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Sea lion pups were just one of the many types of wildlife to suffer when a large marine heatwave that became known as "The Blob" took hold in the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast. Credit: NMFS
This data image shows the monthly average sea surface temperature for May 2015, the peak of the marine heat wave dubbed The Blob. Credit: NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center
The North Pacific has warmed significantly faster than any other ocean basin on Earth since 2013, enduring two major marine heat waves in five years that had devastating effects on marine mammals, seabirds, as well as fisheries and the communities that rely on them.
Oceanographers are asking "What’s going on in the North Pacific?"
"How long will sea surface temperatures continue to increase at the rate they have?" asked Michael McPhaden, senior scientist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. "And what will the consequences be? Understanding the underlying physical processes better and developing ways to skillfully forecast the future evolution of this trend are really important."
In a new paper published in Nature Climate Change, McPhaden and a team of researchers from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center and... more
PMEL in the News
Warning systems for the deadly waves now exist in oceans around the world.
As the Northern Bering Sea ecosystem emerges from the extraordinary warmth that wreaked havoc on Alaska fisheries, wildlife and communities, a study warns of likely future occurrences.
Scientists are trying to decipher what drove the recent dramatic cooling of the tropical Atlantic, but so far few clues have emerged. "We are still scratching our heads as to what's actually happening," the researchers said.
Feature Publication
The Bay of Bengal, with the location of the instrumented buoy shown by the blue dot. Credit Sarah Battle, NOAA PMEL
Rare observations of surface currents to the left of winds in the Bay of Bengal
One of the foundational principles of modern oceanography is that ocean surface currents on our rotating planet will be deflected to the right of the winds in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left of the winds in the Southern Hemisphere.
While this principle, first explained by the Swedish... more