"The Pacific Marine
Heatwave of 2019”,
is not officially
called "The Blob".
Pacific Ocean waters,
stretching from
northern Alaska,
all the way to
southern California,
water temperatures
have rapidly risen
to very high level.
In some spots the
water temperature
is “as much as
+6 degrees F.
above normal”.
The heat wave
threatens marine life
and commercial fishing.
A prior “marine heatwave”
called “the Blob” made
global headlines in 2014,
when sea temperatures
peaked at close to
+7 degrees F.
above average.
Ocean temperatures
usually change gradually,
but in this case
we had a big change
in three months,
according to
Nate Mantua,
a research scientist
at NOAA’s Southwest
Fisheries Science
Center in Santa Cruz,
California.
The size of the new Blob
has already reached
2.5 million square miles,
and continues to expand.
Sustained
water temperatures
above 68 degrees F.
can stress
young salmon,
increase disease
and keep
adult salmon
from reaching their
spawning grounds.
Water temperatures
above 73 degrees
can be lethal.
The image that the NOAA
recently released (below)
makes the September 2019
Blob look worse than
the September 2014 Blob.
The previous Blob
dissipated rapidly after
weather patterns shifted.
Let's hope the 2019 Blob
dissipates just as quickly
as the 2014 Blob.
I'm sure you want
to know what caused
these blobs, and
my only guess is
underwater volcanoes
-- there has been
a lot of global
seismic activity
in 2019.
Of course
"climate change"
will be blamed,
if this gets into
the daily news.
