Scientists recently noticed that an area in the Pacific Ocean off New Zealand coast is 6 Celsius hotter than its usual temperature. The researchers claimed that this spike in water may have been caused by an "anti-cyclone" weather system. This patch spans at least a million square kilometres, almost 1.5 times the size of Texas.
The head of geography, environment and earth sciences at Victoria University in Wellington, James Renwick stated that the phenomenon was noticed near the Chatham Islands archipelago and it has been emerging since past few weeks.
Patch of warm water
As per Renwick, "It's the biggest patch of above-average warming on the planet right now." He clarified that the usual temperature is about 15 Celsius, but at the moment they are about 20 Celsius. As per the expert, this sudden temperature rise could have a link to the greenhouse gas emission. But Renwick expects that this phenomenon was caused due to a strong high-pressure system and a lack of wind.
"It's not uncommon to see patches of warmer water off New Zealand but this magnitude of four, five, up to six degrees is pretty unusual. It's probably a very thin layer of the ocean that has warmed up and there hasn't been any wind to cool it for several weeks," added Renwick.
Effect on marine life
It should be noted that ocean pollution and climate change has already made marine life vulnerable to vanish. After the recent finding, Renwick claimed that this ocean heat could be difficult for local marine life if it penetrated far beyond the surface.
However, scientists will study the spike in temperature very soon to detect the actual cause and understand the local impact.
Environment change
Recent reports on the environmental crisis showed the extreme conditions in the US as well as in Australia. While almost every US state witnessed over foot snow in 24 hours, as per weather forecast Australia to hit more than 40 Celsius from Friday.
Data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) showed that in the US almost 48 of 50 states have received more than a foot of snow during a single 24-hour period. In 2018, the weather report suggested the upcoming of the Grayson storm, which was addressed as "bomb cyclone" or "winter hurricane".
In terms of Australia, a dangerous heatwave to sweep across the continent soon. This could escalate bushfire incidents. It was also revealed that 40 Celsius could affect regions like New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. However, New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons on Friday said, "[It] is all about shoring up protection before we see the conditions deteriorate again."
