WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

28 April-2 May 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 -- Two tropical storms developed over the eastern sections of the South Indian Ocean early last week. By late in the week, both storms had dissipated. The first storm was identified as Tropical Storm Rosie developed to the northwest of Learmonth on the northwestern coast of Australia and traveled to the southeast. An image generated from data collected by the NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite shows the characteristic spiral pattern of rain intensity surrounding the central eye of Rosie. [NASA Hurricane Page]. A more conventional image from the Japanese satellite MTSAT shows the clouds associated with Tropical Storm Rosie [NOAA OSEI] The second tropical storm that developed a day later was Tropical Storm Duraga over the South Indian Ocean to the east-northeast of the Cocos Islands.
La Niña lingers because of a larger periodic event -- Oceanographers and climatologists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory report that recent sea-level height data collected by the U.S.-French Jason oceanographic satellite indicates that the current La Niña event is slowly weakening, but could linger across the equatorial Pacific Ocean because of the concurrent development of a cold phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation that covers much of the Pacific Basin. [NASA]
May is National Wetlands Month -- The US Environmental Protection Agency, along with other federal agencies and environmental groups, has announced that May has been designated as American Wetlands Month in an effort to increase public awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving the nation's wetlands. This year's observance is the 18th annual National Wetlands Month. [EPA-Wetlands]
Salmon recovery plan unveiled -- The NOAA Fisheries Service recently published and invited public comment on a proposed plan designed to recover the threatened sockeye salmon on Lake Ozette and the Ozette River in Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington State. [NOAA News]
Marine monument management plan released -- NOAA and US Department of Interior officials recently announced a draft management plan and associated environmental assessment for Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with an invitation for public review and comment. [NOAA News]
Ocean current "stripes" detected -- An international team of scientists, including those from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Hawaii, have detected a stripped pattern of near-surface ocean currents running across the world's ocean basins based upon their analysis of more than 20-years of records collected by NOAA's Global Drifter Program and by satellites. The discovery of these subtle ocean currents could help dramatically improve climate forecasts. [Scripps News]
Chesapeake Bay recovery is aided by satellite surveillance - Researchers and land managers are using a variety of environmental data collected from the NASA fleet of satellites that includes Landsat, Aqua and Terra to assist in the determination of sources of pollutants entering Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary, and in ways to manage this valuable ecosystem in order to help it recover. [NASA]
Desalination efforts need continuing research -- A new report issued by the National Research Council cautioned that while new technology advances have made desalination of seawater and brackish groundwater a more feasible option, additional coordinated research efforts must continue to minimize the environmental impacts of desalination, as well as further reducing energy demands and costs. [The National Academies]
Better crop management could yield a healthier Gulf -- A research team headed by a scientist with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has concluded that improved management of crops in the nation's interior could help alleviate the hypoxia problem in the Gulf of Mexico, where exceedingly low oxygen levels caused by fertilizer in riverine runoff have resulted in large "dead zones" with millions of dead fish and shellfish. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]
Summer sun could be increasing vulnerability of Arctic sea ice -- Scientists with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Colorado State University using radar and lidar data collected from NASA's "A-Train" fleet of satellites have found that increased sunshine levels because of fewer clouds across the Arctic during the summer of 2007 appear to have contributed to last summer's record shrinkage of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean. [UCAR/NCAR]
Arctic marine mammals thought to be on thin ice -- Several experts from various scientific disciplines warned that the recent loss of sea ice due to increased global temperatures could be disastrous to a variety of Arctic marine mammals. [EurekAlert!]
Antarctic deep water could be getting colder -- Ocean temperatures obtained by Germany's Alfred Wegner Institute's Research Vessel Polarstern, together with satellite images of Antarctic sea ice, indicate that the deep sea around Antarctica has gotten colder and sea ice expanded to a record extent, suggesting a stimulation in the circulation of water masses. [Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research]
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:

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)
1 May 1683...A patent was awarded in England for the extraction of salt from seawater. (Today in Science History)
1 May 1883...At Cape Lookout, NC, a storm tide swept over the island drowning sheep and cattle. (Intellicast)
1 May 1921...The first radio fog signals in the United States were placed in commission on Ambrose Lightship, Fire Island Lightship, and Sea Girt Light Station, NJ. These signals installed by the US Lighthouse Service were meant to guide ships approaching New York Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
1 May 1936...The Whaling Treaty Act outlawed the taking of right whales or calves of any whale. This law was enforced by the Coast Guard. (USCG Historian's Office)
2 May 1775...Benjamin Franklin completed the first scientific study of the Gulf Stream. His observations began in 1769 when as deputy postmaster of the British Colonies he found ships took two weeks longer to bring mail from England than was required in the opposite direction. Thus, Franklin became the first to chart the Gulf Stream. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1880...The first U.S. steamboat to successfully employ electric lights was the Columbia, a 309-ft long vessel which operated between San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. An "A" type dynamo was placed in operation to illuminate the passenger rooms and main salons. (Today in Science History)
2 May 1932...After a Convention with Canada, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act re-enacted the Act of 7 June 1924 and made it unlawful to catch halibut between 1 November and 15 February of each year in territorial waters of United States and Canada, as well as on the high seas, extending westerly from there, including the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard enforced this act. (USCG Historian's Office)
2-3 May 1998...Ocean swells from storms in the South Pacific caused surf heights of 7 to 9 feet, with sets to 12 feet along the southern California coast. A man fishing on rocks at Rancho Palos Verdes, CA was swept away. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
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)