WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

23-27 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:

• Eye on the tropics -- In the western Pacific, Typhoon Fengshen developed last week east of the Philippines and moved westward, strengthening to a category 2 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it approached Manila. Strong winds and torrential rain were reported as the typhoon crossed Luzon. By Monday (local time), this typhoon had curved to the northwest was moving across the South China Sea. As of Sunday, at least 137 Filipinos had been killed by the typhoon. In addition, more than 740 passengers and crew on a ferry remained missing after the typhoon capsized the ferry after it ran aground off central Sibuyan island on Saturday. [ABC News] A visible image from Japan's MTSAT satellite shows clouds surrounding Fengshen was it was a tropical storm east of the Philippines. [NOAA OSEI] Additional information and satellite images from NASA's Aqua satellite of Typhoon Fengshen appear on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Impacts of future Alaskan whale hunts identified -- A final environmental impact statement was recently released by NOAA’s Fisheries Service concerning the management of future Alaska native subsistence hunting for beluga whales, identified as a depleted population, in Cook Inlet. [NOAA News]
• Atlantic sharks receive protection -- NOAA’s Fisheries Service has announced a new rule to start in late July that is designed to lower significantly the fishing quotas for sandbar and porbeagle sharks, considered depleted species. [NOAA News]
• New ocean satellite will also study weather and climate -- The Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 satellite was launched late last week from California. While the mission of this new NASA-French space agency oceanography satellite is to continue monitoring the global sea level on a nearly continuous basis, it was also expected to provide enormous amounts of data that could also improving weather and climate forecasting. [NASA Missions] [CSIRO]
• Applications for marine sanctuary advisory councils are posted -- Two of NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries are seeking applicants for positions on the advisory councils that ensure public participation in sanctuary management and provide advice to the sanctuary superintendents. One of the sanctuaries that has two positions is Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic coastal waters of the Southeast off the Georgia coast. [NOAA News] The other sanctuary in need of one position is the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary in the Pacific waters of northern California to the northwest of San Francisco Bay. [NOAA News]
• More rapid response to navigation hazards is a goal -- NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has identified a goal in which its Navigational Response Teams would respond more rapidly to detecting dangerous navigation hazards in those affected ports and surrounding coastal areas following storm's passage. This response would be part of the emergency services support provided by the US Coast Guard, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). [NOAA News]
• Earth science exhibits at museums get help -- NOAA’s Office of Education recently announced that it will provide over $1 million in funding to eight science education institutions around the nation for exhibits incorporating NOAA’s Science On a Sphere® or Magic Planet® and new Earth System Science information. [NOAA News]
• World Hydrography Day celebrated -- Last Saturday (21 June 2008), the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) celebrated the third annual World Hydrography Day. The theme for the 2008 celebrations was Capacity Building, a vital tool to assist the IHO in achieving its mission and objectives. [IHO] [Note: This link is to a pdf file that requires Adobe Acrobat Reader -see below.]
• Record "dead zone" in Gulf is forecast -- Researchers from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium predict that a zone of oxygen-depleted waters in the Gulf of Mexico called a "dead zone" would develop to record size off the coast of Louisiana and Texas because of the large amounts of excess nutrients being washed down the Mississippi River system due to the recent heavy rain in that watershed that has then flowed to the Gulf. [US Water News Online]
• Ohio agrees to Great Lakes Compact -- The Ohio State Legislature recently approved the Great Lakes Compact, a framework whereby the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes would prevent most diversions of lake water out of the basin. As of mid June, only Michigan and Pennsylvania have not approved this agreement. [US Water News Online]
• Active submarine volcanoes found in South Pacific -- A team of Australian and American scientists on board the Research Vessel Southern Surveyor who conducting research in the waters of the South Pacific have discovered several large active submarine volcanoes northeast of Fiji. [CSIRO]
• Sediment scrubbing technology tested on coastal waterways -- Scientists at the University of New Hampshire have been testing the effectiveness of a method that utilized textile mats with a mixture of reactive materials to cap and stabilize the polluted sediment in the Cocheco River, a waterway along the coast of New Hampshire. [University of New Hampshire]
• Changing climate could influence North American extreme weather events -- The U.S. Climate Change Science Program released a report entitled "Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate" that represents a comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes across North America. This report marks a more detailed continental assessment than the previously prepared Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that evaluated extreme weather and climate events on a global basis. Some of the findings from this new report indicates that heat waves would become more common, with hot days and nights, fewer cold nights, less frequent, but more intense precipitation and increased frequency of severe droughts for some areas. [NOAA News]
• Report on impact of climate change upon ecosystems released -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report entitled "Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources" that examines the potential impact of climate change upon the nation's estuaries, forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other sensitive ecosystems. This report also identifies strategies designed to protect the environment as these changes in climate occur. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean temperatures and sea level have increased more than previously estimated -- Using observational data and output from climate computer models, an international team of scientists including those from the US and Australia have discovered that the increases in ocean temperatures and sea level between 1961 and 2003 were 50 percent larger than what had been estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory] [CSIRO]
• Major extinction events could be driven by sea level changes -- A geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison claims that a primary cause of periodic mass extinction events since the beginning of the Ordovician (starting approximately 500 million years ago) has been major changes of sea level and the marine environment such as sediment. [EurekAlert!]
• Shampoo ingredient used to monitor ocean's oxygen levels -- Scientists at the United Kingdom's University of Leicester and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have used selenium, an ingredient found in common dandruff shampoos, to monitor the concentration of dissolved oxygen in ocean water. [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:

