WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

11-15 August 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 North Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall along the upper Texas Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning and dissipated over north Texas on Wednesday. An image made by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite shows the clouds surrounding Edouard the afternoon before landfall. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional information and images for Tropical Storm Edouard are found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  • In the Eastern North Pacific, Hernan, the eighth named tropical cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season in that basin, formed at midweek well off the southwest Mexican coast and traveled westward, quickly becoming the season's fifth hurricane. On Saturday, Hurricane Hernan became a major hurricane when it reached Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. An image from NOAA's GOES-11 satellite shows the clouds surrounding Hernan as it was developing late last week. [NOAA OSEI]
  • In the Central North Pacific, the first named tropical cyclone of the season formed during the middle of last week southeast of Hawaii's Big Island and was labeled Tropical Storm Kika. By the weekend, this minimal tropical storm had moved westward passing to the south of the Aloha State.
  • In the Western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Kammuri developed at the start of last week over the South China Sea northwest of the Philippine Island of Luzon. This system traveled to the west-northwest and made landfall along the southeast coast of China. An image generated by data collected by the scatterometer onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite shows the near-surface winds surrounding Tropical Storm Kammuri over the South China Sea. [NASA Earth Observatory] Additional information and images for Tropical Storm Kammuri are found in the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Updated hurricane forecasts -- Near the end of last week, forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center recently released an update to their 2008 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, increasing their projected likelihood of a more active hurricane season than normal. They also raising their forecast of named tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes) to 18, with seven to ten possibly becoming hurricanes. According to their new projection, between three and six hurricanes could become major, reaching category 3 or higher strength on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. [NOAA News] Earlier last week, hurricane forecasters Philip Klotzbach and William Gray from Colorado State University issued their August update to their forecast for a more active 2008 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Basin. They anticipate 17 named systems, calling for nine of these systems to become hurricanes with five to be considered major, reaching Category 3 or higher status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. [USA Today] [The Tropical Meteorology Project]
• Marine mammal reaction to sonar is studied -- Scientists from NOAA's Fisheries Service, the U.S. Navy and other institutions using sophisticated movement and listening devices attached to marine mammals have conducted research in the waters off Hawaii as to the behavior of these animals to sonar being used in realistic naval operations conducted by the US Navy. [NOAA News]
• Protecting an Alaskan marine habitat -- NOAA's Fisheries Service recently announced a prohibition of the use of bottom trawl gear in a section of the Bering Sea that includes several conservation areas near the Pribilof Islands and southwestern Alaska to protect the sea bottom habitat. [NOAA News]
• Mapping of Gulf marine debris goes online -- NOAA has updated its Gulf of Mexico Marine Debris Project Web site that serves to improve maritime safety and commerce in the northern Gulf of Mexico through the posting of pertinent hydrographic survey data identifying the risks posed by submerged debris left following the major hurricanes that traveled across the Gulf in the last three years. [NOAA News]
• The Northwest Passage opens -- An image obtained from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite during early August shows open water in Canadian Archipelago that would form the southern route through the Northwest Passage. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Great Lakes pact gets US Senate's approval -- Following earlier approval by the eight states bordering the Great Lakes, the US Senate unanimously voted to ratify a compact that would prevent diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin. The US House needs to take action following summer recess before being sent to the President for final approval. [US Water News Online]
• Atlantic could be invaded by shellfish from Pacific - Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the California Academy of Sciences warn that the current warming of the Arctic Ocean could cause Pacific basin shellfish to invade the waters of the North Atlantic, for the first time in at least 3 million years. [EurekAlert!]
• African drought may be linked to warmer Indian Ocean -- Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the US Geological Survey have found from their analysis of data from surface weather stations and satellites along with output statistics from computer models that decreased rainfall across eastern and southern Africa during the last two decades can be linked to a warming of the Indian Ocean. [NASA GSFC]
• "Arctic map" shows maritime jurisdictional issues -- The first "Arctic map" was drawn by researchers at the United Kingdom's Durham University that shows the potential regions for conflicts in the search for oil, gas and minerals on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding land. [EurekAlert!]
