WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

2-6 June 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:

• World Ocean Day to be celebrated -- World Ocean Day or a "Celebration of the Sea" will be celebrated next Sunday, 8 June 2008 in an effort to increase public awareness and to foster public involvement in the management of the ocean and its resources. Although this date was created at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it has not been officially recognized by the United Nations. This year's theme is "helping our climate / helping our ocean" with a special focus on coral reefs since this year has been declared he International Year of the Reef. A partial listing is provided for events across the US and other nations that will celebrate World Ocean Day. [The Ocean Project]
• "Break the Grip of the Rip®" -- NOAA officials have designated this upcoming week of 1-7 June 2008 as national Rip Current Awareness Week. Using the theme, Break the Grip of the Rip®, efforts are meant to heighten public awareness of rip currents at surf beaches that claim the lives of as many as 100 people in the United States annually. [NWS Rip Current Safety]
• Ocean observing projects are funded -- During the last week, NOAA through its Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) has awarded several million dollars in funding to various agencies for this fiscal year that would support ocean observing efforts in Alaska, Hawaii/US Pacific Islands, the Pacific Northwest, California, the Gulf Coast, the Middle Atlantic coast, New England and Puerto Rico/US Caribbean.
• Cyclic patterns in jellyfish populations seen in Bering Sea – Based upon a National Science Foundation-funded study, researchers at Oregon State University have found the cyclic changes in the jellyfish populations in the Bering Sea appear to be associated with availability of food for the jellyfish, along with rising temperatures. [NSF]
• Public comment on loggerhead turtles requested -- The NOAA Fisheries Service in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife Service recently released a draft for public review and comment of a revised recovery plan for the northwest Atlantic population of the loggerhead sea turtle, considered a threatened species. [NOAA News]
• Eye on the tropics -- In western North Pacific Basin, a tropical storm developed at the beginning of last week and intensified to become a super-typhoon identified as Nakri as it moved to the northwest and north-northwest over last weekend. By Sunday, the typhoon, which reached category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, was beginning to curve toward the north and northeast, with a projected track that would take it south and east of the Japanese Islands. An image obtained from the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows the signature cloud spiral and eye of Typhoon Nakri. [NOAA OSEI] An additional image of the clouds associated with Typhoon Nakri and additional information are available on the NASA Hurricane Page. [Editor's Note: The notation appearing on this webpage is incorrect as all references to "eastern" should be replaced by "western" throughout this description. EJH]
  The Eastern North Pacific began to show some activity late last week. The first named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific formed last Thursday off the coast of Costa Rica and was named Tropical Storm Alma. This system had maximum sustained winds that reached 55 mph before coming onshore along the coast of Nicaragua on Friday. Additional information together with satellite images of Tropical Storm Alma are available from the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named tropical cyclone of the season, formed on Saturday off the coast of Belize. By late Sunday, it had made landfall along the Belize coast and was weakening as it moved inland.
• More on the deadly flooding in Myanmar -- Flooding across a large section of Myanmar (Burma) caused by the torrential rain and the storm surge associated with Tropical Cyclone Nargis in early May has not only caused numerous deaths, but also damaged a large portion of the rice growing region in the Irrawaddy River Delta. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Down Under autumnal rain decline studied -- Researchers with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) who have been studying the precipitation record for southern Victoria over the last half century claim that fluctuations in sea-surface temperatures in the waters north of Australia along with changes in the atmospheric circulation over the subtropical Indian Ocean appear to be key to declining autumnal precipitation (March to May) across the southeastern sections of the Australia. [CSIRO]
• "Brittlestar City" explored -- Scientists affiliated with the Census of Marine Life are exploring a large underwater mountain range in the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand teeming with underwater creatures that they have called "Brittlestar City" for the large numbers of echinoderms called brittlestars residing on this seamount. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean shark species could be threatened -- An international study conducted by scientists from 13 research institutions reports that over half of the ocean shark species in the world oceans are threatened with extinction because of overfishing, unless international action is taken to safeguard these populations. [EurekAlert!]
• A variety of clues used to determine ages of fish and shellfish -- NOAA researchers associated with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center on Cape Cod, MA are using a variety of sclerochronology (age reading) techniques that study the periodic increments in the skeletal marine organisms to determine the ages of fish and shellfish collected from the waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. [Northeast Fisheries Science Center]
• Bacteria found to feed on oceanic crust -- Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Southern California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Western Washington University have found that seafloor bacteria are abundant and diverse, and they apparently feed on the planet's oceanic crust.  [NSF]
• 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:

