13-17 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.

• Lightning Awareness Week -- The nation will celebrate its eleventh annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 19 through 25 June 2011, as declared by the National Weather Service. On average, 66 people in the nation are killed annual by lightning and numerous more are injured. A cartoon character, Leon the Lightning Lion, is promoting the slogan "Don't be a fool! Get out of the pool!" The National Weather Service, in conjunction with other sponsors, has a "Lightning Safety" website, http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/, that has links to a variety of informational and teacher resource materials. As many as 20 states are also observing this week with statewide activities.
• June Moon and a lunar eclipse -- The moon will reach full phase this afternoon (officially, 2014 Z on 15 June 2011, or 4:14 PM, EDT, 3:14 PM CDT, etc.). The June full moon is variously called the "Rose Moon", "Flower Moon" or the "Strawberry Moon".
  At the time of this full moon, a total lunar eclipse will occur as the Moon passes through the penumbra (lighter portion of the Earth's shadow) and the umbra (darker portion of the shadow). This total lunar eclipse, which will reach peak coverage of the lunar diameter at 2014Z, should be visible over a large section of the Pacific Ocean. Residents of a large section of the Eastern Hemisphere, primarily across the Indian Ocean and eastern Africa, along with southern Asia and western Australia. A figure on the NASA Eclipse Web Site shows the particulars of this eclipse.

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week some tropical cyclone activity was reported across the tropical ocean basins:
  In the eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Adrian, the first hurricane of the 2011 hurricane season in that basin, formed last week from a tropical disturbance approximately 400 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico. Traveling initially to the west, Adrian intensified to a major category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale late in the week. However, Hurricane Adrian had weakened over the weekend to a tropical depression as it continued its travels westward. Additional information and satellite imagery on Hurricane Adrian can be obtained from the NASA Hurricane Page.
  In the western North Pacific, Tropical Storm Sarika formed off the western coast of Luzon in the Philippines at midweek. This storm traveled north across the waters of the South China Sea to make landfall on the southeast coast of China over the weekend. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images of Tropical Storm Sarika.
  In the North Indian Ocean Basin, Tropical Storm 1A formed over the waters of the Arabian Sea along the northwestern coast of India over the weekend. This tropical storm was short-lived as it traveled to the northwest and made landfall along the coast of the Gujarat Peninsula. Additional information on this system is available from the NASA Hurricane Page.
• Final La Niña advisory issued -- During the last week, forecasters at National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center reported that they had issued their last La Niña advisory since they had found ENSO-neutral conditions have developed across the equatorial Pacific. ENSO stands for El Niño Southern Oscillation and ENSO-neutral conditions are associated with relatively small anomalies or departures in the sea surface temperatures from long-term average values across the equatorial Pacific Ocean east of the Dateline. They anticipate the ENSO-neutral conditions to persist through at least the next three months, which includes Northern Hemisphere summer 2011 (June through August), and possibly through the end of the calendar year. [NWS Climate Prediction Center]
• US and local tsunami preparedness programs discussed -- NOAA and its federal partners met with officials from the East and Gulf Coast states and the Caribbean Islands last Friday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to discuss US warning tsunami capabilities and local preparedness needs. Lessons learned from the recent Japan tsunami were highlighted. [NOAA News]
• Maritime science expedition is launched off mid-Atlantic coast -- Last weekend, a multi-agency of ocean scientists sailed from Charleston, SC aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to commence an expedition to use sonar over and area approximately 100 miles off the Virginia and Maryland coasts to map deepwater canyons and to identify biological habitats, coral communities and other significant underwater sites. The scientists are from the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Regulation and Enforcement, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Geological Survey (USGS). [NOAA News]
• National sustainable marine aquaculture policies released -- Near the end of last week, the US Department of Commerce and one of its agencies, NOAA, released national sustainable marine aquaculture policies that are designed to meet the nation's growing demand for healthy seafood, to create jobs in coastal communities, and restore vital ecosystems. [NOAA News]
• Public comment sought on proposed Hawaiian monk seal habitat revision -- During the last week NOAA’s Fisheries Service has announced that the agency is seeking public comment on proposed changes to critical habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These changes were proposed after a Critical Habitat Review Team of experts made recommendations. [NOAA News]
• NOAA Administrator claims "Healthy oceans are everyone's business" -- In remarks made during a meeting as part of last week's Capitol Hill Oceans Week, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco proclaimed that her theme was "Healthy oceans are everyone's business." [NOAA News]
• Aquarius spacecraft is successfully launched -- Last Friday morning, NASA's Aquarius/SAC-D observatory was successfully launched on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, followed by the establishment of communication with ground controllers and the deployment of its solar arrays. This spacecraft, officially known as the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D, or SAC-D, will measure salinity in the Earth's oceans and help scientists understand ocean circulation and currents, the global water cycle, and other fundamental features of the seas. [NASA JPL]
• Water may not be all "wet" -- Researchers at the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wayne State University have found that some of the water molecules in the layer at a liquid water surface can become arranged in such a manner that a "free" hydrogen atom behaves like it were in the gas phase, while its twin remained within the "bulk" water. The researchers claim that their findings may help in understanding processes occurring at the water's surface, such as the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the water and atmosphere. [University of South California]
• Venice could have fewer storm surges in future -- An international team of scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Italy's University of Padova and the United Kingdom's University of Reading predict that the Italian coastal city of Venice should experience fewer extreme storm surge events through the end of this century. They based their forecast on their analysis of atmospheric circulation patterns across the Mediterranean region that could result in storms capable of generating storm surges that would progress across t Adriatic Sea toward Venice. [CSIRO]
• New antenna for nation's polar orbiting environmental satellites installed -- An antenna receptor that was recently installed at McMurdo Station in Antarctica represents the first of its type to receive data from the next-generation of polar orbiting satellites in the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program. Ironically, NOAA continues to highlight consequences of a budget shortfall that could limit funding of the JPSS program and create gaps in polar satellite coverage. [NOAA 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.

