing the water while on a ferry -- Marine scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University have developed an automated project called FerryMon that continuously monitors water quality in North Carolina's Pamlico Sound from the state ferries that operate across the nation's second largest sound. [The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]
• North Atlantic right whale could face extinction -- A Florida State University oceanographer along with colleagues for other universities has cautioned that the current mortality rates of the North Atlantic right whale indicate that this species could become extinct unless additional efforts are made to help stem the accidental collisions of these whales with ships and the entanglements with fishing gear. [EurekAlert!]
• 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.

• 25 July 1956...The Italian ship Andrea Doria sank in dense fog near Nantucket Lightship, MA. Ten hours earlier, the ship was rammed by the Swedish-American liner, Stockholm, forty-five miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Fifty-two persons drowned, or were killed by the impact. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 25 July 1994...Hurricane Gilma, like Emilia a week earlier, reached Category 5 strength in the Central Pacific. (Intellicast)
• 27 July 1866...The 1686-mile long Atlantic Cable was successfully completed between Newfoundland and Ireland by the American businessman Cyrus W. Field, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time. Two previous attempts at laying a cable ended in failure. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
• 27 July 1926...A hurricane came inland near Daytona Beach, FL. The hurricane caused 2.5 million dollars damage in eastern Florida, including the Jacksonville area. (David Ludlum)
• 27 July 1943...On a whim, and flying a single engine AT-6, Lieutenant Ralph O' Hair and Colonel Duckworth were the first to fly into a hurricane. It started regular Air Force flights into hurricanes. (The Weather Channel)
• 28 July 1819...A small but intense hurricane passed over Bay Saint Louis, MS. The hurricane was considered the worst in fifty years. Few houses were left standing either at Bay Saint Louis or at Pass Christian and much of the Mississippi coast was desolate following the storm. An U.S. cutter was lost along with its thirty-nine crewmembers. The storm struck the same area that was hit 150 years later by Hurricane Camille. (David Ludlum)
• 31 July 1498...On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, the explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach the island of Trinidad. (Wikipedia)
• 31 July 1978...A 50-yard wide waterspout came onshore at Kill Devil Hills, NC and destroyed a small house. One person died and four were hurt. Waterspouts are typically considered relatively benign. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)