Heatwaves Underwater Could Be Secretly Damaging Ecology on the Ocean Floor

Amaze Lab

Way back in 2013 an oceanic heatwave developed in the Pacific. ScienceAlert reports it stretched from Alaska all the way down to Mexico, and it produced toxic algae blooms, messed with oceanic ecology and caused birds that rely on fish to starve.

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00:00Way back in 2013, an oceanic heatwave developed in the Pacific.

00:08Science Alert reports it stretched from Alaska all the way down to Mexico,

00:12and it produced toxic algae blooms, messed with oceanic ecology,

00:15and caused birds that rely on fish to starve.

00:18In fact, according to Earth data, the heatwave triggered a temperature jump

00:21in the waters off the coast of Oregon, causing them to skyrocket

00:24some 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit in a single hour.

00:27Now, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says

00:30these types of events don't just happen on the surface.

00:33They can also occur on the bottom of the ocean as well.

00:36What's more, they can be even more extreme and last even longer

00:39than the one experts clocked in 2013.

00:41Previous studies have relied almost solely on buoy data to track these events,

00:45but the researchers say oceanic heatwaves occurring deep underwater

00:48might not affect surface temperatures at all.

00:50Writing in their new report, quote,

00:52Not only do bottom marine heatwaves tend to persist longer than their surface counterparts,

00:56but there are many regions where bottom marine heatwave intensity

00:59tends to exceed surface marine heatwave intensity for the same location,

01:02spiking as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit on the ocean floor,

01:05with the researchers adding that since we often have no indicators on the surface,

01:08we might only see its deadly effects long after its impact has already begun to show.

01:13We'll see you on the show.

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