Climate change as a matter of fact (ocean edition): The return of 'The Blob'

Is 'The Blob' Back? Latest Marine Heat Wave Could Pose New Risks To Sea Life.  (NPR, 9/6/2019)

The new hot spot rivals "The Blob" — a gigantic patch of unusually warm water that appeared in nearly the exact same spot in 2014. Like its predecessor, the new expanse of warm water sprawls from Alaska to California. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries announced Thursday that they are tracking the event, hoping to minimize its impact on marine ecosystems.

Related reading:
A 'blob' of warm ocean water killed 1 million seabirds in the Pacific, study says.  (USA Today, 1/17/2020)

"The magnitude and scale of this failure has no precedent," said study lead author John Piatt, a research biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center, in a statement. "It was astonishing and alarming, and a red-flag warning about the tremendous impact sustained ocean warming can have on the marine ecosystem." 

From May 2015 to April 2016, about 62,000 murre carcasses were found on beaches from central California north through Alaska. Citizen scientists in Alaska counted numbers that reached 1,000 times more than normal for their beaches. 

Other ocean, lakes and rivers edition posts:
Ocean heat hits record high. (3/30/2019)
Boogying our way to doomsday.  (1/20/2020)
Iceland's fishing industry.  (12/2/2019)
Expect more fish die-offs in Wisconsin lakes. (7/9/2019)
Ocean heat hits record high.  (3/30/2019)
Dying coral of the Great Barrier Reef.  (4/22/2018)
Green sea turtles of the Great Barrier Reef.  (1/11/2018)
Maine shrimp season.  (12/27/2017)
Tangier Island, Virginia.  (8/25/2017)

Other Climate Change as a Matter of Fact posts