WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

23-27 June 2014

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2014 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 25 August 2014. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

Lightning Awareness Week -- The nation will celebrate its annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, this upcoming week, 22 through 28 June 2014, as declared by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS). On average, 55 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 "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors!" NWS, 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 30 states are also observing this week with statewide activities.

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- During the last week, tropical cyclone activity was limited to the tropical Pacific basins of the Northern Hemisphere:

In the eastern North Pacific basin, Hurricane Cristina weakened to a tropical storm, then to a tropical depression and finally a remnant low at the beginning of last week as it traveled toward the west-northwest well off the Mexican coast. Earlier, Cristina had become a major category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as maximum sustained surface winds reached 150 mph. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite imagery on former Hurricane Cristina.
In the western North Pacific basin, Tropical Storm Hagibis made landfall along the southeastern coast of China east of Hong Kong at the start of last week after forming and traveling northward across the South China Sea. After making landfall, Hagibis turned toward the northeast and traveled rapidly along the coast, finally moving out over the East China Sea as a tropical depression. By midweek, Tropical Depression Hagibis lost its tropical characteristics and became an extra-tropical depression before dissipating approximately 350 miles to the south of Yokosuka, Japan. The NASA Hurricane Page has satellite images and additional information on this tropical storm.

A busy start to hurricane season in eastern North Pacific basin -- Within the first month of the 2014 hurricane season in the eastern North Pacific (from the western coast of North and Central America to longitude 140 degrees West), two major hurricanes had formed in this basin. Hurricanes Amanda and Cristina reached category 4 hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as maximum sustained surface winds reached 150 mph in both systems. Satellite images of these two hurricanes are available. [NASA Hurricane Page]
California fish hatcheries are evacuating due to drought and heat -- Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported early last week that two state fish hatcheries are evacuating their rainbow trout, salmon, and steelhead to save the fish from rising water temperatures created by the unseasonably warm weather and the prolonged drought in the Sacramento Valley. Anticipated low water flow into the hatcheries would bring such warm water later in the summer making conditions inhabitable for these fish species. [Los Angeles Times]
Legacy of QuikScat to be extended to RapidScat -- The 15th anniversary of the launch of NASA's QuikSCAT satellite was observed during the last week. The scatterometer onboard this satellite has provided invaluable data on surface wind patterns over the global oceans, which helped provide improved weather forecasting around the world. Although this satellite has operated well beyond the intended three-year mission and following a partial instrument failure in 2009, it will now be used to help calibrate ISS-RapidScat, the successor that will maintain QuikScat's unbroken ocean wind data record from the International Space Station (ISS). [NOAA News]
New carbon observing satellite readied for launch -- Scientists and engineers are readying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft for a scheduled launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on 1 July 2014. This spacecraft is designed to measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere in order to obtain a more detailed and global depiction of the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [NASA Global Climate Change News]
Anticipated El Niño could result in more extreme weather across nation in 2014 -- A new monthly report recently issued by NOAA's National Weather Service and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University claims that the odds for the development of an El Niño event during this upcoming summer have risen from 65 to 70 percent and that the possibility for such an event during the fall and winter has reached 80 percent. (An El Niño event is an anomalous large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation pattern featuring warmer than average water in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.) Climate scientists claim that this anticipated El Niño event could result in extreme weather and climate events including drought in some areas of the nation and floods in other areas. [Scientific American] [NOAA Climate.gov]
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]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

