6-10 June 2011

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2011 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 29 August 2011. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• "Break the Grip of the Rip®" -- NOAA, the United States Lifesaving Association and the National Park Service have designated this upcoming week of 5-11 June 2011 as national Rip Current Awareness Week. Using the theme, Break the Grip of the Rip®, efforts are meant to heighten public awareness of rip currents at surf beaches that claim the lives of as many as 100 people in the United States annually. [NWS Rip Current Safety]
• World Ocean Day to be celebrated -- World Ocean Day or a "Celebration of the Sea" will be celebrated Wednesday, 8 June 2011 in an effort to increase public awareness and to foster public involvement in the management of the ocean and its resources. Although this date was created at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it had not been officially recognized by the United Nations until 2009. This year's theme is "Our oceans: greening our future." A partial listing is provided for events across the US and other nations that will celebrate World Ocean Day. [The Ocean Project]

• Eye on the tropics-- Although the hurricane season officially started in the North Atlantic basin near the beginning of last week, a weakening typhoon was moving across the waters of the North Pacific toward Japan. This typhoon called Songda had earlier been a super typhoon, rated as a category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. By midweek, Songda made landfall on Japan and weakened to a tropical depression. Additional information and satellite imagery on Super Typhoon Songda are available on the NASA Hurricane Page. Elsewhere, no organized tropical cyclone activity was detected across the other of world's ocean basins through the week. In the North Atlantic basin, two areas of low pressure were being monitored as they had a slight potential for becoming tropical cyclones. One of this lows, identified as System 93L traveled across the western Gulf of Mexico toward the northern Mexico coast, while the other low was located over the Caribbean Sea south of Jamaica. Additional information on these two systems can be found on NASA's Hurricane Page.
• Centennial of launch of RMS Titanic commemorated -- Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the launch of the RMS Titanic, which tragically sank after colliding with an iceberg on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Officials with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage Program have been involved with making the region around the final resting place of the Titanic as an archaeological resource site as defined under the United States Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Legislation has authorized the negotiation of an international agreement by the US, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom and the adoption of guidelines to designate the site as an international maritime memorial to those who lost their lives. [NOAA News]
• Search made for World War II era shipwrecks off North Carolina -- NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) will be leading the "2011 Battle of the Atlantic expedition survey" designed to locate and study World War II shipwrecks sunk in 1942 off North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic, in an area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." This year's survey will be conducted in four phases aboard the ONMS Research Vessel 8501. Partners in this expedition include NOAA's Maritime Heritage Program, NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, the National Park Service, East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute, the state of North Carolina, the Renaissance Computing Institute, the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology, the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division, and Dare County GovEd TV. [NOAA News]
• 2011 regional fishery council appointments are announced -- The US Department of Commerce recently announced the appointment of 21 new and returning members to the eight regional fishery management councils who will assist NOAA’s Fisheries Service in determining how the nation's ocean fisheries are managed. [NOAA News]
• Improved climate forecasts foreseen with new NASA salinity satellite -- Climate scientists are anticipating improved predictive capabilities of climate computer models once global evaporation and precipitation data become available from Aquarius, a new NASA salinity-measurement instrument that will be onboard the Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D spacecraft slated for launch in June 2011. Aquarius contains sensors that will make comprehensive measurements of ocean surface salinity with the precision needed to help researchers better determine how Earth's ocean interacts with the atmosphere to influence climate. [NASA JPL]
• Panamanian tsunami sensor detects mysterious background signal -- Researchers with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have found that the seismic monitoring station at the Institute's research facility on Barro Colorado Island detected an unusual background signal that may be attributed to standing waves called seiches on Lake Gatun. This sensor in the reservoir along the Panama Canal channel is part of the US Geological Survey’s Global Seismographic Network. [Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute]

• Impacts of rising ocean levels could extend well inland -- Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison warn that the human impact of rising sea levels due to changing climate appears to be complex and could extend well inland away from the current coasts. These researchers are attempting to increase alignment of population and climate data in both space and time domains. [University of Wisconsin-Madison]
• Diversity and resiliency in coral reef ecosystems could be reduced by ocean acidification -- A research team from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Germany's Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology recently reported on their studies of three volcanoes that seep carbon dioxide in the waters around Papua New Guinea to see how ocean acidification can impact coral reef ecosystems. They found that ocean acidification, along with increased ocean temperatures, will likely severely reduce the diversity and resilience of coral reef ecosystems. at University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. [Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science]

