The Alarming Discovery of Heatwaves at the Bottom of the Ocean

The first broad assessment of bottom marine heat waves in the productive continental shelf waters surrounding North America has been generated by a team led by NOAA researchers. Marine heat waves have a significant impact on ocean ecosystems globally, disrupting the productivity and distribution of organisms, from plankton to whales. Most of that research has focused on temperature extremes at the ocean’s surface, for which there are many more high-quality observations taken by satellites, ships, and buoys. Due to the relative scarcity of bottom-water temperature datasets, the scientists used a data product called “reanalysis” to conduct the assessment, which starts with available observations and employs computer models that simulate ocean currents and the influence of the atmosphere to “fill in the blanks.”