• 23 June 1501...The Portuguese navigator, Pedro Alvares Cabral, returned to Portugal after a voyage during which he claimed Brazil for Portugal and then journeyed to India in search of pepper and spices. (Wikipedia)
• 23 June 1611...English navigator Henry Hudson was set adrift along with his son and seven loyal crew members in an open boat in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery; they were never seen again. He was on his fourth voyage and he had become famous for attempting to find a route from Europe to Asia via the Arctic Ocean. (Wikipedia)
• 23 June 1716...The Province of Massachusetts authorized erection of first lighthouse in America on Great Brewster Island, Boston Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 23 June 1938...The first "oceanarium" opened at Marineland in St. Augustine, FL. (Today in Science History)
• 24 June 1497...The Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni (John) Cabot, sailing in the service of England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland, claiming the continent for England. (Wikipedia)
• 26 June 1954...Eight fishermen were swept off the breakwater of the Montrose Harbor in Chicago, IL by a seiche on Lake Michigan. At the time, this killer wave rose suddenly from a serene Lake Michigan; sunny skies and calm wind conditions were reported. The seiche, produced by an earlier squall on the lake, caused the lake water to rise ten feet. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 26 June 1959...Following an opening ceremony attended by President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II, 28 naval vessels sailed from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes, marking the formal opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway to seagoing ships. The Seaway consists of a navigational channel system of canals, locks, and dredged waterways, permitting travel from the Gulf of St. Lawrence nearly 2500 miles inland to Duluth, MN on Lake Superior. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
• 26 June 1986...Hurricane Bonnie made landfall on the upper Texas coast. A wind gust to 98 mph occurred at Sea Rim State Park. The town of Ace recorded 13 inches of rain. (Intellicast)
• 26 June-7 July 1989...Tropical Storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico from remnants of Hurricane Cosme in the eastern North Pacific. Periods of heavy rain caused flooding across parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. Winnfield, LA reported a six-day total of 29.52 inches of rain. This system was responsible for eleven deaths and approximately $500 million in damage. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 27 June 1898...The first solo circumnavigation of the globe was completed in slightly more than three years by the Canadian seaman and adventurer Joshua Slocum of Briar Island, NS when he returned to Newport, RI after sailing the 37-foot Spray a distance of 46,000 miles. After completing this voyage Slocum wrote the classic book, Sailing Alone Around the World describing his adventure. (Wikipedia)
• 27-29 June 1954...Excessive rains from remnants of Hurricane Alice led to the Rio Grande River's worst flood. Up to 27.1 inches of rain fell at Pandale, TX. As many as 55 people died from the flooding. The river crest at Laredo, TX broke the previous highest record by 12.6 feet. The roadway on the US. 90 bridge over the Pecos River was covered by 30 feet of water on the 27^th. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (David Ludlum)
• 27 June 1957...Hurricane Audrey smashed ashore at Cameron, LA drowning 381 persons in the storm tide, and causing 150 million dollars damage in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Audrey left only a brick courthouse and a cement-block icehouse standing at Cameron, and when the waters settled in the town of Crede, only four buildings remained. The powerful winds of Audrey tossed a fishing trawler weighing 78 tons onto an offshore drilling platform. Winds along the coast gusted to 105 mph, and oilrigs off the Louisiana coast reported wind gusts to 180 mph. A storm surge greater than twelve feet inundated the Louisiana coast as much as 25 miles inland. It was the deadliest June hurricane of record for the U.S. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 27 June 1978...SEASAT, an experimental U.S. ocean surveillance satellite was launched. Each day, SEASAT made 14 orbits of the Earth, and in a period of 36 hours was able to monitor nearly 96% of the oceanic surface. The measurement equipment on board was able to penetrate cloud cover and report measurements such as wave height, water temperature, currents, winds, icebergs, and coastal characteristics. Although it operated for only 99 days before a power failure, it had already shown the viability of the use of a satellite for collecting oceanic data. The information collected was shared with scientists and was used to aid transoceanic travel by ships and aircraft. (Today in Science History)
• 27-29 June 1997...Although thousands of miles away, a strong low pressure system southeast of New Zealand produced surf up to seven feet, with occasional sets to ten feet, along Hawaii's south-facing coasts. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 28 June 1983...A waterspout was sighted over Hazin Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coast of Alaska. Satellites detected thunderstorms in the area. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 28 June 1992...A slow moving tropical depression produced excessive rains across southwest Florida. Four-day totals ending on the 28^th, ranged up to 25 inches in the Venice area, with a general 8 to 14 inches over Sarasota and Manatee counties. Two deaths resulted from the flooding. (Intellicast)
• 29 June 1860...The replacement to the first iron-pile lighthouse in the U.S. was completed at Minot's Ledge, near Scituate, Massachusetts, replacing the one at the same site that was built between 1847 and 1850, lighted 1 Jan 1850 but destroyed in a storm in April 1851. In 1860, the last stone was laid for the new Minot's Ledge lighthouse, five years minus one day after workmen first landed at the ledge. The final cost of about $300,000 made it one of the most expensive lighthouses in U.S. history. It stood off Boston's south shore, just outside Boston Harbour to warn ships of rocks that had claimed many vessels. The first granite block was laid for the new lighthouse on 9 Jul 1857. The lantern room and second order Fresnel lens were put into place and illuminated on 22 Aug 1860. This structure has withstood all storms since, and stands to this day. (Today in Science History)
• 29 June 1982...The Soviet Union launched COSPAS I, the first search and rescue satellite ever launched. In combination with later SARSAT satellites, a new multi-agency, international, search and rescue service was made operational. On 11 September 1982, it was credited with helping to save the crew of Cessna 172, a Canadian airplane. (USCG Historian's Office)

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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.