WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

16-20 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.

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE! The summer solstice will occur early Friday evening (officially, 20 June 2008 at 2359 Z, or 7:59 PM EDT, 6:59 PM CDT, etc.) as the Earth's spin axis is oriented such that the sun appears to be the farthest north in the local sky of most earth-bound observers. While most of us consider this event to be the start of astronomical summer, the British call the day the "Midsummer Day", as the apparent sun will begin its southward descent again. For essentially all locations in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight today will be the longest and the night will be the shortest of the year. Starting Saturday, the length of darkness will begin to increase as we head toward the winter solstice on 21 December 2008 at 1204 Z. However, because the sun is not as perfect a time-keeper as a clock, the latest sunsets of the year at many mid-latitude locations will continue through about the first week of July -- a consequence of the earth being near aphelion (on 4 July 2008) and the apparent sun moving across the sky well to the north of the celestial equator.

Ocean in the News:

• Review of spring weather -- Scientists with the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently released their preliminary statistics for the recently concluded three-months (March through May) that are considered the meteorological spring season in the Northern Hemisphere:
  • Meteorological spring season (March through May) was the 36th coolest across the coterminous US since sufficiently dense climate records began in 1895. As many as 19 states from the Pacific Northwest across the central Plains and into the upper and mid-Mississippi Valleys experienced temperatures that were below the 20th-century average. Only Texas reported an above-average statewide temperature. In addition, Pennsylvania experienced a much cooler than average month of May according to preliminary data.
    The middle Mississippi and lower Ohio Valleys had a wet spring, with Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa having statewide precipitation totals for the three months that were in the top ten for their respective states. On the other hand, California suffered through its driest spring on record, with Nevada and Utah having much below average precipitation totals. Consequently, the moderate to extreme drought continued across the Great Plains, the Southwest and the Southeast, but eased across sections of the northern Rockies. [NOAA News]
  • When the combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures were calculated the three months were the seventh warmest since worldwide records commenced in 1880, with the land being the third warmest, while the ocean temperatures were the tenth highest. The La Niña event continued to weaken, with neutral ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) conditions anticipated by August. [NOAA News]
• Migrating herring helped on Cape Cod -- NOAA, along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the US. Department of Agriculture, together with several state and local partners have restored a salt marsh and fish passage for migrating herring on Cape Cod in Massachusetts as part of the NOAA Open Rivers Initiative Project. [NOAA News]
• Another ocean observing project is funded -- NOAA, through its Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), has awarded nearly two million dollars in funding to the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association during this fiscal year that would support ocean observing efforts along the Southeast coast of the United States. [NOAA News]
• More cooperative climate research programs established -- NOAA officials recently announced the establishment of two additional collaborative research programs that will be located on university campuses. One of these Cooperative Climate Research Programs will be the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research located at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, which will focus on changes and patterns in Arctic sea ice and the issue of climate change in arctic regions. The other program will be the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science at Princeton University in New Jersey, which will contribute to the development of oceanic and atmospheric models and research on climate and biogeochemical cycling. [NOAA News]
• Saltwater angler registration is proposed -- The NOAA Fisheries Service is inviting public comment on a rule that it as proposed that by 2009, recreational anglers and those who spearfish in federal ocean waters would be required to register before fishing in an effort to improve the accuracy of data on marine recreational fishing. [NOAA News]
• Finding a cause for California sea lion seizures -- Scientists associated with NOAA and the California Marine Mammal Center have determined that domoic acid, an algal toxin found in algal blooms in surface waters of the oceans, appears to be responsible for epileptic seizures and other abnormalities found in California sea lions. [NOAA News]
• Caribbean monk seal is declared extinct --Officials with the NOAA’s Fisheries Service recently declared that the Caribbean monk seal, which was not been sighted since 1952 in the Caribbean Sea, is now officially considered extinct because of over-hunting by humans. [NOAA News]
• Online inventory of marine protected areas is launched -- NOAA’s National Marine Protected Areas Center, in collaboration with the US Department of the Interior, has posted an online inventory of the nation's marine protected areas, which is intended to provide researchers and the public with comprehensive information on these protected waters. [NOAA News]
• Deep sea octopods and squids contain human-generated pollutants--Scientists from the NOAA Fisheries Service and their colleagues at the College of William and Mary report that toxic chemical contaminants are found at increased levels in deep sea animals, including octopods, squids and cuttlefishes. [Northeast Fisheries Science Center]
• Black Sea blooms seen from space -- An image obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite during the first week of June shows colorful swirls in the near surface waters of the Black Sea caused by a phytoplankton bloom. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• African dust forecasts used for hurricane season predictions -- Based upon their findings that African dust storms tend to suppress hurricane activity due to lower sea surface temperatures over the tropical Atlantic Ocean, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies have developed a dust storm activity forecast for Africa in order to help predict severity of the upcoming hurricane season. [University of Wisconsin-Madison News Service]
• Size does make a difference in rain from tropical cyclones -- NASA researchers from the Goddard Space Flight Center report that tropical cyclones, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, are accompanied by precipitation that tends to have a greater abundance of small and mid-sized raindrops as compared with those associated with extratropical cyclones that form over land. This difference in drop-sized distribution and number can affect the incidence of flooding. [NASA Hurricane Page]
• Space agency data used to help disaster victims on earth -- NASA data products have been used by emergency management officials and the media during the last month in the wake of two catastrophic natural disasters (the Burmese tropical cyclone and the Chinese earthquake) to identify and locate exposed populations, resulting in improved management of the humanitarian relief efforts. [NASA]
• Doubling freshwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet is anticipated -- A researcher at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks predicts that the amount of freshwater that runs off the Greenland Ice Sheet and into the North Atlantic could more than double by 2100, resulting in an increase in global sea level and changes in the thermohaline circulation in the global ocean. [University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
• Rapid Arctic sea ice retreat could threaten permafrost -- Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) claim that increases in temperature across the Arctic basin that has been responsible for rapid retreats in the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean appear to result in significant thawing of the permafrost across the region, which could have serious consequences for polar ecosystems. [UCAR/NCAR]
• Wintertime breakup of ice shelf documented -- At the end of May, radar sensors onboard the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite captured the break-off of a large portion of the Wilkins Ice Shelf along the Antarctic Peninsula. This event is the first to be documented during austral winter. [ESA]
• 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:

