WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

18-22 May 2015

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2015 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 24 August 2015. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Items of Interest:

North American Safe Boating Week -- This week of 16-22 May has been declared 2015 National Safe Boating Week, to help kick off the 2015 North American Safe Boating Campaign. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
National Maritime Day will be observed -- Next Friday, 22 May 2015, has been declared National Maritime Day, a day created to recognize the maritime industry. The holiday was created by the United States Congress on 20 May 1933. The date of 22 May was selected because on 22 May 1819, that the American steamship Savannah set sail from Savannah, GA on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power. The Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation will hold a ceremony at the Department of Transportation headquarters building in Washington, DC on Friday, the 21st.
The annual European Maritime Day will be observed with a Conference in Athens, Greece, along with a four-day celebration to be held in Piraeus, a port city in the Athens metropolitan area, between 28 and 31 May. The theme of this year's conference will focus on ports and coasts as engines for Blue Growth. [Editor's Note: This conference will be held in conjunction with European Maritime Day 2015, which is celebrated annually 20 May with the aim to raise awareness of the importance of the sea among the European citizens. The European Maritime Day was established jointly by the European Council, the European Parliament and European Commission in 2008 as part of the European Union's (EU) maritime policy. EJH]
Zenithal Sun -- This week marks one of the two times during the year when the noontime sun is directly overhead to residents on the Big Island at the start of this week (on 19 May) at Hilo; those on Oahu (Honolulu metropolitan area) will experience the noon sun at the zenith in approximately one more week (25-27 May). The sun will again be over the Big Island during the last week of July. [US Naval Observatory, Data Services]

Ocean in the News:

Eye on the tropics --- Tropical cyclones traveled over the waters of the western North Pacific Basin last week.
Super typhoon Noul, which had become a category 5 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson Scale when maximum sustained surface winds reached 160 mph over the previous weekend, traveled northward and weakened before passing across Okinawa at the start of last week. By Tuesday, Noul had weakened to a tropical storm as it curved to northeast. As it approached the southern coast of main Japanese islands this tropical cyclone lost its tropical characteristics and became a midlatitude storm. . Additional information and satellite images on Super typhoon Noul can be found on the NASA Hurricane Page.
Typhoon Dolphin traveled in a general northwest direction across the western Pacific last week on a path that took it toward the island of Guam. Near the end of the week, Dolphin passed through the Northern Marianas just to the north of Guam. Over this past weekend, Dolphin curved toward the north and strengthened to become a super typhoon that was equivalent to a major category 5 typhoon as maximum sustained surface winds. Forecasts indicate that Super typhoon Dolphin would curve toward the northeast and weaken as it would travel across the western North Pacific well to the south of the Japanese archipelago. See the NASA Hurricane Page for additional information and satellite imagery on Super typhoon Dolphin.
Two new environmental systems to aid mariners installed in Louisiana waterways -- Two of NOAA's Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS®) units were being installed during the last week in the Port of Morgan City and Port Fourchon , two of southeastern Louisiana's shipping hubs deemed critical to the US. The new systems each contain oceanographic and meteorological sensors that provide mariners with accurate and reliable real-time information 24 hours per day about environmental conditions in seaports, thereby increasing navigation safety and efficiency on ships transiting through these ports. [NOAA News]
An El Niño event has developed across the Pacific -- Above average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific as of early May 2015 together with corroborating atmospheric response indicates that a weak to moderate El Niño event is underway. Forecasters with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center have issued an El Niño advisory that indicates atmospheric and oceanic conditions across the tropical Pacific appear favorable for an El Niño event in the next six months. These forecasters foresee that an approximately 90 percent chance that this El Niño event would continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2015, together with an 80 percent chance that it will last through the remainder of 2015. [NOAA Climate.gov News] A detailed El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
"Red tide bloom" in Gulf of Maine expected to be similar to recent years -- Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and North Carolina State University recently issued their 2015 "red tide" seasonal forecast for the Gulf of Maine that was funded by NOAA. "Red tide" is a harmful algal bloom (HAB) caused by the alga Alexandrium fundyense that produces a toxin leading to paralytic shellfish poisoning. This shellfish poisoning can result in serious or even fatal illness in humans who eat contaminated shellfish. The forecasters foresee a red tide that would be similar in areal extent to those of the last three years, but smaller than the unusually large tide in 2005. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are deploying new robotic sensors that will help provide new weekly updates on bloom size and toxicity. [NOAA News]
"Species in the Spotlight" campaign draws attention to endangered marine species conservation efforts -- NOAA Fisheries announced a new "Species in the Spotlight" campaign that is intended to focus recovery and public education efforts on eight endangered marine species under the Endangered Species Act that are at risk of extinction. The eight highlighted species are: the Gulf of Maine population of Atlantic salmon, Central California Coast coho salmon, Cook Inlet beluga whales, Hawaiian monk seals, Pacific leatherback sea turtles, Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon, Southern Resident killer whales in Washington's Puget Sound, and California Coast white abalone.[NOAA News]
Public input requested on plan to promote recovery of Alaskan beluga whales -- NOAA Fisheries is inviting public comment on its Draft Recovery Plan for the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale in an effort to help recover Alaska's endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales from extinction. [NOAA Fisheries Newsroom]
"Landfall drought" in major land falling hurricanes on US coasts reaches a record -- A hurricane researcher with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and his colleagues report that the nine-year span that encompasses the time since the last major hurricane (category 3 or larger on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) to make landfall along the mainland of the United States in 2005 represents the longest interval since reliable hurricane records began in 1850. Statistical analyses from hurricane track data indicate that for any particular Atlantic Hurricane season, a 40 percent chance exists that a major hurricane will make landfall in the continental United States. The researchers found that a nine-year period without a major landfall would likely occur once every 177 years on average. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]
Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf seen to be disintegrating -- Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of California, Irvine and Norway's University Centre in Svalbard have been monitoring Antarctica's weakening Larsen B Ice Shelf using data collected by instrumented aircraft participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge. They predict that the last remaining section of this Ice Shelf is likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade. [NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News]
Antarctic ice shelf found to be thinning from above and below -- Using data collected by satellites and eight radar surveys over a 15-year interval from 1998 to 2012, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey and their colleagues from the United States have found that Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf is thinning from both its surface and beneath. This new study helps in assessing Antarctica's likely contribution to future sea-level rise. [British Antarctic Survey Press Release]
Satellite data used to help protect endangered whales -- NASA is funding the development of "WhaleWatch," a new online tool that is scheduled to be released later this year by NOAA that will help decrease whale mortality due to collisions with shipping and fishing gear. WhaleWatch will show for each month the most likely locations of blue, humpback, fin, and gray whales along the West Coast of the United States and Canada based on current environmental conditions detected by satellites. Furthermore, WhaleWatch has a daily product that will predict the movements of blue whales for any given day. [NASA's Earth Science News Team]
Isotope tracking tool used to save salmon -- Scientists at the Universities of Utah, Washington and Alaska Fairbanks and the US Geological Survey have developed a radiochemical tool that can be used to identify the specific streams where wild chinook salmon are hatched and lived before the migrated out to sea where they were caught. The scientists studied the strontium isotope ratios in the "ear bones" in 245 Alaskan chinook salmon that could then be used to trace the salmon back to the stream. This new tool may help pinpoint critical habitats for fish threatened by climate change, industrial development and overfishing. [University of Utah News Center]
An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

