Scientists warn that the anomaly of the ‘warm stain’ in the Pacific Ocean could make this brutal winter: ‘that covers a vast region’

Something strange is happening in the Pacific Ocean. To the south of Alaska, the surface temperatures of the sea began to emerge well above the average this summer. The “warm stain” has returned, and has implications for marine life and winter climate.

The Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration registered a surface temperature of the sea of ​​68 degrees Fahrenheit in the North Pacific during August, which makes it the warmest temperature recorded. “For perspective, the first time it reached 19 degrees Celsius was 11 years ago, with records dating from 1854,” wrote the meteorologist of Pix 11 Mike Masc. “This event marks the fourth largest marine heat wave since 1982, which covers a vast region from northern Hawaii to the coast of California and Alaska.”

Scientists call the expansive and persistent area of ​​surface temperatures unusually warm in the northeast of the Pacific the “stain”. The climatologist Nick Bond coined the phrase when a large warmer mass of water normal was formed on the west coast in 2013 and 2014. It was driven by a strong event of El Niño and ended up spinning in the Gulf of Alaska until 2016. The temperatures of the sea surface were almost 5 warmer degrees than normal during the event.

“As the stain spread, unusually warm waters triggered extended harmful algae flowers,” according to a NASA story of the sea heat wave. “Although such flowers are common, they usually only last a couple of weeks before dissipating. However, the drop fed more durable and more dominant flowers, which became toxic to marine life and humans.”

At the end of 2015, the combined force of the warm stain and toxic flowers devastated the fishing industry, unraveling the marine food network. Fin whales and sea otters on land in Alaska, the Chinook salmon collapsed in the northwest and the hungry of sea lions covered the beaches of California. The appearance in 2014-16 of the warm stain killed an estimated 4 million common mutters, a type of sea bird that is located in the North Pacific.

“One of the impacts of climate change driven by humans is an increase in marine heat waves, events in which oceanic waters are much warmer than usual,” concluded a study of 2024. “We have seen that these events affect marine species, from producers to predators, but it is not clear if their impacts are persistent once the water temperatures decrease to normal levels.”

A study published in April found that the world of warming is overcapering sea heat waves. “Marine heat waves are extreme climatic events that consist of persistent periods of warm oceanic waters that have deep impacts on marine life,” according to research. “These episodes are becoming more intense, longer and more frequent in response to anthropogenic global warming.”

Meteorologists take into account this year’s warm stain in winter forecasts. The great anomalous water patch can induce a high pressure crest over the northwest of the Pacific, which changes the stream of the east and can submerge the east of the United States in Arctic Temperatures.

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