WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

5-9 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.

A NEW MOON AND HIGH TIDES -- The moon will reach new moon phase on Monday 5 May 2008 at 1218 Z or 8:18 AM EDT or 7:18 AM CDT, etc.). Because lunar perigee (closest moon-earth distance) follows the new moon by approximately 15 hours, especially high ocean tides can be expected.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics -- In the North Indian Ocean basin, Tropical Cyclone Nargis formed at the start of last week in the Bay of Bengal and drifted to the northeast. After reaching category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity Scale, this major tropical cyclone made landfall this past weekend near Yangon in Myanmar (also known as Burma), resulting in the deaths of more than 350 people. [Associated Press] A MODIS image from NASA's Terra satellite shows the spiral bands of clouds surrounding the characteristic central eye of Nargis late last week. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional images obtained from the sensors on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite show the precipitation bands around the eye. [NASA Hurricane Page]
Pacific remains cool -- NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently generated an image of the sea-surface temperature anomalies (differences between actual and long-term average temperatures) for mid April 2008 obtained from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS on NASA’s Aqua satellite and announced that much of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean remained lower than average due to a lingering La Niña and a cool phase Pacific Decadal Oscillation. [NASA Earth Observatory] [Editor's note: These findings are consistent with those described here last week that were based on that recent sea-level height data collected by sea level data collected by the U.S.-French Jason oceanographic satellite. EJH]
West Coast salmon fishery has failed -- The Secretary for the US Department of Commerce announced that the West Coast salmon fishery has failed because salmon returns along the California and Oregon coast had fallen to historically low levels. [NOAA News]
Efforts begin to integrate ocean observation data -- NOAA officials have announced that observational data such as ocean temperature, salinity, water level, current, wind and wave data from a wide variety of federal and non-federal sources have been linked through the Agency's Integrated Ocean Observing Program [NOAA News]
Warning buoys in shipping lanes could reduce ship collisions with right whales -- Smart buoys developed at Cornell University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have been deployed in the 10-buoy Right Whale Listening Network in Massachusetts Bay to help reduce the number of collisions between ships and the endangered North Atlantic right whales. [Cornell University]
Better than even chance of record low Arctic sea ice this summer -- Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder are forecasting a three-in-five chance that the extent of the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean will shrink to a new record low, breaking the previous record set last summer. They base their forecast on satellite data and temperature records that show higher temperatures, along with thinner and younger sea ice. [University of Colorado at Boulder]
Ice core expedition will study Alaska's climate -- Scientists from the University of New Hampshire and University of Maine have traveled to Alaska's Denali National Park to recover ice cores from the park's glaciers that could help decipher the long-term changes in climate across the 49th State, as well as the Pacific Northwest in the lower 48. They are attempting to see if changes in the North Pacific Ocean over the last 20,000 years may have occurred before those in the North Atlantic basin, which previously thought to have driven global climate changes. [EurekAlert!]
New ocean pattern is discovered -- A new pattern called the "North Pacific Gyre Oscillation" has been discovered by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology that explains observed oscillatory changes in the salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll of the waters in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. These researchers suggest that the amplitude of these changes appears to be increasing, suggesting a possible relationship with increased global temperatures. [Georgia Tech]
Modeling expanding region of marine oxygen depletion -- A researcher from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences along with other colleagues have collected ocean water samples on recent cruises and confirmed that the oxygen-depleted waters in the tropical oceans have expanded as predicted by computer model simulations. This expansion could be associated with global climate change. [EurekAlert!]
A "red tide killer" is identified -- Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography claim they have identified a relatively common microscopic marine microbe as the potential "red tide killer" that has helped terminate some harmful algal blooms in coastal waters off southern California. [EurekAlert!]
Diatoms can remove phosphorous from seawater -- Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology report discovery of a natural method for removing polyphosphates, or dense concentrations of phosphorous compounds, from ocean water that involves diatoms. [Georgia Tech]
Composting seaweed could help in marine pollutant disposal -- Researchers in China and Japan report that bacteria feeding on composted seaweed could aid in the disposal of pollutants found in the world's oceans. [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.

Historical Events:

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)
10 May 1497...The Italian cartographer Amerigo Vespucci allegedly left the Spanish coastal city of Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World. (Wikipedia)
10 May 1503...Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands and named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles that he found there. (Wikipedia)
10 May 1960...The submarine, USS Triton (SSRN-586), completed a submerged circumnavigation of world in 84 days following many of the routes taken by Magellan and cruising 46,000 miles. (Naval Historical Center)
11 May 1833...The ship Lady of the Lake struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic while bound from England to Quebec, resulting in the loss of 215 lives. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
11-12 May 1965...The first of two cyclones that struck East Pakistan (now called Bangladesh) during the year made landfall. This system, along with the one on 1-2 June killed about 47,000 people.