October 19, 2020 — We really baked this summer, with the Northeast and the East Coast experiencing intense heat waves.
In August alone, the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton recorded six days with temperatures over 90 degrees, four more than the average for the month. July had five days with temperatures over 90, two more than the monthly average.
While we often seek relief in the ocean, marine heat waves also occur, and those can adversely affect the creatures and plants that live there and have no refuge except deeper, colder water, if they can find it. Marine heat waves can be deadly: Researchers say “The Blob,” a large mass of warm water that extended down nearly 700 feet along 1,800 miles of North Pacific coastline, may have killed off over 62,000 common murre birds.
While most might expect that air temperatures may be driving those higher water temperatures, oceanic currents play a major role.
The Atlantic Ocean right off our doorstep is one of the fastest-warming ocean bodies on the planet, and some researchers say that may be due to a slowdown of what is known as the Atlantic conveyor belt, a massive offshore current that transports cold water from the Arctic south to the equator and returns warm water to the north and to Europe.