• 16 June 1903...The famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen, began the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by leaving Oslo, Norway on the ship Gjøa. Amundsen and six others spent two winters exploring over land and ice from the place currently called Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada. (Wikipedia)
• 17 June 1579...During his "Famous Voyage," Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, claimed San Francisco Bay for England, calling the region along the northern California coast "Nova Albion" (meaning, New England). (Wikipedia)
• 16-18 June 1972...The greatest three-day rainfall in Hong Kong since 1889 produced 25.68 inches and resulted in disastrous landslides and building collapses. More than 100 people died, while thousands were made homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 June 1903...Alaska's first coastal lighthouse, Scotch Cap Lighthouse, was lit. This light, which was also the first major lighthouse built by the U.S. outside the 48 coterminous states, was located near the west end of Unimak Island on the Pacific side of Unimak Pass, the main passage through the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea. This light in an octagonal wooden tower was replaced by a concrete lighthouse in 1940, which was destroyed by a tsunami in 1946, with the loss of the five crewmen stationed there. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 18 June 1875...A severe coastal storm (or possible hurricane) struck the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Eastport, ME reported wind gusts to 57 mph. (David Ludlum)
• 19 June 240 BC...On the summer solstice, Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.
• 19-26 June 1972...Hurricane Agnes (a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale) moved onshore along the Florida Panhandle near Cape San Blas and Apalachicola with wind gusts to 80 mph, and eventually exited Maine on the 26^th. This hurricane moved northeast and joined with an upper level disturbance, producing from 10 to 20 inches of rain along its path along the Eastern Seaboard. In the Middle Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, 24 hour rainfall amounts were generally 8 to 12 inches, with up to 19 inches in extreme southwestern Schuylkill County. At Wilkes-Barre, PA the dike was breached destroying much of the town. Agnes was responsible for 125 deaths, mainly due to flooding from North Carolina to New York State, and total damage was estimated at more than $3 billion. Torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes resulted in one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. Agnes caused more damage than all other tropical cyclones in the previous six years combined (which included Celia and Camille). (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 20 June 1597...Willem Barents, the Dutch explorer who tried to search for the Northeast Passage, died in the Arctic off the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya when his ship became trapped in ice. (Wikipedia)
• 20 June 1819...The 320-ton paddle-wheel SS Savannah arrived in Liverpool, England to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, having left the port of Savannah, GA on 22 May. (InfoPlease Daily Almanac)
• 20 June 1940...The first successful west to east navigation of the Northwest Passage began at Vancouver, BC. (Wikipedia)
• 21 June 1791...A hurricane, called El Temporal de Barreto - the storm of Barreto, generated a monster ocean wave that carried off the coffin of a rich, but hated, count as he lay in state in his mansion near Havana, Cuba. (The Weather Doctor)
• 21 June 1886...A destructive hurricane hit the Apalachicola-Tallahassee area of Florida on the summer solstice. Extensive damage was done in Florida and throughout the southeast by this storm, which was the first hurricane of the year. Damage was due mainly to extremely high tides. (Intellicast)
• 21 June 1961...The first practical plant for the conversion of seawater to drinking water at Freeport, TX was dedicated when President John Kennedy pressed a switch installed in his Washington, DC office. The plant was capable of producing about a million gallons of water a day, supplying fresh water to Freeport at a cost of about $1.25 per thousand gallons. The large-scale evaporation method used then has now been replaced by reverse osmosis as special polymers are now used as filtering membranes. (Today in Science History)
• 22 June 1675...The Royal Greenwich Observatory was created by Royal Warrant in England by Charles II, with its practical astronomy serving as its primary mission, including navigation, timekeeping and the determination of star positions. In 1767 the observatory began publishing The Nautical Almanac, which established the longitude of Greenwich as a baseline for time calculations. The almanac's popularity among navigators led in part to the adoption (1884) of the Greenwich meridian as the Earth's prime meridian (0° longitude) and the international time zones. (Today in Science History)
• 22 June 1948...Congress enacted Public Law 738, which authorized the operation of floating ocean stations for the purpose of providing search and rescue communication and air-navigation facilities, and meteorological services in such ocean areas as are regularly traversed by aircraft of the United States. (USCG Historian's Office)

Return to DataStreme Ocean website

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.