• 13 June 1415...Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.
• 13 June 1881...The steamer USS Jeannette was crushed in Arctic ice pack north of Siberia as the 1879-1881 Jeannette Arctic Exploring Expedition under the command of Lieutenant Commander George Washington DeLong, USN, attempted to reach the North Pole by ship. (Naval Historical Center)
• 13 June 1977...A tropical cyclone crossed the Arabian Sea from near the Laccadive Islands off southwest India and slammed into the island of Masirah, sultanate of Oman. Winds reached at least 104 mph and the 24-hour rainfall total was 16.95 inches. About 99% of buildings were damaged. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 14 June 1834...The first US patent for a practical underwater diving suit was issued to Leonard Norcross of Dixfield, ME. One month earlier, he tested his suit, an airtight leather outfit with a brass helmet connected via a rubber hose to an air bellows pump on a boat, in the Webb River. (Today in Science History)
• 15 June 1744...British Admiral George Anson returned to England after circumnavigating the globe in an expedition that lasted nearly four years.
• 15 June 1990...The first use of bioremediation in open waters was to treat an oil slick from the supertanker Mega Borg following an explosion and fire on 8 June 1990 approximately 70 miles south-southeast of Galveston, TX. The 3-day bioremediation tests were conducted using oil-metabolizing bacteria and nutrients. The results of the tests were inconclusive. (Today in Science History)
• Month of June...According to a 1969 US Army technical report, the average dewpoint temperature at Ras Andahglie and Assab, Eritrea (Ethiopia) average slightly more than 84 degrees Fahrenheit. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 16 June 1903...The famous Norwegian explorer, Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen, began the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by leaving Oslo, Norway on the ship Gjøa. Amundsen and six others spent two winters exploring over land and ice from the place currently called Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada. (Wikipedia)
• 17 June 1579...During his "Famous Voyage," Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, claimed San Francisco Bay for England, calling the region along the northern California coast "Nova Albion" (meaning, New England). (Wikipedia)
• 16-18 June 1972...The greatest three-day rainfall in Hong Kong since 1889 produced 25.68 inches and resulted in disastrous landslides and building collapses. More than 100 people died, while thousands were made homeless. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 18 June 1903...Alaska's first coastal lighthouse, Scotch Cap Lighthouse, was lit. This light, which was also the first major lighthouse built by the U.S. outside the 48 coterminous states, was located near the west end of Unimak Island on the Pacific side of Unimak Pass, the main passage through the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea. This light in an octagonal wooden tower was replaced by a concrete lighthouse in 1940, which was destroyed by a tsunami in 1946, with the loss of the five crewmen stationed there. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 18 June 1875...A severe coastal storm (or possible hurricane) struck the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. Eastport, ME reported wind gusts to 57 mph. (David Ludlum)
• 19 June 240 BC...On the summer solstice, Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.
• 19-26 June 1972...Hurricane Agnes (a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale) moved onshore along the Florida Panhandle near Cape San Blas and Apalachicola with wind gusts to 80 mph, and eventually exited Maine on the 26^th. This hurricane moved northeast and joined with an upper level disturbance, producing from 10 to 20 inches of rain along its path along the Eastern Seaboard. In the Middle Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, 24 hour rainfall amounts were generally 8 to 12 inches, with up to 19 inches in extreme southwestern Schuylkill County. At Wilkes-Barre, PA the dike was breached destroying much of the town. Agnes was responsible for 125 deaths, mainly due to flooding from North Carolina to New York State, and total damage was estimated at more than $3 billion. Torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes resulted in one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. Agnes caused more damage than all other tropical cyclones in the previous six years combined (which included Celia and Camille). (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)

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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.