18-22 May 2009

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National Maritime Day is a United States holiday created to recognize the maritime industry. It is observed on May 22, the date that the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, GA on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power. The holiday was created by the United States Congress on 20 May 1933.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maritime_Day
http://www.marad.dot.gov/education_landing_page/maritime_day/maritime_day.htm
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/national-maritime-day

• North American Safe Boating Week -- Commencing this coming Saturday, the week of 17-23 May has been declared 2008 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2008 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• Eye on the Tropics -- In western North Pacific basin, the remnants of Typhoon Chan-Hom finally dissipated over the waters of the Pacific east of Taiwan early last week. For more information and satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Hurricane Preparedness Week -- Since the 2009 hurricane season began in the eastern and central North Pacific basin last Friday (15 May), next week (18-22 May) has been declared Hurricane Awareness Week in Hawaii. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu, HI maintains a http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtmlhurricane preparedness website that provides information specific for the central Pacific basin and educational material for the various hurricane hazards to include storm surge, high winds, tornadoes and flooding.
  Editor's Note: Based upon hurricane records that commence in 1949 for the eastern North Pacific basin, the earliest hurricane of the season for that basin was Hurricane Alma, a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, that formed on 12 May 1990 and reached hurricane status on the 15th. On the other hand, the latest hurricane of the season was Hurricane Winnie, which became a Category-1 hurricane on 6 December 1983 and dissipated a day later. EJH
• Blue whales appear to return to former migration patterns -- Researchers from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans have spotted blue whales in waters of the eastern North Pacific Ocean off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska, suggesting re-establishment of a migration pattern that these large marine mammals used prior to the commercial whaling era. [NOAA News]
• False seafood labeling scheme leads to prosecution-- A man from Washington State will spend 30 days in jail and be fined $160,000 after officials from NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement in Seattle, WA charged him with intentionally mislabeling 136,000 pounds of turbot from China as much higher priced US halibut for sale to restaurants in several Western states. [NOAA News]
• New North Atlantic circulation pathway found -- Using field observations from 76 floats and computer models, oceanographers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Duke University have discovered that much of the southward flow of cold water from the Labrador Sea travels along a previously unknown diffuse path in the interior of the North Atlantic, rather than along the suspected deep western boundary current. Their discovery could help in the study of the influence that humans would have on climate change. [EurekAlert!]
• River deltas can provide information on environmental changes -- Researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas recently reported that their analysis of sediments obtained from the world's largest delta areas where rivers empty into the global oceans indicates changes in sediment chemistry in the last half century, reflecting the impact of human activity on the environment. The sediment also provides records of flood and storm events. [EurekAlert!]
• Mapping made of West Coast areas affected by humans -- Marine ecologists affiliated with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara have produced a map of the West Coast and the adjacent waters of the eastern North Pacific Ocean showing the locations where stresses have had a cumulative impact upon marine ecosystems, including climate change and 25 anthropogenic caused impacts such as fishing and land-based pollution. [University of California, Santa Barbara]
• Tracking large oil slicks along California coast from natural seeps -- Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of California at Santa Barbara have determined oil slicks from natural seeps in the Pacific Ocean off Coal Oil Point, CA produce 20 to 25 tons of oil daily for the last several hundred thousand years, or approximately 8 to 80 times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska's Prince William Sound. [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]
• Collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet may not present a major threat -- Researchers at the United Kingdom's University of Bristol and the University of Durham and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands claim their analysis would indicate that a total or partial collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet as a result of projected increases in global temperature would raise global sea levels by approximately 11 feet, which is not as high as some would predict. However, they did warn that ocean levels along the coasts of the United Stated would rise 25 percent more than the global average, threatening cities such as New York, NY, Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA. [EurekAlert!]
• Millions of Asians could be displaced by climate change-- A new study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund entitled "The Coral Triangle and Climate Change: Ecosystems, People and Societies at Risk" warns that projected changes in climate by the end of the 21st century could cause coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean's Coral Triangle to disappear entirely, threatening the food supply and livelihood of approximately 100 million people in Asia. [World Wildfire Fund]
• Biota in world's largest lake could be threatened -- An international team of scientists from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Russia's Irkutsk State University claim that increased temperatures and annual precipitation totals in Russia around Lake Baikal, the world's largest lake, not only have decreased the lake's average ice thickness and increased the ice-free season, but also appear to have threatened the lake's unique biota, especially the diatoms found at the base of the lake's food chain. [EurekAlert!]
• 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.