23 June 1501...The Portuguese navigator, Pedro Alvares Cabral, returned to Portugal after a voyage during which he claimed Brazil for Portugal and then journeyed to India in search of pepper and spices. (Wikipedia)
23 June 1611...English navigator Henry Hudson was set adrift along with his son and seven loyal crew members in an open boat in Hudson Bay by mutineers on his ship Discovery; they were never seen again. He was on his fourth voyage and he had become famous for attempting to find a route from Europe to Asia via the Arctic Ocean. (Wikipedia)
23 June 1716...The Province of Massachusetts authorized erection of first lighthouse in America on Great Brewster Island, Boston Harbor. (USCG Historian's Office)
23 June 1938...The first "oceanarium" opened at Marineland in St. Augustine, FL. (Today in Science History)
24 June 1497...The Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni (John) Cabot, sailing in the service of England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland, claiming the continent for England. (Wikipedia)
26 June 1954...Eight fishermen were swept off the breakwater of the Montrose Harbor in Chicago, IL by a seiche on Lake Michigan. At the time, this killer wave rose suddenly from a serene Lake Michigan; sunny skies and calm wind conditions were reported. The seiche, produced by an earlier squall on the lake, caused the lake water to rise ten feet. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
26 June 1959...Following an opening ceremony attended by President Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II, 28 naval vessels sailed from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes, marking the formal opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway to seagoing ships. The Seaway consists of a navigational channel system of canals, locks, and dredged waterways, permitting travel from the Gulf of St. Lawrence nearly 2500 miles inland to Duluth, MN on Lake Superior. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
26 June 1986...Hurricane Bonnie made landfall on the upper Texas coast. A wind gust to 98 mph occurred at Sea Rim State Park. The town of Ace recorded 13 inches of rain. (Intellicast)
26 June-7 July 1989...Tropical Storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico from remnants of Hurricane Cosme in the eastern North Pacific. Periods of heavy rain caused flooding across parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. Winnfield, LA reported a six-day total of 29.52 inches of rain. This system was responsible for eleven deaths and approximately $500 million in damage. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
27 June 1898...The first solo circumnavigation of the globe was completed in slightly more than three years by the Canadian seaman and adventurer Joshua Slocum of Briar Island, NS when he returned to Newport, RI after sailing the 37-foot Spray a distance of 46,000 miles. After completing this voyage Slocum wrote the classic book, Sailing Alone Around the World describing his adventure. (Wikipedia)
27-29 June 1954...Excessive rains from remnants of Hurricane Alice led to the Rio Grande River's worst flood. Up to 27.1 inches of rain fell at Pandale, TX. As many as 55 people died from the flooding. The river crest at Laredo, TX broke the previous highest record by 12.6 feet. The roadway on the US. 90 bridge over the Pecos River was covered by 30 feet of water on the 27^th. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (David Ludlum)
27 June 1957...Hurricane Audrey smashed ashore at Cameron, LA drowning 381 persons in the storm tide, and causing 150 million dollars damage in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Audrey left only a brick courthouse and a cement-block icehouse standing at Cameron, and when the waters settled in the town of Crede, only four buildings remained. The powerful winds of Audrey tossed a fishing trawler weighing 78 tons onto an offshore drilling platform. Winds along the coast gusted to 105 mph, and oilrigs off the Louisiana coast reported wind gusts to 180 mph. A storm surge greater than twelve feet inundated the Louisiana coast as much as 25 miles inland. It was the deadliest June hurricane of record for the U.S. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
27 June 1978...SEASAT, an experimental U.S. ocean surveillance satellite was launched. Each day, SEASAT made 14 orbits of the Earth, and in a period of 36 hours was able to monitor nearly 96% of the oceanic surface. The measurement equipment on board was able to penetrate cloud cover and report measurements such as wave height, water temperature, currents, winds, icebergs, and coastal characteristics. Although it operated for only 99 days before a power failure, it had already shown the viability of the use of a satellite for collecting oceanic data. The information collected was shared with scientists and was used to aid transoceanic travel by ships and aircraft. (Today in Science History)
27-29 June 1997...Although thousands of miles away, a strong low pressure system southeast of New Zealand produced surf up to seven feet, with occasional sets to ten feet, along Hawaii's south-facing coasts. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 June 1983...A waterspout was sighted over Hazin Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coast of Alaska. Satellites detected thunderstorms in the area. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
28 June 1992...A slow moving tropical depression produced excessive rains across southwest Florida. Four-day totals ending on the 28^th, ranged up to 25 inches in the Venice area, with a general 8 to 14 inches over Sarasota and Manatee counties. Two deaths resulted from the flooding. (Intellicast)
29 June 1860...The replacement to the first iron-pile lighthouse in the U.S. was completed at Minot's Ledge, near Scituate, Massachusetts, replacing the one at the same site that was built between 1847 and 1850, lighted 1 Jan 1850 but destroyed in a storm in April 1851. In 1860, the last stone was laid for the new Minot's Ledge lighthouse, five years minus one day after workmen first landed at the ledge. The final cost of about $300,000 made it one of the most expensive lighthouses in U.S. history. It stood off Boston's south shore, just outside Boston Harbor to warn ships of rocks that had claimed many vessels. The first granite block was laid for the new lighthouse on 9 July 1857. The lantern room and second order Fresnel lens were put into place and illuminated on 22 August 1860. This structure has withstood all storms since, and stands to this day. (Today in Science History)
29 June 1982...The Soviet Union launched COSPAS I, the first search and rescue satellite ever launched. In combination with later SARSAT satellites, a new multi-agency, international, search and rescue service was made operational. On 11 September 1982, it was credited with helping to save the crew of Cessna 172, a Canadian airplane. (USCG Historian's Office)