• Warmer world would affect land and sea access to Arctic oppositely -- In a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles, researchers warn that projected increases in global temperature over the next four decades should have opposite affects on accessibility to the Arctic basin, with improved access by sea, but diminished access over land. [UCLA Newsroom]
• Giant fiords revealed under East Antarctic Ice Sheet -- An international team of scientists from the US, the United Kingdom and Australia have created a high-resolution topographic map of surface of the Aurora Subglacial Basin under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet using ice-penetrating radar. The map reveals giant ice cut channels or fjords under this ice sheet. [University of Texas at Austin]

• 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:

• 6 June 1882...More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay, India were killed as a tropical cyclone that developed over the Arabian Sea pushed huge waves into the harbor. (Wikipedia)
• 7 June 1914...The first vessel, the Alliance, passed through the Panama Canal. The 51-mile long canal, which links the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans across the isthmus of Panama, was officially opened on 15 August 1914. (Today in Science History) (Wikipedia)
• 7 June 1924...The Oil Pollution Act was passed. It was enforced by the Coast Guard.
  Protection of halibut in the North Pacific Ocean was placed under Bureau of Fisheries (Coast Guard- enforced since 1926). (USCG Historian's Office)
• 7 June 1972...Richmond, VA experienced its worst flood of record as rains from Hurricane Agnes pushed the water level at the city locks to a height of 36.5 feet, easily topping the previous record of thirty feet set in 1771. (The Weather Channel)
• 7-10 June 2001...Tropical Storm Allison made landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast near Galveston early on the 6^th and drifted northward before becoming stationary as a depression later in the day near Lufkin. Later, it began to drift back southward, moving offshore over the Gulf late on the 9^th at nearly the same place as it had made landfall. Allison caused disastrous flooding across the Upper Texas Gulf Coast, especially in the Houston area where a storm total of 36.99 inches fell at Port Houston. Twenty-three people lost their lives in Texas. Damage in the region amounted to $5 billion, which included 45,000 homes, 70,000 vehicles and 2000 businesses. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 8 June 1937...Observation of the total eclipse of the sun was made by a U.S. Navy detachment commanded by Captain J. F. Hellweg, USN, which was participating in the National Geographic Society - United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. (Naval Historical Center)
• 8-9 June 1990...The Norwegian tanker Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX, the result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. Two crewmembers were killed. Coast Guard units fought the resulting fires and recovered spilled oil. (Information Please) (USCG Historian's Office)
• 8 June 1992...The first World Ocean Day was celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Wikipedia)
• 8 June 1937...Observation of the total eclipse of the sun was made by a U.S. Navy detachment commanded by Captain J. F. Hellweg, USN, which was participating in the National Geographic Society - United States Navy Eclipse Expedition at Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, Pacific Ocean. USS Avocet was assigned to this expedition. (Naval Historical Center)
• 8-9 June 1990...The Norwegian tanker Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX, the result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room. Two crewmembers were killed. Coast Guard units fought the resulting fires and recovered spilled oil. (Information Please) (USCG Historian's Office)
• 8 June 1992...The first World Ocean Day was celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Wikipedia)
• 9 June 1534...The French navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to discover the river that he named the St. Lawrence in present-day Quebec, Canada. (The History Channel)
• 9 June 1966...Hurricane Alma made landfall over the eastern Florida Panhandle near Alligator Point during the evening-- the earliest land-falling hurricane on the U.S. mainland on record. Peak sustained winds were near 90 mph. Highest winds reached 125 mph and lowest pressure 970.2 millibars (28.65 inches) were reported at the Dry Tortugas on the 8th. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 9 June 1990...San Diego, CA set a new record rainfall amount on this date, as 0.38 inches of rain fell breaking the old record of 0.13 inches established in 1892. Moisture from the remains of Hurricane Boris was responsible for this rare rain event. (Intellicast)
• 10 June 1909...The International Distress Call (SOS distress signal) was used for the first time in an emergency. The Cunard liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores. Two steamers received her signals and went to the rescue.
• 11 June 1644...The Florentine scientist, Evangelista Torricelli described in a letter the invention of a barometer, or "torricellian tube." (Today in Science History)
• 11 June 1764...The Sandy Hook Lighthouse, at the south point of the entrance to New York Harbor, was first lighted. Today, its octagonal tower, built by Mr. Isaac Conro of New York City with money collected by a group of New York merchants, is the oldest original light tower still standing and in use in the United States. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 11 June 1770...The British explorer Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia when he ran aground. (Information Please)
• 11 June 1847...The English naval officer and an Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin died in Canada while attempting to locate the Northwest Passage.
• 12 June 1925...Lake Huron Lightship radio fog signal was placed in commission, the first signal of this kind on the Great Lakes. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 12 June 1991...On the same day that Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines awakened from its 635-year slumber, Typhoon Yunya crossed Luzon province. Mudslides and flooding caused many deaths and when added to the impacts of Pinatubo left more than a million homeless. (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, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.