The mysterious mass of warm water in the Pacific that intrigues scientists

Hundreds of sea lion babies have appeared on the beaches of California in recent months.

In recent months hundreds of sea lion pups have appeared sick and hungry on the beaches of California, on the west coast of the United States, overwhelming animal rescue centers.

Scientists have long been trying to figure out what is causing these calves to separated from their mothers at an age where they can not feed themselves.

Now researchers at the University of Washington have published a study in which an explanation for this phenomenon occurs.

There is a huge mass of warm water about 1,600 kilometers long and 90 meters deep that extends along the west coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico.

This accumulation of water in places where the temperature is about 2.7 ° C above average has been dubbed "the stain" (the blob, in English).

Heavy snowstorms last winter in Boston were caused by the same phenomenon that caused the warming of the Pacific, according to experts.

Heating the water causes fewer nutrients in the ocean, which at the same time has altered the distribution of marine life and has decimated the food chain.

For example, sea lions must swim further for fish and other animals that feed, thus leaving more time for their offspring alone, hungry venturing to the coast.

This phenomenon is also affecting sea birds, whose mortality has soared in recent times.

Furthermore, in Alaskan waters they have been sighted in recent months fish species that usually live hundreds of kilometers south Pacific.

Unusual

Scientists believe the hot spot is the result of an unusual high pressure system that has developed in late 2013 in the northeastern Pacific, calming ocean waters and causing them to not get cold in winter as usual.

The mass of warm water extending along the west coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico.Photo: NOAA

"Clearly, the hot spot is related to the high pressure system that appeared in the winter of 2013-2014," said the expert, who notes that climate changes were also caused by that system.

"This hot water has had a big impact on marine ecosystems of the ocean. It is a major problem for the food chain."

Scientists believes that what is happening on the west coast of North America could be related to a weather phenomenon that not much is known although it is considered to have a major impact on the climate of the planet: the so-called Swing by Pacific Decade (PDO, for its acronym in English).

The so-called Pacific Oscillation (PDO, for short) is characterized by warm equatorial waters in the eastern Pacific.Photo: NASA

Two phases

PDO consists of a negative and a positive phase, that each can extend for more than a decade.

The positive phase is characterized by a warming of the waters of the eastern Pacific to Ecuador.

According to experts, this implies an increase in global temperatures and the framework for oscillations of shorter duration, such as El Niño occurs.

The PDO can cause increased rainfall in places like California and milder winters northeastern North American continent.

JPL expert believes the hot spot of the American Pacific coast is somehow related to the increase in temperature of the waters of Ecuador and the possibility of the beginning of the positive PDO.

Another phenomenon

Dennis L. Hartmann, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington does not agree on this point Patzert, and argues that "stain" is caused by a similar but different event PDO.

According to Hartmann, the warming waters of the western Pacific, off the intersection of 180th meridian and Ecuador, which led to the emergence of the high pressure system northwest of North America, which in turn raised the hot water mass initially detected in Alaskan waters.

Sea lions must swim further for fish and other animals that feed.

Scientists agree that little is known of phenomena such as PDO, which was described less than two decades ago .