19 May 1535...French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail on his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage). (Wikipedia)
19 May 1912...The US Navy established the North Atlantic Ice Patrol following the RMS Titanic disaster. (Naval Historical Center)
20 May 1497...John Cabot set sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date). (Wikipedia)
20 May 1498...The Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama became the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) on the Malabar Coast, after departing Lisbon, Portugal in July 1497. (The History Channel) (Wikipedia)
20 May 1570...Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas. (Wikipedia)
20 May 1845...HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sailed from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands were lost. (Wikipedia)
20 May 1964...The first U.S. atomic-powered lighthouse was put into operation in the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore Harbor, MD. Designed to supply a continuous flow of electricity for ten years without refueling, the 60-watt nuclear generator generated heat from strontium-90 in the form of strontium titinate, a safe radioisotope. The heat was converted to electricity by 120 pairs of lead telluride thermocouples. Complete with shielding, the unit was only 34.5 inches high and 22 inches in diameter. It was designed and produced by the nuclear division of Martin-Marietta Corp. (Today in Science History)
20 May 1999...A devastating cyclone, packing winds of up to 170 mph and a high storm surge, struck the Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Some 600 villages were devastated and more than 400 people killed. (The Weather Doctor)
22 May 1819...The steamship SS Savannah left Savannah, GA on a voyage to Liverpool, England and became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It reached Liverpool on 20 June. (Wikipedia)
22 May 1849...The future President, Abraham Lincoln, received a patent for the floating dry dock described as for "buoying boats over shoals" (No. 6,469). He was the first American president to receive a patent. His idea utilized inflated cylinders to float grounded vessels through shallow water. (Today in Science History)
22-24 May 1948...A rare early season hurricane struck the island of Hispaniola, killing an estimated 80 people. (The Weather Doctor)
22 May 1960...A 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the coast of south central Chile triggered a tsunami that moved across the Pacific Ocean. Between 490 and 2290 people were estimated to have been killed by the earthquake and tsunami, and damage estimates were over one half billion dollars. Hilo, HI was devastated by the tsunami. (The University of Washington)
23 May 1850...The US Navy sent USS Advance and USS Rescue to attempt rescue of Sir John Franklin's expedition, lost in Arctic. (Naval Historical Center)
23 May 1946...Commodore Edward M. Webster, USCG, headed the U.S. Delegation to the International Meeting on Radio Aids to Marine Navigation, which was held in London, England. As a result of this meeting, the principal maritime nations of the world would make an intensive study of the World War II-developed devices of radar, LORAN, radar beacons, and other navigational aids with a view to adapt them to peacetime use. This meeting was the first time that the wartime technical secrets of radar and LORAN were generally disclosed to the public. (USCG Historian's Office)
23 May 1960...Tsunami waves from Chilean earthquakes began to affect the Alaska's coast along the Gulf of Alaska from Prince of Wales Island to Montague Island for as long as one week. The tsunami waves on the 23rd were up to 14 feet high near Yakutat. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24 May 1500...The 13 ships in the fleet of Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral were hit by a huge ice storm that sank four ships. The rest of the ships were separated as they sailed south of the Cape of Good Hope and continued their journey to India.
24 May 1901...The relative humidity at Parkstone, Dorset in England at 4 PM was reported to be 9.5 percent. This low relative humidity is not typical of the British Islands, which are surrounded by ocean water and have no large high mountain barriers or plateaus. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24 May 1951...Northeast gales generated waves to 15 feet high in the harbor of Newport, RI. A 50-ft. Navy launch with about 142 men on board capsized. Nineteen of the men drowned in the incident. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
24 May 1992...Winds up to 40 knots and seas to 18 feet in the northern Gulf of Alaska, approximately 30 miles southwest of Alaska's Cape Cleare, sent three waves crashing over the Cajun Mama. The 80-ft fishing boat sank, but the crew of five was rescued. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)