• Major marine biodiversity hotspots are studied -- A team of scientists from Australia, Spain, Holland, Malaysia, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States recently published the results of their study of the evolution of marine diversity over the last 50 million years at several hot spots for biodiversity, including the Indo-Australian Archipelago. [EurekAlert!]
• An All-Hazards Monitor--This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
• 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:

• 11 August 1909...The liner S.S. Arapahoe was the first ship to use the S.O.S. radio distress call. Its wireless operator, T. D. Haubner, radioed for help after a propeller shaft snapped while off the coast at Cape Hatteras, NC. The call was heard by the United Wireless station "HA" at Hatteras. A few months later, Haubner on the S.S. Arapahoe received an SOS from the SS Iroquois, the second use of SOS in America. Previously, the distress code CQD had been in use as a maritime distress call, standardized by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. in 1904. The second International Radio Telegraphic Convention (1906) proposed the alternative SOS for its distinctive sound, which was ratified as an international standard in 1908. (Today in Science History)
• 11 August 1940...A major hurricane struck Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC causing the worst inland flooding since 1607. (David Ludlum)
• 11 August 1988...Moisture from what remained of Tropical Storm Beryl resulted in torrential rains across eastern Texas. Twelve and a half inches of rain deluged Enterprise, TX, which was more than the amount received there during the previous eight months. (The National Weather Summary)
• 12 August 1778...A Rhode Island hurricane prevented an impending British-French sea battle, and caused extensive damage over southeast New England. (David Ludlum)
• 12 August 1955...During the second week of August, hurricanes Connie and Diane produced as much as 19 inches of rain in the northeastern U.S. forcing rivers from Virginia to Massachusetts into a high flood. Westfield, MA was deluged with 18.15 inches of rain in 24 hours, and at Woonsocket, RI the Blackstone River swelled from seventy feet in width to a mile and a half. Connecticut and the Delaware Valley were hardest hit. Total damage in New England was 800 million dollars, and flooding claimed 187 lives. (David Ludlum)
• 12 August 1958...USS Nautilus (SSN-571) arrived Portland, England after completing the first submerged under ice cruise from Pacific to Atlantic Oceans. (Naval Historical Center)
• 13 August 1979...Fifteen yachtsmen died and 23 boats sank or were abandoned as storm-force winds, along with high seas, raked a fleet of yachts participating in an annual race between southwestern England and Fastnet Rock off southwestern Ireland. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 13 August 1987...Thunderstorms deluged the Central Gulf Coast States with torrential rains. Thunderstorms in Mississippi drenched Marion County with up to 15 inches of rain during the morning hours, with 12.2 inches reported at Columbia. Floodwaters swept cars away in the Lakeview subdivision of Columbia when the Lakeview Dam broke. Flash flooding caused more than three million dollars damage in Marion County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 13 August 2004...Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 tropical low-pressure system on the Saffir-Simpson scale, struck the Gulf Coast of southwest Florida, making landfall north of Captiva, FL. At landfall, sustained winds of 145 mph, along with an unofficial gust of 173 mph on a medical building tower in Punta Gorda near Fort Myers. The greatest destruction occurring at Punta Gorda. Fifteen fatalities were directly attributed to the hurricane, with another 20 indirect deaths. Damage estimates were approximately $14 billion. A gust of 104 mph hit Arcadia, where a storm shelter with 1200 people inside lost a wall and part of a roof. (Wikipedia) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 15 August 1281...The Divine Wind, the Kamikaze, struck down the Chinese fleet attempting an invasion of Japan at Kyushu. This wind was likely due to a typhoon crossing the Sea of Japan. (The Weather Doctor)
• 15 August 1914...The Panama Canal was officially opened to traffic as the American ship SS Ancon completed its first transit of the canal, sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. (Wikipedia)
