WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

6-10 August 2007

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2007 with new Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 27 August 2007. All the current online website products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

Ocean in the News:

• National Lighthouse Day is celebrated -- Tuesday, 7 August 2007, 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 ---
  • In the North Atlantic, Tropical Storm Chantal formed at the start of last week well off the North Carolina coast and raced to the northeast, dissipating off the Grand Banks by midweek. This weak tropical storm was the third named tropical cyclone (low pressure systems that include hurricanes and tropical storms) of the 2007 North Atlantic hurricane season. An image from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite shows the cloud mass surrounding Chantal. [NOAA OSEI]
  • In the Western North Pacific, Typhoon Usagi intensified to become a category-4 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) early last week as it traveled to the northwest toward the Japanese archipelago. It made landfall in southern Japan and finally dissipated over the Sea of Japan at the end of last week. Images of the clouds surrounding this typhoon near peak strength are provided from the Japanese MTSAT satellite [NOAA OSEI] and the MODIS sensor onboard NASA's Terra satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
    Tropical Depression 06W formed late last week and moved across the South China Sea toward the coast of Viet Nam before curving to the north.
    Tropical Storm Pabuk formed on Sunday (local time) near Guam and was moving toward the west-northwest.
  • In the Eastern North Pacific, Tropical Storm Erick, the fifth tropical cyclone of the season in that basin formed early in the week off the coast of Mexico and moved westward, where it dissipated. [USA Today] By late in the week, an image from NOAA's GOES-11 satellite shows clouds associated with Tropical Depression Erick. [NOAA OSEI]
• Updated hurricane forecast -- At the end of last week, hurricane forecasters William Gray and Philip Klotzbach from Colorado State University issued their August update to their forecast of the 2007 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Basin, lowering the number of anticipated named tropical cyclones (hurricanes and tropical storms) from 17 in their earlier forecasts to 15 named systems because of what they saw to be slightly more unfavorable weather conditions across the basin. They call for eight of these systems to become hurricanes with four to be considered major, reaching Category 3 or higher status on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, down from the nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes predicted earlier. [USA Today]
• Doubling in frequency of Atlantic hurricanes blamed on climatic change -- Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Georgia Institute of Technology claim that the doubling in the number of hurricanes that form annually in the North Atlantic basin currently as compared with approximately 100 years ago are due to higher sea surface temperatures and wind patterns that have been altered because of global climate change. [NCAR/UCAR]
• More DART buoys are deployed -- NOAA's National Data Buoy Center recently deployed four additional DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys across the northwestern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Japan and Russia as a means of providing additional tsunami warnings to Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast of Canada and the US. Currently, 32 buoys of a projected 39 have been deployed across the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. [NOAA News]
• Large "dead zone" documented in Gulf of Mexico -- Following a survey cruise in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana Gulf coast, scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium have confirmed that the hypoxic or "dead" zone in these waters had the third-largest area since measurements began in 1985 and is close to the size predicted by a NOAA-Louisiana State University forecast model. [NOAA News]
• Health of nation's estuaries appears to be worsening -- Officials at NOAA recently released a report entitled "Effects of Nutrient Enrichment in the Nation’s Estuaries: A Decade of Change, National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment Update" that indicates that nutrient pollution associated in part with greater human activity can lead to increased eutrophication and diminished health of the nation's estuaries and associated coastal ecosystems. [NOAA News]
• Online seafood consumer guide unveiled -- The NOAA Fisheries Service has launched a new Website called "FishWatch" designed to provide the public with current information concerning the quality and sustainability of the nation's seafood, ultimately making them more informed seafood consumers. [NOAA News]
• More stringent limits on sandbar shark fishing proposed -- Officials with NOAA's Fisheries Service are proposing an amendment to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan that would represent a significant reduction in the commercial and recreational fishing for sandbar sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, whose populations have been markedly depleted. [NOAA News]
• Rule issued to improve sea turtle bycatch monitoring -- The NOAA Fisheries Service recently issued a rule under the Endangered Species Act that would require fishing vessels in certain designated fisheries to have onboard observers who would help collect data on the bycatch of sea turtles in an effort to protect these endangered or threatened turtle species. [NOAA News]
• A polar sea has a bloom -- An image made from data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite shows bright colors in the waters of the Barents Sea north of Norway associated with the bloom of a near-surface ocean plant. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• Drop in Lake Superior level is baffling -- Attention has been on the fall in the level of Lake Superior to near record low levels this year from many interested parties, including scientists with Michigan Tech University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth who have been monitoring the lake water temperature and dissolved carbon dioxide concentration. Reduced precipitation across the lake's watershed and increased evaporation rates due to recent mild winters appear to be contributing factors in the current fall in lake level. [US Water News Online]
• Alaskan earthquake causes tremors on Vancouver Island -- Geoscientists at the University of Washington have found that a series of tremors felt on British Columbia's Vancouver Island in 2002 was related to the magnitude 7.8 Denali earthquake in interior Alaska because the tremors were along a subduction zone where the Explorer tectonic plate slides under the North American Plate, which was triggered by the Alaskan earthquake. [EurekAlert!]
• Glass sponge reefs found off Washington State -- Scientists at the University of Washington have discovered several large colonies of glass sponges on the sea floor off the Washington State coast, which marks only the second place in the world where a glass sponge reef has been found. [EurekAlert!]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Historical Events:

• 6 August 1986...A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast of Australia dumped a record 12.91 inches of rain in one day on Sydney. (Wikipedia)
• 7 August 1679...The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. The ship disappeared on the return leg of its maiden voyage from Lake Michigan. (Wikipedia)
• 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 ground breaking 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)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2007, The American Meteorological Society.