Not long ago, environmental scientists discovered an area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of North America that has water five degrees higher than the average ocean temperature in the region. It would seem that plus or minus five degrees is insignificant fluctuations. However, in the course of further research, it turned out that this is not just a local increase in water temperature. This is a whole heat wave, which is already a threat to all marine life in the Pacific Ocean.
Even a slight increase in water temperature can turn into an ecological disaster.
It is worth noting that a local increase in water temperature was recorded 5 years ago, which slightly disturbed 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 south to the coast of California.
According to experts from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sea heat waves are phenomena in which the water temperature in a given area is 90% warmer than in the same area in previous measurements. A new heat wave could be the largest in history. The previous record holder, the Blob heat wave, caused a poisonous algae bloom that killed the sea lions and nearly killed the whale population that had to move closer to the shore.
If the sea heat wave does not dissipate in the near future, then in the next year or two, warm water will penetrate deeper, which will lead to devastating consequences for the local fauna. Current forecasts indicate that an even greater temperature rise may occur within a few months.
Comparison of the new heat wave and the Blob.
The key question is how long a new heat wave can last. The consequences of its impact on the marine ecosystem depend on this. In any case, there are already shifts in this direction. For example, according to some reports, migration routes and sea lion populations are beginning to decline. A decrease in the number of crabs and molluscs was also recorded. And these are the initial links of the food chain. So the extinction of crabs and shellfish could turn into a real ecological disaster.
But what can be done? At the moment, scientists do not have a clear answer. On the one hand, people have already encountered 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 in order not to repeat the situation five years ago. For the rest, we can only hope that the heat wave will come to naught and the local flora and fauna will return to normal.
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Vladimir Kuznetsov