A 'hot blob' has appeared in the ocean - and now we know why.
Right now the southern reaches of the Pacific Ocean is one of the warmest sea spots on the planet with temperatures of up to 20C appearing as a bright red blob on satellite images, theProfessor James Renwick, a weather and climate researcher at Victoria University, has a simple explanation for the phenomenon: “It’s just a patch of water that’s had a lot of sunny skies and not much wind”.
“Sea temperatures don’t actually vary too much and a degree, plus or minus, is quite a big deal and this area is probably four degrees or more than that above average and that’s pretty huge.“It’s extremely warm water in terms of differences from average, it’s got to be one of the warmest spots on the planet at the moment,” said Renwick.
Renwick said the waters out to the east of the country had been experiencing “quite high pressures, sunny skies, light winds, so the surface of the ocean would warm up quite quickly”.
How far it travels towards South America, Renwick could not say, but if it did not break down over the next month and lasted for a couple of months “it may get reasonably close” but doubted it would reach the coast.Renwick said the blob was not a sign of global warming, just what happens in the ocean. A similar blob occurred at the Bering Sea in September.
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