• 19 May 1535...French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail on his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage). (Wikipedia)
• 19 May 1912...The US Navy established the North Atlantic Ice Patrol following the RMS Titanic disaster. (Naval Historical Center)
• 20 May 1497...John Cabot set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date). (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1498...The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama became the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) on the Malabar Coast, after departing Lisbon, Portugal in July 1497. (The History Channel) (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1570...Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas. (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1845...HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sailed from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands were lost. (Wikipedia)
• 20 May 1964...The first U.S. atomic-powered lighthouse was put into operation in the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore Harbor, MD. Designed to supply a continuous flow of electricity for ten years without refueling, the 60-watt nuclear generator generated heat from strontium-90 in the form of strontium titinate, a safe radioisotope. The heat was converted to electricity by 120 pairs of lead telluride thermocouples. Complete with shielding, the unit was only 34.5 inches high and 22 inches in diameter. It was designed and produced by the nuclear division of Martin-Marietta Corp. (Today in Science History)
• 20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 May 1819...The steamship SS Savannah left Savannah, GA on a voyage to Liverpool, England and became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It reached Liverpool on 20 June. (Wikipedia)
• 22 May 1849...The future President, Abraham Lincoln, received a patent for the floating dry dock described as for "buoying boats over shoals" (No. 6,469). He was the first American president to receive a patent. His idea utilized inflated cylinders to float grounded vessels through shallow water. (Today in Science History)
• 22-24 May 1948...A rare early season hurricane struck the island of Hispaniola, killing an estimated 80 people. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 May 1960...A 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of south central Chile triggered a tsunami that moved across the Pacific Ocean. Between 490 and 2290 people were estimated to have been killed by the earthquake and tsunami, and damage estimates were over one half billion dollars. Hilo, HI was devastated by the tsunami. (The University of Washington)
• 23 May 1850...The US Navy sent USS Advance and USS Rescue to attempt rescue of Sir John Franklin's expedition, lost in Arctic. (Naval Historical Center)
• 23 May 1946...Commodore Edward M. Webster, USCG, headed the U.S. Delegation to the International Meeting on Radio Aids to Marine Navigation, which was held in London, England. As a result of this meeting, the principal maritime nations of the world would make an intensive study of the World War II-developed devices of radar, LORAN, radar beacons, and other navigational aids with a view to adapt them to peacetime use. This meeting was the first time that the wartime technical secrets of radar and LORAN were generally disclosed to the public. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 23 May 1960...Tsunami waves from Chilean earthquakes began to affect the Alaska's coast along the Gulf of Alaska from Prince of Wales Island to Montague Island for as long as one week. The tsunami waves on the 23rd were up to 14 feet high near Yakutat. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 May 1500...The 13 ships in the fleet of Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral were hit by a huge ice storm that sank four ships. The rest of the ships were separated as they sailed south of the Cape of Good Hope and continued their journey to India.
• 24 May 1901...The relative humidity at Parkstone, Dorset in England at 4 PM was reported to be 9.5 percent. This low relative humidity is not typical of the British Islands, which are surrounded by ocean water and have no large high mountain barriers or plateaus. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 May 1951...Northeast gales generated waves to 15 feet high in the harbor of Newport, RI. A 50-ft. Navy launch with about 142 men on board capsized. Nineteen of the men drowned in the incident. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 May 1992...Winds up to 40 knots and seas to 18 feet in the northern Gulf of Alaska, approximately 30 miles southwest of Alaska's Cape Cleare, sent three waves crashing over the Cajun Mama. The 80-ft fishing boat sank, but the crew of five was rescued. (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, 2009, The American Meteorological Society.