Maine Waters Off New England Had 2nd Warmest Year On Record In ’22

PORTLAND, Me. — Last year, the waters off New England, home to rare whales and most of the American lobster fishing industry, had the second warmest year on record.

The Gulf of Maine, a body of water the size of Indiana that runs through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Canada, is warming faster than the vast majority of the world’s oceans. According to scientists at the Research Institute, a science center in Portland, last year fell short of setting a new high mark for the hottest year by less than half a degree Fahrenheit.

According to scientists, the average sea surface temperature was 53.66 degrees (12 degrees Celsius), more than 3.7 degrees above the 40-year average. They claim that accelerated warming is altering an ecosystem supporting numerous important commercial fishing industries, particularly lobsters.

According to Janet Duffy-Anderson, the institute’s chief scientific officer, one implication is that warming is driving species more associated with southern waters into the Gulf of Maine and altering its food chain. This includes species that prey on lobsters, such as black sea bass.

Researchers In Maine Found Water Warmer Than Usual

“Who will be the emergent species and who will decline is, in large part, a function of those interactions,” Duffy-Anderson said. “We are not currently in a period of stability.”

The Gulf is the heart of the lobster fishing industry, which has seen record catches over the last decade. However, lobster fisheries in deeper southern waters have collapsed, and scientists attribute this to rising temperatures.

The Gulf of Maine is also an important habitat for marine mammals such as the North Atlantic right whale, which has a population of only about 340 individuals, and sea birds such as Atlantic puffins. These and other species are threatened by disruptions in their food supply caused by warming waters.

According to a report released on Wednesday by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the environmental factors accompanying high temperatures in the Gulf of Maine include persistent, intense heatwaves.

The warming coincides with the warming of the world’s oceans. According to the report, last year was the third-warmest year on record for global sea surface temperature.

A Great Loss Of Balance Happening Around The World

“What is being observed in the Gulf of Maine (and elsewhere around the world) is a loss of that balance: larger fractions of recent years have experienced above-average temperatures, and cold spells are becoming increasingly rare,” according to the report.

According to records dating back to 1982, the hottest year in the Gulf of Maine was 2021. The average annual sea surface temperature that year was slightly higher than 54 degrees (12.2 degrees Celsius). Last year was a fraction of a percent warmer than the previous year, which was the third warmest in 2012.

Those three years were the only ones in recorded history when the average temperature of the Gulf of Mexico exceeded 53 degrees (11.7 degrees Celsius).

According to the report, other data paint a picture of the Gulf of Maine as a site of prolonged warming. According to the report, the average monthly sea surface temperature was among the top three warmest in nine of the year’s twelve months. According to the report, November and December both set new records for the highest monthly average sea surface temperature in the Gulf.

SOURCE – (AP)