You've probably heard the phrase "truth is stranger than fiction" a thousand times. This is certainly true when large schools of fish migrate north across the Pacific Ocean, leaving thousands of seals starving on the California coast. This phenomenon, caused by changes in sea surface temperatures, occurred in 2016 and is known as " The Blob . "
In this article we are going to tell you what The blob is and what effects it has on the environment that surrounds it. If you want to know more about it, this is your post.
What is the blob
We're talking about an anomaly in sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific. This temperature change has led several scientific teams to study why the water warmed up 4 degrees Celsius above normal in the upper layers. This temperature anomaly extended from Mexico to Alaska and covered a band 1600 kilometers wide.
The scientists who studied this anomaly were a group of researchers led by experts from the University of Washington. Several articles were published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters explaining the possible causes of the patch. They had already begun to notice an increase in temperatures during the fall of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. This mass of water does not cool down as it usually does, so by the spring of that same year it was already warmer than ever before seen at that time of year.
The term The blob was coined because it had a round shape of a blob that marked the areas where temperatures increased abnormally. This fact made many people think that it was a kind of warning that global warming was causing this unusual increase in Pacific water temperatures and that it could affect the climate in much of North America.
Impact of The blob on marine ecosystems
As we know, natural ecosystems, whether marine or terrestrial, maintain an ecological balance. This balance is more or less constant over time and represents a kind of harmony among all the variables that influence the ecosystem. These variables include temperature, wind patterns, rainfall levels, flora and fauna, soil pH, nutrients, and so on.
In this case, we are talking about an effect on the entire ecosystem after the sudden change in one of the values of the most important variables that influence the state of an ecosystem: temperature. We can intuit that in a marine ecosystem, temperature is one of the most important variables in order to generate a margin in which both animal and plant species can inhabit.
If the average temperatures to which living beings in these areas are accustomed change by 4 degrees Celsius from normal, the first consequence is a variety of negative impacts. The warm water had a significant impact on ecosystems, creating a major problem in the food chain upon which many species depended. If the most vulnerable species is also at the base of the food chain, the ecosystem will be severely affected by this change in temperature.
Studies
The studies that were published related the hot water spot with alterations in the meteorological phenomena of high pressure in the boreal winter of the year 2013-2014. These meteorological phenomena had an alteration due to the Pacific Oscillation and the El Niño phenomenon. The experts tried to present various observations on the processes that occurred at that time but could not draw conclusions about the scope or the relationship it had with other processes involved in climate change.
It was thought that these alterations in recent months were caused exclusively by the effects of climate change, since all that this phenomenon so that various changes, such as those seen in the increase in temperatures, will become more common as the years go by.
The blob reappears
When it was thought that this would not happen again, on September 21, 2019, other marine heat waves have been detected that have been produced by the increase in the abnormally high and prolonged water temperature in a specific place. For this increase in temperatures to have an impact, it must last at least a period of five days.
Given the uncertainty surrounding whether these phenomena are occurring more frequently due to climate change, a study was conducted and an article published in the journal Nature Climate Change states that these events are 17% longer between 1987 and 2016. This new study has linked the occurrence of marine heatwaves to detrimental effects on ecosystems. As the oceans warm due to rising global temperatures, these marine heatwaves are forming more frequently and lasting longer.
Consequences
If this continues, the effects on ecosystems will be greater and greater. The latest Blob event severely binges marine life in the eastern Pacific waters, especially pens that we know are highly vulnerable to changes in temperature. In addition, it has caused economic disasters throughout the fishing sector as catches have decreased.
For example, the animals most affected by rising temperatures are those that cannot migrate to cooler waters, and their lives are seriously endangered. Now, scientists are concerned about the development of a new and devastating marine heatwave that could create another large patch in the Pacific Ocean. This large patch has temperatures more than 3 degrees Celsius above average.
Hopefully these anomalies stop having impacts on marine life. I hope that with this information you can learn more about The blob.