Gigantic Heat Anomaly Brewing in The Pacific Threatens a Return of 'The Blob'

A menacing heatwave is brewing in the Pacific Ocean

'ScienceAlert' Article Link

Roughly five years ago, a huge patch of unusually warm ocean water appeared off the coast of North America, stretching from Mexico's Baja California Peninsula all the way up to Alaska.

It was nicknamed the Blob, after a horror film monster that consumes everything in sight. The heatwave, which lasted for several years, was an equally indiscriminate killer.

I think I remember this when it happened for the first time back in 2013-2014.

According to estimates, during this time the southern coast of Alaska lost more than 100 million Pacific cod. Thousands of seabirds were found washed up on the shore, and about half a million were decimated in total. In one year alone, populations of humpback whales dropped by 30 percent. Salmon, sea lions, krill, and other marine animals also vanished in astonishing numbers, as toxic algae bloomed.

That toxic algae is nasty stuff. The current heatwave, they say, has not only popped up in the same area, it's grown in much the same way and is almost the same size.

Side by side, a comparison of both their early stages is ominous. Like the blob, the current marine heat wave emerged only a few months ago, as the winds that cool the ocean's surface began to die down.

Researchers tracking the phenomenon say the patch of ocean water is now roughly five degrees Fahrenheit above normal - just a degree or two less than temperatures during the last Blob.

Deep upwells of cold water have kept the heat wave from reaching the shore, but officials predict the event will likely have an impact on coastal ecosystems sometime this Northern Hemisphere fall.

According to the records, which go back to 1981, it's the second largest marine heatwave ever recorded. And it comes just years after the last one.

For now, researchers at NOAA are focused on tracking, predicting and mitigating the effects of marine heatwaves. During the last Blob, for instance, many whales died by getting trapped in fishing nets, as the animals moved closer to shore to avoid the warmer waters.

If fisheries and ecologists can work together, researchers hope we might be able to reduce some of the losses in the future. In the end, though, our control of the situation is pretty limited.

Still, not all heatwaves are the same and these blobs are hard to predict. As quickly as they can emerge, they can also dissipate. Scientists say there's still a chance that weather patterns will change and that the current patch of warm water will cool down, but they're keeping their eye on it.

Thank god it already killed all of us in 2014. That would make this round uneventful.

And now the question is, "What has changed and what is the cause" of this blob of heat ?

here in japan the oyster are dying off. I like them but now they go for like 1 buck a piece.
The ocean temps are /have changed in the last 3 years, that is a fact.

It's those pesky underwater aliens and their nuclear testing again. They would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

originally posted by: musicismagic
here in japan the oyster are dying off. I like them but now they go for like 1 buck a piece.
The ocean temps are /have changed in the last 3 years, that is a fact.

Sad but true, where I'm at (British Channel Islands, about 18 miles from the west coast of France), the price of Mackerel has shot-up to £10.50Lb (for reference, Sea Bass was going for £10.00Lb last time I was in the market, so-to-speak).

Just a few years ago, Mackerel was so abundant in local waters that it only cost about £3.00Lb. If you wanted it for free, hooking up to six at a time on feathers was no biggie.

Now, we're been seeing Bluefin tuna, which, quite frankly, is insane;

For the second consecutive year bluefin tuna, more common in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, have been seen in huge numbers in Jersey waters.

...Scientists believe that climate change and rising sea temperatures are responsible for their migration further north.

Source

Things are definitely hotting up, and it's got bad news written all over it, 😐

The ocean waters are heating up, but politicians won't talk about it, I guess you cant tax someone for using the ocean, at least not yet.

a reply to: LtFluffyCakes96

If that heat wasn't so far from Japan, I'd say it was radiation from Fukushima. Is there a caldera in that area?

Welp, time for a bitterly cold winter.

Everyone on the coast start dumping ice cubes into the ocean.

Oceans are rising and at the current rate you'll be able to notice it in about 1000 years.

Global warming and or Climate Change or Trump what ever you like best.

originally posted by: Chance321
a reply to: LtFluffyCakes96

If that heat wasn't so far from Japan, I'd say it was radiation from Fukushima. Is there a caldera in that area?

Water only gets hot from the reactor, you think the Fukushima reactor floated away or that, that water hasnt cooled down yet?
Fukushima was nothing compared to Chernobyl, Half of Russia and Western Europe would be uninhabitable using the wonky no knowledge diatribe of Fukushima followers.

Back on topic, kinda, the Atlantic has a cold blob.
Swings and roundabouts.

The heat must be a long way offshore. I live up here. I am an A/C mechanic and this has been the coldest, wettest summer in my memory. No fire bans even though all spring the news was all about the hottest driest summer ever on the way. I had the slowest A/C season in 30 years. It's weather.

a reply to: butcherguy
Uneventful..sure



Some people cant see beyond their own back yard.

I'm fairly certain it's volcanic in nature...there are thousands of volcanic cones under the ocean that get ignored ...nature is forging ahead whether we're here or not ..it very well could be time for an awakening of the ring of fire ..I just hope those near there aren't affected

... and I wasn't joking about my comment either. The last time the blob happened it sent lots and lots of Arctic cold plunging down over the plains all winter and the Great Lakes froze over well beyond the norm for them and kept the spring unnaturally cold well into the year.

Can I play devil's advocate for a moment? Is this different than the El Nino cycle that happens in the Pacific Ocean every few years?

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Yes, it is farther north in the Gulf of Alaska.

It seriously messes with the weather and fish here.
We just got over a blob a year ago, it took a few years to fully go away and now it is back.
It is killing the fishing industry.

a reply to: Darkblade71

It happens whenever there is an El Nino along the South American coast too.

originally posted by: butcherguy
Thank god it already killed all of us in 2014. That would make this round uneventful.

Magnetic poles moving and so is the Earth's magma that even has 'mag' in the name and some have pointed out here. I keep trying to show the Climate Hatemongers that Water and Magma will most certainly be affected by a magnetic field shift, period.

Therefore, that is all there is to it IMO.

We are simply, but in a very dynamic way, undergoing a Millennial event. The magnetic pole shift being part of several cycles that occur in the geological record that seems to have never been witnessed during our modern civilized history. Now, it seems we are here to document if we can survive..