9-13 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.

• Eye on the tropics --- The tropical ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere remained relatively quiet during the last week.
  In the North Atlantic basin, a Tropical Storm Colin, the third named tropical cyclone of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, formed over the waters of the central equatorial Atlantic early last week. This system initially traveled to the west-northwest before curving toward the north over the waters of the Atlantic east of the Bahamas by late in the workweek. After a slight weakening to become a tropical depression, Colin re-intensified as it traveled to the north toward Bermuda over the weekend. Colin weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday before reaching Bermuda. Additional information and satellite images can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the eastern North Pacific, Tropical Depression 7E formed late last week off the coast of southwestern Mexico and intensified to become Tropical Storm Estelle, the fifth named tropical cyclone of the eastern Pacific season late Friday. Estelle continued to travel to the west-northwest away from the Mexican coast over the weekend. For a satellite image and additional information on Estelle will it was Tropical Depression 7E, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Dianum formed over the waters east of Taiwan on Sunday (local time) and intensified as it traveled northward.

• Hurricane season outlooks are updated -- With the beginning of the month of August, the probability of tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin significantly increases. Forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, along with those from the National Hurricane Center, recently released an updated Atlantic hurricane season outlook last week. These forecasters continue to expect an active 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, due to several indicators. They anticipate the active season because of the continuation of a low vertical wind shear over the Atlantic Basin due to an unfolding La Niña event; warmer than average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean; and the continuation of a favorable tropical multi-decadal signal. Minor adjustment was made to the mid-May NOAA outlook. Including the three named tropical cyclones (Alex, Bonnie and Colin) that have developed to date, NOAA’s updated outlook projects, with a 70 percent probability, that 14 to 20 named cyclones (maximum sustained surface winds exceeding 38 mph) will develop, 8 to 12 hurricanes (winds greater than 73 mph) will form, with four to six hurricanes possibly becoming major (category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). [NOAA News]
  Likewise, the hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University, including Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, have issued an updated August forecast, which calls for above average named tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin in 2010, due to the development of La Niña conditions and warm waters in the tropical Atlantic. They foresee the occurrence of 18 named cyclones, 10 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes. They also anticipate a higher than average probability that a major hurricane will make landfall in the US and Caribbean. [The Tropical Storm Project]

• Lightning research goes to great heights -- Scientists and engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are readying the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) that will fly on the remotely piloted Global Hawk airplane, which will reach altitudes of 60,000 feet during the NASA hurricane study called Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process (GRIP) over the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean within the next month. The Global Hawk can remain aloft for up to 30 hours and the onboard LIP instrument, which is an electric field mill, is designed to track and document lightning as hurricanes develop and intensify. [NASA GRIP Hurricane Mission]
• Hurricane research mission to commence this week -- NASA scientists from Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Dryden Flight Research Center and other laboratories are preparing to commence an intense six-week major field campaign called GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) later this week. This GRIP campaign is designed to study why some tropical cyclones can rapidly develop into hurricanes. A variety of instruments will be used, with some of the instruments being on satellites, such as the Aqua, Terra and TRMM, DC-8 aircraft and NASA's unmanned Global Hawk drone.

• Enforcement summit seeks public input -- Using the same agenda from the NOAA National Enforcement Summit held last week in Washington, DC, NOAA officials are seeking public comments over the next two weeks on the agency's priorities including solutions for achieving compliance with managing the nation's fisheries and maritime resources. - [NOAA News] [NOAA News]
• A reversal in lionfish invasion is possible -- In a study conducted by NOAA scientists, the rapid growth of lionfish, an invasive fish species to the Atlantic, could be curbed by fishing down the population, with the removal of slightly more than one quarter of the mature lionfish each month. The agency is encouraging chefs to introduce the "delicious" fish to the nation's consumers in an effort to help reduce the population. [NOAA News]
• Helping Steller sea lions recover in Aleutian waters -- Officials with NOAA's Fisheries Service are attempting to promote the recovery of the western population of Steller sea lions in the waters off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. [NOAA News]
• Modeling effects of sea level rise in northern Gulf receives funding -- A team of scientists from the University of Central Florida and other institutions has been awarded $750,000 for the first year of a longer term research investment designed to develop computer models and other tools needed to plan for sea level rise along the Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle shoreline along the northern Gulf of Mexico due to changing climate. [NOAA News]
• Gulf oil spill updates --The Deepwater Horizon BP well appeared to shut off by additional efforts this past week in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.
• Determining fate of spilled oil with an oil budget -- More than two dozen scientists from NOAA and the US Department of the Interior jointly developed an "Oil Budget Calculator" that used measurements of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill site and thereby provide best estimates as to the ultimate fate of the spilled oil. Current estimates indicate that approximately one third of the oil was captured or burned by the Unified Command recovery operations, one quarter naturally evaporated or dissolved, 16 percent was dispersed into microscopic droplets, while the remaining 26 percent remains as weathered tarballs that remain near the water surface or have washed onto the Gulf Coast. [NOAA News]
• Astronauts view the oil slick near the Mississippi Delta-- A photograph taken by astronauts on the International Space Station in mid July shows various features of the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill off the Louisiana coast near the mouth of the Mississippi River. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Improving management of harmful algal blooms in Puget Sound -- NOAA has awarded two competitive grants to NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) and their research partners at the University of Washington, San Francisco State University, the University of Maine, the University of Western Ontario, Rensel Associates Aquatic Sciences and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to better manage outbreaks of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Washington State's Puget Sound. [NOAA News]
• Research commences on how phosphorous affects toxic algal blooms in Great Lakes -- NOAA has awarded New York's Stony Brook University a three-year research grant to determine how different kinds of phosphorous trigger toxic blooms of blue-green algae in the Great Lakes. [NOAA News]
• Long-serving research ship is decommissioned -- NOAA recently decommissioned the agency's 171-foot research vessel David Starr Jordan , which had been involved with oceanographic, marine mammal and fisheries research in the Pacific for nearly 44 years. [NOAA News]
• Decline seen in top fish predators in a New England marine sanctuary -- The Gulf of Maine Cod Project at the University of New Hampshire recently released a report showing a decline over the last 100 years in the numbers of top-level predators such as halibut and swordfish in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the Massachusetts coast. [NOAA News]
• Ecosystem management in National Marine Sanctuaries reviewed -- A National Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series report, entitled "Examples of Ecosystem-based Management in National Marine Sanctuaries: From Theory to Practice," was recently released reviewing the ecosystem management practices undertaken at the 14 National Marine Sanctuaries along the nation's coastlines designed to protect marine habitats and biodiversity. [NOAA News]

