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The Blob Blog - Warm Northeast Pacific Ocean Conditions Continue (2016)

Overview

Dr. Richard Dewey, Associate Director, Science
**Updated: February 3, 2016** The warm anomalous surface water conditions of the Northeast Pacific that became apparent in 2013 and continued through 2015, may seem to be dissipating as surface temperatures return to normal. But a significant amount of heat remains at depth, so there is likely more life left in the Blob for 2016. A series of cold winter storms sweeping across the Gulf of Alaska this (2015-16) past November through January have effectively washed out the surface signature of the "Blob". These are the same storms that have been absent for nearly three years and allowed the Blob to develop in late 2013. Typically, a deep Aleutian Low and winter storms in the Gulf of Alaska mix up cold nutrient-rich waters from below, cooling the surface waters and supplying essential nutrients to the phytoplankton and the rest of the food chain. But in 2013 and 2014 the Aleutian Low was weak and there was a near-complete absence of major winter storms in the Gulf, resulting in one of the most significant Northeast Pacific oceanographic events on record. A number of ongoing [scientific workshops](http://www.nanoos.org/resources/anomalies_workshop/workshop2.php) have been held to assess and discuss these extraordinary conditions.

Scientists weigh in on warming coastal waters

Overview

News stories this spring are reporting the presence of a large, mysterious, and unusual mass of warm surface water in the Northeast Pacific Ocean that has migrated from offshore Alaska to the western coastline, and stretches from northern B.C. to southern California. Ocean Network Canada’s Dr. Richard Dewey reported on this anomaly with data from the Folger Passage study site in November 2014. His new report “Warm Northeast Conditions Continue into 2015” provides further information as to how and why this warm water anomaly may have developed. For over five years, Ocean Networks Canada cabled observatories have continuously monitored ocean conditions such as temperature, salinity, and oxygen in the Northeast Pacific off southern Vancouver Island and the inland waterways of the Salish Sea. In a recent two-part CTV Island news story “Changing Tides,” Dewey joined other researchers who have been monitoring this “warm blob” to explain what it is and what impact it might have on west coast marine life. **Related Links:** CTV Vancouver Island News "Changing Tides" Part 1 | [Part 2](http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=577220)
NOAA News: [West Coast waters shifting to lower-productivity regime](http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/news/pressroom/documents/CCIEAPressRelease3-17-15.pdf)

The Northeast Pacific Blob: fading or not?

Overview

The warm surface water anomaly dubbed the “Blob” that has fascinated scientists and many Canadians for two years has all but disappeared from surface satellite maps. But is it gone for good? > “It’s not dead yet. There may still be a lot of heat down there—deep down—below the view from the satellites,” says Richard Dewey, Ocean Networks Canada’s Associate Director, Science Services.

The warm Blob chills out

Overview

2017 began with an icy snap: in early January, British Columbia experienced the first really cold weather in several years. Starting in late 2013, wind and weather patterns over the northeast Pacific shifted, evolving into what has become known as the warm Blob (Figure 1). The surface temperatures of this massive region of the northeast Pacific Ocean climbed as much as three degrees Celcius above the seasonal average.

Sea urchins on the move

Overview

NEWS RELEASE New research has uncovered a change in behaviour of deep-sea fragile pink sea urchins off the south coast of Vancouver Island that is linked to climate change impacts including the “[Blob](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/the-warm-blob-chills-out/)”, a marine heatwave that persisted in the Pacific Ocean off North America between 2013 to 2016. Researchers from the Memorial University, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria (UVic) found pink sea urchins (*Strongylocentrotus fragilis*) have been moving up into shallower waters as food sources and oxygen levels at lower depths decline due to a warming ocean. The research team analyzed seven years of physicochemical and video imagery data (2013-2020) collected at Barkley Canyon Upper Slope within ONC’s [NEPTUNE observatory](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/observatories/physical-infrastructure/cabled-networks/), along with 14 years of Fisheries and Oceans Canada trawl surveys, covering a 760-square kilometre area in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The data from NEPTUNE’s Barkley Canyon Upper Slope platform (depth 396 metres) included video cameras, oxygen sensors, and tools that monitor water currents and water physical properties.

A sea sponge stakeout

Overview

A new study published in the [*Marine Ecology Progress Series*](https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v748/p33-52/) highlights a resilient sea sponge’s response to its changing environment. The rare footage was captured by Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) seafloor cameras off the BC coast for over four years, marking the longest continuous recording of these ancient but remarkably active animals in the wild. The baseball-sized sponge, nicknamed Belinda by the researchers, was recorded by an eight-camera array and scientific instruments deployed at Folger Pinnacle, a site within ONC’s NEPTUNE (North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments) subsea observatory off the British Columbia coast. Researchers at the University of Alberta, University of Victoria (UVic), and ONC, a UVic initiative, observed Belinda’s daily, yearly, and seasonal changes in size, shape and colour. The cameras were rolling for the sponge’s sometimes daily “sneeze-like” contractions; as it shrank prior to the winter hibernation; as well as during the marine heatwave ([aka the Blob](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/the-blob-blog-warm-northeast-pacific-ocean-conditions-continue-2016/)) in the Pacific Ocean off North America between 2013 to 2016. Long-term monitoring of sedentary animals like sponges is rare and the study provides pivotal insight into the impact of environmental conditions such as water quality and temperature, both of which are affected by climate, according to the research team.