During the first six months of 2012, sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine¹ Ecosystem² were the highest ever recorded, according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory³ issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Above-average temperatures were found in all parts of the ecosystem, from the ocean bottom to the sea surface and across the region, and the above average temperatures extended beyond the shelf break front to the Gulf⁴ Stream. The annual 2012 spring plankton⁵ bloom was intense, started earlier and lasted longer than average. This has implications for marine life from the smallest creatures to the largest marine mammals like whales. Atlantic cod⁶（鳕鱼） continued to shift northeastward from its historic distribution center.

 

The Northeast US Continental⁷ Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) extends from the Gulf of Maine to Cape⁸ Hatteras, North Carolina. The NEFSC has monitored this ecosystem with comprehensive sampling programs from 1977 onward⁹; prior to 1977, this ecosystem was also monitored by the NEFSC through a series of separate but coordinated¹⁰ programs dating back decades.

 

"A pronounced warming event occurred on the Northeast Shelf this spring, and this will have a profound impact throughout the ecosystem," said Kevin Friedland, a scientist in the NEFSC's Ecosystem Assessment¹¹ Program. "Changes in ocean temperatures and the timing¹² of the spring plankton bloom could affect the biological clocks of many marine species, which spawn¹³ at specific times of the year based on environmental cues like water temperature."

 

Friedland said the average sea surface temperature (SST) exceeded 10.5 degrees C (51°F) during the first half of 2012, exceeding the previous record high in 1951. Average SST has typically been lower than 9 degrees C (48°F) over the past three decades. Sea surface temperature in the region is based on both contemporary satellite remote-sensing data and long-term ship-board measurements, with historical SST conditions based on ship-board measurements dating back to 1854.

 

In some nearshore locations like Delaware and Chesapeake Bays in the Middle Atlantic Bight region, temperatures were more than 6 degrees C (11°F) above historical average at the surface and more than 5 degrees C (9°F) above average at the bottom. In deeper offshore¹⁴ waters to the north, bottom waters were 1 degree C (2°F) warmer in the eastern Gulf of Maine and greater than 2 degrees C (3.6°F) warmer in the western Gulf of Maine.

 

The ocean bottom temperature data came from a variety of sources, including eMOLT, a cooperative research program between the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and lobstermen who deploy¹⁶ temperature probes attached to lobster¹⁵ traps. While some of the temperature probes from the eMOLT program are still in the water and have not yet been returned, those that have been returned indicate that bottom water temperatures in 2012 were the warmest since the eMOLT program began in 2001.

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