• Large ice island calves from Greenland glacier -- Researchers from the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service reported that a large 100-square mile "ice island" that they estimate to be four times the size of Manhattan Island calved last week from northern Greenland's Petermann Glacier. They claim that this ice island is the largest piece of ice to been broken free in the Arctic since 1962. [University of Delaware]

• High density and stable population of Antarctic krill found -- Following their first of a multi-year survey, researchers from Stony Brook University and NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) reported that the population of Antarctic krill appeared to be dense and relatively stable in coastal waters surrounding Livingston Island, an Antarctic Island in the South Shetland Island Chain. [Stony Brook University]

• Ancient Hawaiian glaciers provide clues to impacts of changing climate -- Climate scientists from Oregon State University, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of British Columbia and U.S. Geological Survey recently reported on their research involving geochemical analysis of boulders deposited from a glacier near the summit of the 13,803-foot Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. The researchers indicate that the Hawaiian glaciers indicate that changes in the North Atlantic Ocean current system could affect the global climate, including a readvance of the Mauna Kea glaciers when the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) slows in the North Atlantic Ocean.. [Oregon State University News]

• 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.

• 9 August 1988...Tropical Storm Beryl deluged Biloxi with 6.32 inches of rain in 24 hours, and in three days drenched Pascagoula, MS with 15.85 inches of rain. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 10 August 1519...Five ships under the command of the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, set sail from the Spanish seaport Seville to Sanclucar be Barrameda, staying there until 21 September, when they departed to circumnavigate the globe. This expedition traveled westward and ultimately returned to Europe in September 1522. (Wikipedia)
• 10 August 1675...King Charles II laid the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. (Today in Science History)
• 10-11 August 1831...A violent hurricane devastated Barbados. Death toll was estimated to be from 1500 to 2500 people. (The Weather Doctor)
• 10 August 1856...The Isle Derniere (Last Island) disaster occurred off the coast of Louisiana. A storm tide drowned 140 vacationers as a five-foot wave swept over Low Island during a hurricane. (The Weather Channel) The hurricane completely devastated the fashionable hotel and pleasure resort on Last Island, 150 miles east of Cameron. Storm surge swept an estimated 400 people to their death. Today the island is just a haven for pelicans and other sea birds. (Intellicast)
• 10 August 1954...A groundbreaking ceremony was held at Massena, NY for the St. Lawrence Seaway. (Wikipedia)
• 10 August 1971...President Nixon signed the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971 considered to be most significant legislation in the long history of federal action in this field. The new act, which repealed most of the Federal Boating Act of 1958 and amended the Motorboat Act of 1940, shifted responsibility from boat operator to manufacturer. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 10 August 1980...Hurricane Allen came ashore north of Brownsville, TX dropping fifteen inches of rain near San Antonio, and up to 20 inches in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, ending a summer long drought. Winds at Port Mansfield gusted to 140 mph with a storm surge of 12 feet. Tidal flooding occurred along the South Texas coast. Hurricane Allen packed winds to 150 mph, and also spawned twenty-nine tornadoes. Total damage from the storm was estimated at 750 million dollars. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
• 10 August 1993...Three ships -- the barge Bouchard B155, the freighter Balsa 37, and the barge Ocean 255 -- collided in Florida's Tampa Bay. The Bouchard spilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil into Tampa Bay. (InfoPlease)
• 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)

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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.