WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

20-24 August 2012

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2012 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2012. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

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Items of Interest:

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Ocean in the News:

Remove before posting ///
/// Check these sources:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html and
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/
Eye on the tropics -- Some tropical cyclone activity was found across tropical ocean basins last week:

In the North Atlantic basin,.
In the eastern North Pacific basin,
In the western North Pacific,

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CHECK & update (either for this week or next) --
Review of global climate for July 2012 --Relying upon preliminary data, scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center have noted that the combined global land and ocean temperature for July 2012 was ...
According to the scientists, the Arctic sea ice in July was .... [NOAA/NCDC State of the Climate] ....
From http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/7
...
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:

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...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)
23 August 1540...The French explorer Jacques Cartier landed near Quebec in his voyage to Canada. (Wikipedia)
23 August 1889...The first wireless message from a ship to the shore "Sherman is sighted", was received in the US. The US Lightship No. 70, San Francisco, announced the arrival of the U.S. Army troopship Sherman to the crowd assembled at the Cliff House. Reporters from the San Francisco Call relayed this information to a city awaiting the return of its hometown regiment from the battlefields of the Spanish-American War. The lightship, miles out at sea in deep fog, relayed this message via wireless telegraphy (later known as radio) through the fog to the Cliff House. This was the first 19th-century working use of wireless telegraphy outside of England. The method was still primitive, using sparks to emit intermittent radio waves and code messages. (Wikipedia) (Today in Science History)
23 August 1933...The Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane made landfall over Nag's Head, NC and moved over Norfolk, VA, Chesapeake Bay and Washington, DC. Winds gusted to 88 mph at Norfolk, VA. A tide seven feet above normal flooded businesses in Norfolk, and damage in Maryland was estimated at $17 million. Sixty percent of Atlantic City, NJ was flooded as was 10 square miles of southwest Philadelphia, PA. Forty seven people were killed and damage was estimated at $47 million (in depression-era dollars) (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
23-24 August 1992...Hurricane Andrew on its way to Florida with winds of 150 mph, struck northern Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. The storm surge reached 23 feet. Total damage on the islands topped $250 million. At about 5 AM on the 24th, Andrew made landfall near Homestead, FL with a central pressure of 922 mb (27.22 in.). Fowey Rocks coastal marine buoy recorded maximum sustained winds of 141 mph and a peak gust of 169 mph and the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables had sustained winds of 115 mph with a peak gust of 164 mph. A record storm surge of 16.7 feet occurred in Biscayne Bay. Homestead AFB was practically wiped out. More than 120,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, leaving 250,000 homeless. Forty-one people died and property damage exceeded $25 billion, making Andrew by far the most costly hurricane in U.S. history. Andrew was the third most intense hurricane to strike the mainland behind Camille (1969) and the Labor Day Hurricane (1935) (Intellicast)
23-24 August 1998...Almost 18 inches of rain deluged Del Rio, TX between 8 AM on the 23rd and 6 AM on the 24th because of stalled remnants of Tropical Storm Charley. Violent flash flooding from San Felipe Creek left residential lots swept bare of homes, with asphalt streets gone. Nine people were killed and 150 injured. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24-29 August 1785...Hurricane ravaged the Eastern Caribbean Sea from St. Croix, Virgin Islands to Cuba during the last week of August. Over 142 people were reported dead from the storm's impact. (The Weather Doctor)
24 August 1912...The US Congress gave effect to the convention between United States, Great Britain, Japan and Russia prohibiting taking of fur seals and sea otters in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea by authorizing the President "to cause a guard or patrol to be maintained in the waters frequented by the seal herd or herds of seal otter." (USCG Historian's Office)
24 August 1988...A tropical depression drenched the Cabo Rojo area of southwestern Puerto Rico with up to ten inches of rain. San Juan received 5.35 inches of rain. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
25 August 1885...A severe hurricane struck South Carolina causing $1.3 million damage at Charleston. (David Ludlum)
25 August 1927...The August Gale, a hurricane, raged across the East Coast, crossing the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland during the early morning hours. Hundreds of small boats in Newfoundland ports are among the storm's victims. (The Weather Doctor)
25 August-7 September 1979...Hurricane David crossed the island of Dominica on the 29th, with winds to 145 mph. Roseau, the capital, was devastated. Fifty-six people were killed on Dominica and 60,000 of the island's 80,000 residents were made homeless. About three-quarters of the coconut and banana crop were destroyed. The central pressure in David fell to 924 mb (27.28 in.) on the 30th as it moved south of Puerto Rico. At that time, highest sustained winds reached 173 mph. On the 31st, winds of 150 mph from Hurricane David brought over $1 billion in damage to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, killing over 1200. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
26 August 1883... Krakatau (or Krakatoa) Volcano exploded in the East Indies. The explosion was heard more than 2500 miles away, and every barograph around the world recorded the passage of the air wave, up to seven times. Giant waves, 125 feet high and traveling 300 mph, devastated everything in their path, hurling ashore coral blocks weighing up to 900 tons, and killing more than 36,000 persons. Volcanic ash was carried around the globe in thirteen days producing blue and green suns in the tropics, and then vivid red sunsets in higher latitudes. The temperature of the Earth was lowered one degree for the next two years, finally recovering to normal by 1888. (David Ludlum)
26 August 1949...A hurricane made landfall at Delray Beach, FL. Winds reached 153 mph at the Jupiter Lighthouse before the anemometer failed. The hurricane caused $45 million damage to crops, and caught the Georgia and South Carolina coast resulting in another $2 million in damage. (David Ludlum)
26 August 1992...Hurricane Andrew made its second landfall along the Louisiana coast near Burns Point, as a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Morgan City recorded wind gusts of 108 mph. Hammond was deluged with nearly a foot of rain. Total additional damage was estimated at $1.8 billion. Andrew, which had made its initial US landfall in South Florida on the 24th, was the most costly natural disaster in US history, with total damage reaching up to $30 billion. Additionally, record hurricane evacuation of 2.4 million people took place in Florida and Louisiana. (Intellicast) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)