• 1-17 June 2001...The deadliest and costliest tropical storm in US history, Tropical Storm Allison, wandered westward across the tropical Atlantic and crossed over into the Pacific before reversing and moving back into the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. On 1 June the tropical wave, which eventually evolved into TS Allison, moved into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on the Pacific coast of Mexico after moving westward across the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean from the west coast of Africa on 21 May. On the 2^nd, a cyclonic (counterclockwise) circulation developed to the south-southeast of Salma Cruz, Mexico, but the low-level circulation became ill-defined as the system moved inland on the 3^rd over southeastern Mexico and western Guatemala. This system intensified again and eventually moved northward to the Texas Gulf Coast and then eastward to the Atlantic before turning into an extratropical storm in mid-June. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2-4 June 1986...A tropical disturbance brought flooding rains to parts of the Greater Antilles. The flooding caused 59 deaths in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. As many as 240,000 people lost their homes to this disturbance. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 June 1979...The world's worst oil spill occurred when an exploratory oil well, Ixtoc 1, blew out, spilling over 140 million gallons of crude oil into the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico. Although it is the largest known oil spill, it had a relatively low environmental impact. The well was finally capped in March 1980. Booms were placed along the Texas coast to protect major inlets from the oil that was carried northward by prevailing surface currents in the Gulf of Mexico. (Information Please) (Wikipedia)
• 4 June 1825...A hurricane struck Long Island, NY leveling trees and causing damage to ships. The early season hurricane, which originated near Cuba, caused major damage along the Atlantic coast from Charleston, SC to New York City. Many were lost at sea. (David Ludlum)
• 4 June 1976...Forty-foot waves from a tropical cyclone smashed Gogha (port), India. Excellent warnings limited the death toll to approximately 70. Dredging of the harbor at Bhavnnagar ceased for several years as storm runoff from the Kansa River washed away accumulated sand and silt. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 June 1882...More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay, India were killed as a tropical cyclone that developed over the Arabian Sea pushed huge waves into the harbor. (Wikipedia)
• 7 June 1914...The first vessel, the Alliance, passed through the Panama Canal. The 51-mile long canal, which links the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans across the isthmus of Panama, was officially opened on 15 August 1914. (Today in Science History) (Wikipedia)
• 7 June 1924...The Oil Pollution Act was passed. It was enforced by the Coast Guard.
  Protection of halibut in the North Pacific Ocean was placed under Bureau of Fisheries (Coast Guard- enforced since 1926). (USCG Historian's Office)
• 7 June 1972...Richmond, VA experienced its worst flood of record as rains from Hurricane Agnes pushed the water level at the city locks to a height of 36.5 feet, easily topping the previous record of thirty feet set in 1771. (The Weather Channel)
• 7-10 June 2001...Tropical Storm Allison made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast near Galveston early on the 6^th and drifted northward before becoming stationary as a depression later in the day near Lufkin. Later, it began to drift back southward, moving offshore over the Gulf late on the 9^th at nearly the same place as it had made landfall. Allison caused disastrous flooding across the Upper Texas Gulf Coast, especially in the Houston area where a storm total of 36.99 inches fell at Port Houston. Twenty-three people lost their lives in Texas. Damage in the region amounted to $5 billion, which included 45,000 homes, 70,000 vehicles and 2000 businesses. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 8 June 1937...Observation of the total eclipse of the sun was made by a U.S. Navy detachment commanded by Captain J. F. Hellweg, USN, which was participating in the National Geographic Society - United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. (Naval Historical Center)
• 8-9 June 1990...The Norwegian tanker Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX, the result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. Two crewmembers were killed. Coast Guard units fought the resulting fires and recovered spilled oil. (Information Please) (USCG Historian's Office)
• 8 June 1992...The first World Ocean Day was celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Wikipedia)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2008, The American Meteorological Society.