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June 5, 1964: The submersible vehicle Alvin is commissioned by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Its first significant mission occurs two years later, when Alvin dives to explore the possible site of a hydrogen bomb lost by a U.S. plane off the coast of Palomares, Spain. Alvin (at right) becomes a mainstay of deep ocean exploration and discovery.

 

 

June 5, 1986: After several years of heavy rain and snow, Utah's Great Salt Lake reaches an all-time high water level. The landlocked lake had risen roughly 20 feet since the 1960s. The lake swamped a causeway, flooded coastal structures, and menaced a industrial waste sites and Interstate Highway 80. A return to drier weather and an intensive pumping project reduce the threat over the next year.

 

June 5, 2006: Jay Leno opines on a soon-to-be Oscar-winning documentary on the "Tonight Show." "This past weekend, Al Gore's movie, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' earned more per screen than any film in the country. ... I dare say Gore's movie is the highest grossing PowerPoint presentation in history."

 

Photo: USGS

 

This feature is compiled by Peter Dykstra, an MNN contributor and publisher of Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate.