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Massive 2019 Blob Forms

By Alex Wierbinski - Posted on 20 September 2019

OCEANS, ICE, WATER, & THE BLOB

Comparing The Blobs of 2014 & 2019
Comparing Blobs of 2014 & 2019, NOAA Sea Surface Temperatures, Big Maps.
NOAA Sea Surface Temperatures representing the 2014 & 2019 Blobs, Big Maps.

UPDATE

Marine Heat Wave Returns to the Northeast Pacific,
NASA Earth Observatory, September 12, 2019.

Massive 2019 Blob Forms

New Marine Heatwave Emerges off West Coast, Resembles "the Blob,"
NOAA Fisheries, September 5, 2019.

WATCH the BLOB
Current & Recent
Sea Surface Temperatures
(Scroll up for El Nino Information)

MAIN POINTS

A Rerun
Return of the Blob
"About five years ago “the Blob” of warm ocean water disrupted the West Coast marine ecosystem and depressed salmon returns. Now, a new expanse of unusually warm water has quickly grown in much the same way, in the same area, to almost the same size." (2014 Blob)

Size
"The warm expanse building off the West Coast stretches roughly from Alaska south to California. It ranks as the second largest marine heatwave in terms of area in the northern Pacific Ocean in the last 40 years, after "the Blob."

“It’s on a trajectory to be as strong as the prior event.”

Moving Onshore
"Cold water welling up from ocean depths along the coast has so far held the warm expanse offshore, he said. However, the upwelling, driven by coastal winds, usually wanes in the fall. The heatwave could then move onshore and affect coastal temperatures. This already appears to have happened along the coast of Washington.

Becoming a Regular Event?
"El Nino El Norte?"
“We learned with ‘the Blob’ and similar events worldwide that what used to be unexpected is becoming more common.”

New Patterns Emerged, Establishing Themselves
"The new northeast Pacific heatwave reflects current weather patterns. This includes a band of high pressure stretching north to the Bering Sea and Alaska, which have been unusually warm in recent years"

Duration
Rapid Rise & Fall?
"A ridge of high pressure dampened the winds that otherwise mix and cool the ocean’s surface. The heatwave remains relatively new and is primarily affecting the upper layers of the ocean, it could break up rapidly."

Disruptions
"A key question is whether the new heatwave will last long enough to affect the marine ecosystem. Biologists say that its large size means it probably already has. For example, warmer conditions during “the Blob” left lesser-quality food available to young salmon entering the ocean. It also shifted predator distributions in ways that contributed to low returns of salmon."

NOAA Watching
"NOAA Fisheries scientists recently convened a special meeting to discuss the emerging heatwave and how to anticipate and track its effects. They are now reviewing impacts documented during the “the Blob” to compare them against the effects of the emerging heatwave."

Previous Blob Problems
“...the Blob” left lesser-quality food available to young salmon..."

"The largest harmful algal bloom recorded on the West Coast, which shut down crabbing and clamming for months."

"Thousands of young California sea lions stranding on beaches."

"Multiple declared fishery disasters."

"...humpback and other whales to feed closer to shore. Record numbers became entangled in lines from crab traps and other fishing gear."

Bottom Line

The seasonal wind patterns have already changed, changing how & when seasonal winds push ocean heat and currents. This has changed the timing and character of the seasons themselves... The Blob is a Manifestation of those Changes, of the New World of Climate, Weather, Oceans, (with not much Cold or Ice), that our irresponsible behavior has given birth to, and is rapidly driving forward.

Basic History
The Blob
"In 2014 the ocean along the West Coast of North America experienced abnormally warm temperatures which shifted the distributions of marine life, altered food webs, and fueled blooms of toxic algae. This basin-scale “marine heat wave”, later termed the warm “BLOB”, was unique in the history of monitoring and actually persisted until mid-2016 when it finally was replaced by relatively strong El Niño conditions." NOAA.

TRACKING THE BLOB
Current & Recent
Sea Surface Temperatures
(Scroll up for El Nino Information)

The Next Step?
Return of the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge?

Is the, "Return of the Blob," an indication of an increasing likelihood that the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, being the Big High that sat stubbornly off the Coast of California and the Western US, along with, "The Blob," that blocked storms from hitting California during the Great Drought, is returning along with this New Blob?

And, therefore our desperate drought is on the cusp of returning?

It is, and we will be in deep trouble, if this New Blob is matched by a New Ridiculously Resilient Ridge...

Watching
The North Pacific High

Current Surface Status of North Pacific

5-Day North Pacific Surface Forecast

Weather Observations Update
A Relationship between Blob and Ridge?
Sept 2019
Status & Evolution of the High Sierra Spring Thaw of 2019: BLOB & RIDGE

Related

See October 31, 2018 entry,
"The Blob & the Resiliant Ridge"

The Big Blocking Ridge an Existential Threat

More on the 2019 Blob

Seattle Times
New marine heat wave resembles killer ‘Blob’ that devastated sea life on West Coast, NOAA says,
Seattle Times, September 5, 2019.

Earlier Blob News