16-20 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 --- During the last week:
• In the North Atlantic basin, the fifth tropical depression of 2010 formed over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of southwest Florida last Tuesday. This low-pressure area, designated Tropical Depression 5, traveled toward the northwest, but became disorganized after 24 hours. Remnants of TD-5 moved onshore along the northern Gulf Coast, bringing much needed rain to some locations through late last week. For more information and satellite images of TD-5, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Estelle, the fifth named tropical cyclone of that basin's 2010 hurricane season, continued to travel westward away from the Mexican coast early last week. By midweek, this storm eventually dissipated. Satellite images of Tropical Storm Estelle and additional information can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• In western North Pacific traveled northward across the waters of the East China Sea off the eastern coast of mainland China early last week and then across the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula before dissipating over the Sea of Japan late in the week. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Tropical Storm Dianmu.
• Ocean's color may affect hurricane behavior --A researcher at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and his colleagues claim that their computer simulations of tropical cyclone activity in a sector of the North Pacific would indicate that a change in the color of the ocean waters could cause a marked change in the frequency of tropical cyclone (hurricane or typhoon) formation. Such differences in water color, which were ascertained from satellite observations, could occur because of the presence of chlorophyll from marine algae. [American Geophysical Union]
• New high-flying instrument to provide unique perspective of hurricane winds -- NASA scientists and technicians have developed and built the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), a small, lightweight and relatively inexpensive instrument that can be carried to 60,000-foot altitudes onboard NASA's WB-57 aircraft. The HIRAD instrument, which will take two-dimensional wind speed measurements over tropical cyclones using microwave radiation, will be used in the six-week NASA Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP)mission, designed to study the creation and rapid intensification of hurricanes. [NASA GRIP Hurricane Mission]
• Media day announced for NASA's hurricane research flights -- NASA officials recently announced that they will host the media on Tuesday 31 August 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Houston, TX to provide a look at the agency's Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) mission, a six-week campaign starting this week that will study the development and intensification of Gulf of Mexico hurricanes. [NASA Headquarters]
• Buoys launched to measure air-sea interactions in typhoons off Taiwan --An international team of scientists from the University of Miami, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the United Kingdom's University of Leeds and Environment Canada recently deployed two instrumented buoys in the waters of the western North Pacific near Taiwan. These tandem buoys will collect atmospheric and oceanic data that should permit them to better understand the air-sea interactions during typhoons. [Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science News Releases]
• Review of the weather and climate of July 2010 --Scientists with the NOAA National Climatic Data Center recently released their preliminary monthly climate statistics for July 2010. For the globe, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2010 was the second highest reading for the period of record that extends back to 1880 when a sufficiently dense worldwide climate network was developed. The global average land surface temperature for July 2010 was the highest on record, while the global ocean surface temperature for July was the fifth highest. For the first seven months of 2010, the January-July combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the highest on record, as was the global average land surface temperature. The global ocean surface temperature for January through July was the second highest.
  The scientists indicated that sea surface temperatures continued to drop across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, suggesting that La Niña conditions had developed during July 2010.
  The areal extent of the Arctic sea ice in July was the second smallest since satellite records began in 1979, while the Antarctic sea ice for the month was above average. [NOAA News]
• More Gulf waters are opened to fishing -- Early last week, NOAA officials opened more than 5000 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fin fishing following consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Gulf states to ensure seafood safety. At that time, no oil had been seen in this region off the western Florida Panhandle for at least 30 days. [NOAA News]
• Investigation of impacts of land use and climate change on hypoxia in Green Bay is funded -- A group of scientists from the University of Wisconsin system (Milwaukee, Green Bay and Madison), the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recently received funding from the NOAA's Coastal Hypoxia Research Program for the first year of an anticipated four-year that will study the causes and effects of hypoxia in Wisconsin's Green Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan. The impacts of land use and climate change upon the hypoxia, or low levels of dissolved oxygen that result in "dead zones", will be investigated. [NOAA News]
• Changes found in Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone"--Based upon their annual survey, NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium have found that the size of this summer's dead zone, a region with little aquatic life because of low levels of dissolved oxygen, in the Gulf of Mexico was the fifth largest since survey records began in 1985. This dead or hypoxic zone, with an area comparable to the size of New Jersey, is fueled by nutrient runoff from the Mississippi watershed. Tropical storm activity appeared to fragment this summer's dead zone. [NOAA News]
• Secrets of El Niño events could disappear with Indonesian ice field -- Glaciologists and technicians from Ohio State University, the University of Louisville and the Institute of Geography in the Russian Academy of Sciences have drilled through an ice cap on a 16,000-foot mountain range in Indonesia and obtained ice cores that they hope would contain a tropical climate record from which a long-term record of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon can be deciphered. The researchers warn that the ice field could disappear in the next few years due to global-scale changes in climate. [Ohio State University Research]
• Monitoring the movement of a large ice island -- Approximately two weeks ago, an approximately hundred-square mile "ice island", estimated to be four times the size of Manhattan Island, calved from northern Greenland's Petermann Glacier. Several images of the large ice island were obtained over a nine-day span in late July and early August from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite that show the calving process. [NASA Earth Observatory]
  A more recent image of the ice island or iceberg was obtained near the end of last week from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor on NASA's Terra satellite.[NASA JPL]
• Forested wetlands around Chesapeake Bay are more accurately mapped -- Scientists with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and the Forest Service have used an airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) laser sensor and an advanced "synthetic aperture radar" (SAR) satellite sensor to create new maps of Chesapeake Bay forested wetlands. They claim that these maps are approximately 30 percent more accurate than existing maps of the environmentally sensitive regions around the nation's largest estuary. [USDA Agricultural Research magazine]
• Earth's climate belts during ancient times are reconstructed -- A team of geologists from the United Kingdom's University of Leicester and France's University of Lille 1 have used chitinozoans, microfossils of marine zooplankton to reconstruct the Earth's climate belts during the late Ordovician Period (between 460 and 445 million years ago). The researchers found that the general global distribution of these belts were similar to those found today, even though the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide just before the late Ordovician glaciation had been thought to have been over twenty times higher than at present. [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, 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.

• 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 ground-breaking 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)
• 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)
• 20 August 1886...The town of Indianola, TX was completely destroyed by a hurricane, and never rebuilt. (David Ludlum)
• 21 August 1997...High winds and torrential rains from one of the worst typhoons to batter China in a decade caused the death of at least 140 at Zhejiang and Jiangsu. (The Weather Doctor)
• 22 August 1770...James Cook's expedition landed on the east coast of Australia. (Wikipedia)
• 22 August 1787...Inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress. Its top speed was 3 mph. These tests were completed years before Fulton built his steamboat. (Today in Science History)
• 22 August 1780...HMS Resolution, Captain James Cook's ship, returned to England; Cook had been killed on Hawaii during the voyage. (Wikipedia)
• 22 August 1962...The 506-ft long NS Savannah, the world's first civilian nuclear-powered ship, completed its maiden voyage from Yorktown, VA to Savannah, GA; the ship was named for the SS Savannah, the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic in 1819. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
• 22 August 1994...Hurricane John while about 390 miles south of Hilo, HI was found to have winds at 170 mph and pressure down to 920 mb, making it the strongest hurricane ever in the Central Pacific. It was the third category 5 storm in this area in a month, unprecedented since records began. (Intellicast)
  The USCG icebreaker Polar Sea and the CCCS Louis S. Ste Laurent became the first "North American surface ships" to reach the North Pole. (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, 2010, The American Meteorological Society.