8-12 August 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.

• National Lighthouse Day is celebrated -- Sunday, 7 August 2011, 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]

• Eye on the tropics --- During the last week:
• In the North Atlantic basin Tropical Storm Emily formed early last week over the waters of the Caribbean Sea near the Windward and Leeward Islands. This tropical storm, the fifth named tropical cyclone of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, traveled to the west-northwest passing close to western sections of Hispaniola late in the week. Over the weekend, Emily weakened to a tropical depression as it traveled northward across the western North Atlantic, affecting the Bahamas. For additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Emily, consult the NASA Hurricane Page.
• In the eastern North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Eugene formed from a tropical depression off the southwestern coast of Mexico at the beginning of last week. This tropical storm intensified to become the fifth hurricane of 2011 in the eastern Pacific. As of midweek, Eugene briefly became a major category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as it traveled to the west-northwest. By late in the week, Hurricane Eugene had weakened to a tropical storm and was forecast to dissipate over the weekend over the cooler waters of the eastern North Pacific. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on Hurricane Eugene.
• In the western North Pacific, Super typhoon Muifa traveled northward across the western Pacific off the eastern coast of China. At peak intensity during the previous weekend, Muifa had become a category 5 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as maximum sustained surface winds reached 160 mph. By this past weekend, Muifa was approaching the Yellow Sea. See the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information on Typhoon Muifa, including satellite imagery.
  During this past week, Tropical Storm Merbok formed to the west-northwest of Wake Island and traveled to the northwest. Over this past weekend, this tropical storm had strengthened to become the fifth typhoon of 2011. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information on Typhoon Merbok.
• Hurricane season outlooks are updated -- Forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, along with those from the National Hurricane Center, released their updated Atlantic hurricane season outlook last week. These forecasters continued to anticipate an active 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, increasing their level of confidence that this would be an active season and boosting the number of possible tropical cyclones from their mid-May outlooks due to several indicators. They anticipate an active season because favorable atmospheric and oceanic conditions associated with a tropical multi-decadal signal, higher than average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean, and reduced vertical wind shear over the Atlantic Basin due to possible redevelopment of La Niña. Since the mid-May NOAA outlook five named tropical cyclones (Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don and Emily) have developed to date across the basin that includes the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in addition to the North Atlantic Ocean. NOAA's new and updated outlook projects, with a 70 percent probability, that 14 to 19 named cyclones (maximum sustained surface winds exceeding 38 mph) will develop, 7 to 10 hurricanes (winds greater than 73 mph) will form, with three to five hurricanes possibly becoming major (category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). [NOAA News]
  The hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University, including Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, also have issued an updated August forecast for 2011, which calls for "a very active" season with above average named tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin. They base their outlook on neutral ENSO conditions and warm waters in the tropical Atlantic. In addition to the five named tropical storms that have occurred to date, they foresee the occurrence of 16 named cyclones, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes. They also anticipate a higher than average probability that a major hurricane will make landfall in the continental United States and in the Caribbean. [The Tropical Storm Project]
• An interview with a NASA hurricane specialist -- NASA's Earth Observatory mission recently conducted an interview with Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a participant in the recent Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment. He provides his views of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Large "dead zone" in Gulf of Mexico is found -- Scientists supported by NOAA have found that this year's area of hypoxia or "dead zone" in the northern Gulf of Mexico had a size approximately equal to the state of New Jersey (approximately 6765 square miles), which is smaller than the record size predicted earlier. [NOAA News]
• Economic and ecological value of Gulf coastal region is highlighted -- NOAA, in partnership with the US Census Bureau and the US Environmental Protection Agency, recently released an updated report entitled " The Gulf of Mexico at a Glance: A Second Glance" that provides economic and ecological highlights about the Gulf's coastal communities, their economy and ecosystems. This report should provide interested parties including coastal managers and planners with reference information about the importance of healthy Gulf coastal ecosystems. [NOAA News]
• Environmental data available from Great Lakes Observing System -- NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and its partners are designing a new comprehensive system to integrate and stream the large quantity of environmental data collected by the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS), a network that will include satellites, aircraft, stationary platforms, buoys, drifters and floats, automated underwater vehicles, towed sensor arrays, and ships. With the GLOS data streaming system expected to be available by 2012, the available lake and meteorological data will be especially useful to the residents of the eight states and two Canadian provinces surrounding the Great Lakes. [NOAA Research]
• New instrument employed to help improve hurricane forecasting -- Scientists from NASA's Langley Research Center have been employing a Doppler Aerosol Wind (DAWN) lidar onboard the agency's DC-8 research aircraft to compile three-dimensional wind profiles. The DAWN instrument package was flown into several tropical weather systems last year as part of the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process (GRIP) mission. The scientists hope that the data collected by this lidar can be used to improve hurricane forecast models, such as those used by NOAA. [GRIP Hurricane Mission]
• Gauging human impact upon the deep seas -- As part of the international study conducted during the Census of Marine Life project SYNDEEP (Towards a First Global Synthesis of Biodiversity, Biogeography, and Ecosystem Function in the Deep Sea), more than twenty deep-sea experts claim that deep-sea habitats are becoming increasingly affected by human activities. [EurekAlert!]
• Dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice occurred in past -- A team of scientists from Denmark's University of Copenhagen have determined that larger seasonal and annual variations in the Arctic sea ice have occurred during the last 10,000 years than during recent summers. They noted that during the Holocene Climate Optimum, (approximately 8000 to 5000 years ago) warmer conditions than currently observed resulted in a summer Arctic ice cover that was nearly 50 percent smaller than the modern record small ice cover observed in summer of 2007. [University of Copenhagen]
• Prehistoric warming of ocean water could trigger ice shelf collapse -- A team of scientists from Oregon State University, the University of Wisconsin, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and China's Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology have been analyzing "Heinrich events," or large mass discharges of icebergs into the North Atlantic from the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last Ice Age. These researchers have found that the subsurface warming of small amounts of sea water can trigger a rapid collapse of ice shelves. They are also concerned that warmer waters could result in a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. [Oregon State University]
• East Africa's climate affected by events in equatorial Pacific during present interglacial -- An international team of scientists from the United States, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium have reconstructed a 21,000-year record of rainfall in East Africa that indicates the timing of floods and droughts across this region has been dominated by events in the equatorial Pacific related to warm (El Niño) or cool (La Niña) phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). [LabSpaces]
• Ancient tides may have been much higher than present tides -- Using high resolution computer simulations, scientists at Oregon State University, the University of Leeds, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Toronto, and Tulane University have concluded that ancient ocean tides may have been more variable and exhibited greater ranges between low and high tides than current tides. A variety of phenomena could have been responsible for the higher tides, including ice ages, plate tectonics, land uplift, erosion and sedimentation. [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.

• 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)
• 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)

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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.