NOAA study suggests rapid rise in ocean temps

Fish that were down there, may be coming up here and fish that were here, may be going up there. That, at least, is what some scientists are saying is a symptom of a new finding by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: ocean temperatures along the East Coast may be warming more quickly and severely than previously predicted.

In addition to the scientific studies supporting that conclusion, fish and other sea life appear to be moving north with the temperature shift.

The findings, published in a Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans article on Jan. 8., indicate water temperatures in the U.S. Northeast Shelf will increase at double the previously conjectured rate and three times the global average.

The Northeast Shelf is the designation of the large marine ecosystem that extends from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras and contains a mix of temperate waters and warm eddies spinning off the Gulf Stream.

More