WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

2-6 August 2010

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2010 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2010. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Item of Interest:

• National Lighthouse Day is celebrated -- Saturday, 7 August 2010, is designated National Lighthouse Day, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the Act of Congress on 7 August 1789 when the Federal Government assumed responsibility for building and operating the nation's lighthouses. [American Lighthouse Foundation]
• Welcome to attendees at the 26th Annual Conference to be held 4-6 August 2010 in Madison, WI.

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics --- The tropical ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere remained relatively quiet during the last week, with only a few areas of distributed weather and no organized tropical cyclones.
  In the North Atlantic basin, two areas of low pressure with clouds and showers were found near the end of last week. For more information and satellite imagery, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the eastern North Pacific basin, a diffuse area of low pressure formed late last week off the western coast of Central America. The NASA Hurricane Page has several satellite images along with additional information of this low.
• High altitude aircraft to study hurricanes --Text Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), NASA and NOAA will be participating in a project called PREDICT, collecting data from several high altitude aircraft in the vicinity of hurricanes. They will attempt to determine why some thunderstorms develop into hurricanes, thus assisting NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC)in its goal of extending long-range forecasts from five to seven days. [SunSentinel.com]
• Gulf oil spill updates --During the last week, capping of the Deepwater Horizon BP well appeared to shut off much of the oil spilling into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast. The passage of Tropical Depression Bonnie across the affected area before the start of last week appears to have dissipated a large amount of the oil at the surface:
• Surface oil from Gulf may not threaten South Florida or East Coast --Late last week, NOAA Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, reported that based upon new analysis by NOAA scientists during the week indicates that South Florida, the Florida Keys and the East Coast are not likely to experience any effects from the remaining oil on the surface of the Gulf as the oil continues to degrade and remain several hundred miles from the Loop Current. This claim assumes that the Deepwater Horizon/BP wellhead will remained capped. [NOAA News]
• NOAA's research and response missions continues--Text As of late last week, five NOAA ships, two aircraft and several turtle rescue boats were continuing to conduct a variety of activities in and above the Gulf of Mexico as part of NOAA's Oil Spill Research and Response Missions. [NOAA News]
• More satellite images of the oil slick near the Mississippi Delta-- A MODIS image made from data collected by NASA's Aqua satellite at the midpoint of last week showed the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill off the Louisiana coast near the mouth of the Mississippi River. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Actions taken to improve NOAA's Asset Forfeiture Fund --Last week, NOAA officials released a formal Corrective Action Plan for the agency's Asset Forfeiture Fund, in an effort to ensure proper accounting and disposition of monies collected from fisheries enforcement penalties. [NOAA News]
• Designation of Hawaiian national monument as a World Heritage Site is applauded --Secretary of the US Department of Interior Ken Salazar and the Department of Commerce's NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco recently applauded the World Heritage Committee for designating the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (Papahanaumokuakea) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. This site is a remote chain of atolls and surrounding waters with approximately 7000 marine and terrestrial species and was designated for its outstanding value as both a natural and cultural heritage site. [NOAA News]
• National Ocean Council established by executive order --On 19 July 2010, President Barak Obama signed an executive order that established the National Ocean Council as part of a comprehensive and integrated national policy focusing upon the stewardship of the ocean, the nation's coasts and Great Lakes. [The White House]
• Cruise to map Arctic seafloor commences --Text Scientists from the US and Canada will set sail this week for a five-week cruise on board the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent as part of the US - Canada Arctic Expedition that will map the Arctic seafloor and collect data that should help define the outer limits of the continental shelf. [US Department of Interior]
• Great Lakes approach record warmth --Temperature data collected from the instrumented buoys operated by NOAA's National Data Buoy Center that are moored indicate that the water temperatures of essentially all the Great Lakes have reached the highest temperatures for the 30 years that lake temperatures have been collected by the buoys. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
• 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, drought, floods, 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, to include drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

