The temperature of the water in the Pacific rises - and this is very bad

Not so long ago, scientists dealing with issuesenvironment, found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of North America a zone in which water is five degrees higher than the average ocean temperature in this region. It would seem that plus or minus five degrees are minor fluctuations. However, further research revealed that this is not just a local increase in water temperature. This is a whole heat wave, which is now a threat to all marine inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean.

Even a slight increase in water temperature can turn into an environmental disaster

It is worth noting that the local increasewater temperature was recorded 5 years ago, which slightly violated the marine ecosystem of the US west coast and affected salmon spawning. Now this area has grown to gigantic proportions. A huge heatwave extends from the coast of Alaska to the south to the shores of California.

According to experts from the National OfficeUS Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (NOAA), marine heatwaves are phenomena in which the water temperature in a given area is 90% warmer than in the same area in previous measurements. The new heat wave may become the largest in history. The previous record holder, the heat wave of Blob, caused the bloom of poisonous algae, which led to the death of sea lions and almost killed the whale population, which were forced to move closer to the coast.

This in itself is one of the mostsignificant events that we have observed, ”said Andrew Lasing, NOAA Research Fellow. Cold water rising from the depths of the ocean along the coast, still held the heat wave and did not allow it to spread. However, for some reason, more than this is not enough. A heat wave can move closer to the coast and affect the temperature on the coast itself.

If in the near future the sea wave of heat is notIf it dissipates, then in the next year or two, warm water will penetrate to a greater depth, which will lead to devastating consequences for the local fauna. Current forecasts show that even within a few months an even greater increase in temperature can occur.

Comparison of the new heatwave and the Blob

The key question is how muchfor a long time a new heat wave can last. The consequences of its impact on the marine ecosystem also depend on this. In any case, there are already shifts in this direction. For example, according to some data, migration routes and the population of sea lions are beginning to decline. Also recorded a decrease in the number of crabs and mollusks. And these are the initial links in the food chain. So the extinction of crabs and mollusks can turn into a real environmental disaster. We often write articles on environmental topics, so in order not to miss anything, subscribe to our Telegram channel.

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But what can be done? At the moment, scientists do not have a clear answer. On the one hand, people have already experienced something similar during the Blob heat wave, but all the measures that can be applied now are aimed at treating the “symptoms”, and not the “disease” itself. Environmentalists have already launched a large-scale campaign to save a number of marine animals and destroy poisonous algae so that the situation does not happen five years ago. For the rest, one can only hope that the heat wave will disappear and the local flora and fauna will return to normal.