• 15 August 1934...After a series of earlier dives since June 1930, each progressively deeper, American zoologist William Beebe and Otis Barton made their pioneering, record-breaking ocean descent of 3028 feet in a bathysphere designed by Barton, withstanding over 1360 pounds of pressure. (Today in Science History)
• 15 August 1971...Hurricane Beth soaked Nova Scotia with up to 12 inches of rain. The deluge caused considerable crop damage and swamped highways and bridges, temporarily isolating communities on the eastern mainland of Nova Scotia. (The Weather Doctor)
• 16 August 1858...U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal would force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks. (Wikipedia)
• 17 August 1915...A hurricane hit Galveston, TX with wind gusts to 120 mph and a twelve-foot storm surge which inundated the city. The storm claimed 275 lives, including forty-two on Galveston Island, with most deaths due to drowning. Of 250 homes built outside the seawall (which was constructed after the catastrophic hurricane of 1900), just ten percent were left standing. (The Weather Channel)
• 17 August 1969...Camille, a Category 5 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) and the second worst hurricane in U.S. history, smashed into the Mississippi coast, making landfall at Pass Christian, MS with sustained winds of 190 mph and gusts well over 200 mph. The hurricane produced winds to 200 mph, and a storm surge of 24.6 feet. Winds gusted to 172 mph at Main Pass Block, LA, and to 190 mph near Bay Saint Louis, MS. The hurricane claimed 256 lives, and caused 1.3 billion dollars damage. Several ocean going ships were carried over seven miles inland by the hurricane. Complete destruction occurred in some coastal areas near the eye of the hurricane. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 18 August 1904...The Belle Isle Aquarium opened in Detroit, MI. This facility is the oldest, continuously running aquarium in America. Several other institutions opened earlier but since have closed or moved to multiple different buildings. Belle Isle Aquarium is still in its original building and site as the one in which it opened. (Today in Science History)
• 18 August 1983...Hurricane Alicia (a category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) ravaged southeastern Texas. The hurricane caused more than three billion dollars property damage, making it one of the costliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S. Just thirteen persons were killed, but 1800 others were injured. The hurricane packed winds to 130 mph as it crossed Galveston Island, created a storm surge of 12 feet and spawned twenty-two tornadoes in less than 24 hours as it made landfall. (The Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
• 19 August 1559...First recorded U.S. hurricane drove five Spanish ships ashore in Pensacola Harbor along the Florida coast. (Intellicast)
• 19 August 1788...A small but powerful hurricane inflicted great havoc upon forests along a narrow track from Delaware Bay northeastward across New Jersey along the coast to Maine. A similar storm track today would cause extreme disaster in the now populated area. (David Ludlum)
• 19-20 August 1969...'Never say die' Camille, an exceptionally strong hurricane that had weakened to a tropical depression as it drifted slowly across the mid-Atlantic states, let loose a cloudburst in Virginia resulting in flash floods and landslides that killed 151 persons and caused 140 million dollars damage. Massies Hill in Nelson County, Virginia received an estimated 27 inches of rain in 24 hours. This amount is an unofficial record for the state, while the official 24-hour maximum precipitation record is 14.28 inches at Williamsburg on 16 September 1999. It was said to rain so hard that birds drowned while perched on tree branches. The James and York River basins in Virginia were especially hard hit. (Intellicast) (David Ludlum) (NCDC) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 19 August 1991...Hurricane Bob slammed into New England with 90 mph sustained winds and gusts of 125 mph (at Block Island, RI) and 105 mph (at Newport, RI). It made landfall first at Newport, RI and then final US landfall as a tropical storm at Rockland, ME. A storm surge of 15 feet occurred in Upper Buzzards Bay. Portland, ME had a 24-hour record rainfall of 7.83 inches. Total damage exceeded $1.5 billion dollars and 17 people were killed. This was the worst Hurricane in the Northeast since Donna in 1960. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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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.