• 2 August 1880...Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was adopted officially by the British Parliament, selected because Greenwich had been the national center for time since 1675. GMT was originally set-up to aid naval navigation, but was not on land until transportation improved. GMT was adopted by the U.S. at noon on 18 Nov 1883 when the telegraph lines transmitted time signals to all major cities. Subsequently, GMT was adopted worldwide on 1 Nov 1884 when the International Meridian Conference met in Washington, DC, USA and 24 time zones were created. (Today in Science History)
• 2-3 August 1922...A typhoon hit the China Coast at Swatow on the night of the 2^nd. The wind and the storm surge killed as many as 50,000 of the city's 65,000 residents. Barometric pressure at landfall had dropped to at least 932.3 millibars (27.53 inches). (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 August 1492...The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, in command of three ships, embarked from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera on a journey westward in search of a sea route to Asia. This expedition, which reached the Bahamas near North America on 12 October, was the first of four expeditions that Columbus made to the "New World". (The History Channel)
• 3 August 1958...At 11:15 EDT, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first ship to reach the geographic North Pole submerged, traveling at a depth of approximately 500 feet from the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow, AK on 1 August to the Greenland Sea near Spitzbergen on 5 August. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
• 3 August 1970...Hurricane Celia made landfall near Port Aransas on the Texas coast, producing wind gusts to 161 mph at Corpus Christi, and estimated wind gusts of 180 mph at Arkansas Pass. Even at Del Rio, 250 miles inland, Celia produced wind gusts to 89 mph. The hurricane was the most destructive of record along the Texas coast causing 454 million dollars damage as 8950 homes were destroyed on the Coastal Bend. Celia also claimed eleven lives and injured 466 people. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
• 3-4 August 1978...The remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia produced up to 32 inches of rain on Schackelford County in Texas, an incredible amount of rain for a far-inland and non-mountainous area. A twenty-foot wall of water killed six during the evening of the 4^th in Albany, resulting in 89 percent of the city being covered by water. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4(?) August 1609...A tempest struck the western Atlantic Ocean scattering small British convoy headed to Virginia. Two vessels sank; another, the Sea Venture was presumed lost. However, a ship made landfall on Bermuda, shipwrecking the crew. After a ten-month stay to build two small rescue boats, they sailed to Jamestown (Virginia) Colony. Incident accounts may have provided William Shakespeare with background material for The Tempest. (The Weather Doctor)
• 4 August 1666...A violent hurricane raked the island of Guadeloupe, destroying all boats along its coast, including a 17-ship fleet with 2000 troops. The island's batteries, with 6-foot thick walls, were destroyed and the 16-pounders (large cannons) were washed away. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 August 1858...After several unsuccessful attempts, the first trans-Atlantic cable, a 2000-mile submerged telegraph line conceived by Cyrus W. Field, was completed by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon. While the first messages were exchanged between President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria on 16 August, the cable ceased functioning in early September. The first permanent trans-Atlantic cable was laid in 1866. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
• 5-6 August 1959...Hurricane Dot crossed Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands producing sustained winds of 103 mph and gusts to 125 mph. Over 6 inches of rain fell there and over 9 inches on the island of Hawaii. The sugar cane crop on Kauai sustained $2.7 million in damages. (Intellicast)
• 5-7 August 1997...Although far to the southwest, Hurricane Guillermo generated surf to 12-foot heights along the beaches of southern California. In Newport Beach, lifeguards made almost 300 rescues on the 5^th and 6^th. Rip currents were responsible for one death and three injuries. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 August 1986...A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast of Australia dumped a record 12.91 inches of rain in one day on Sydney. (Wikipedia)
• 7 August 1679...The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. The ship disappeared on the return leg of its maiden voyage from Lake Michigan. (Wikipedia)
• 8 August 1585...The British navigator and polar explorer, John Davis, entered Cumberland Sound in quest for the North-West Passage. (Wikipedia)
• 8 August 2000...The Confederate submarine CSS H.L. Hunley was raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor. This submarine sank in the Charleston (SC) Harbor after sinking the USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864. (Wikipedia)

Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.