Recent Research Employing Elephant Seal Data Finds the Blob’s Deeper Warm-Water Oddities More Widespread

The greatest and longest-lasting marine heatwave ever was the North Pacific Blob, which started in late 2013 and lasted until 2015.

According to recent research employing elephant seal data, the Blob's subsurface warm-water anomalies were significantly more widespread than previously thought, in addition to the well-known surface warming.

Elephant seals reveal new features

(Photo : Jason Moyer/Unsplash)

A group of biologists and oceanographers from UC Santa Cruz announced fresh findings in an article printed on July 4 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, as cited by ScienceDaily.

According to senior author Christopher Edwards, a professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz, elephant seals gather data in different places than current oceanographic sites.

This underused information can teach us about significant oceanic processes and aid researchers in their understanding of the ecology of northern elephant seals.

Researchers studying elephant seals at UCSC have been using cutting-edge tagging technology to follow their months-long migrations in the North Pacific Ocean for many years.

The research team is led by co-author Daniel Costa, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of the UCSC Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS).

This is one of the first studies to employ seal-collected data to answer physical oceanographic problems in temperate locations, such as the North Pacific Ocean, Costa said.

Seals have long been used to investigate the physical oceanography of polar regions.

During their approximately 6,000-mile travels across the North Pacific, the creatures carry sensors that measure depth, temperature, and salinity as they regularly dive to extreme depths.

Elephant seal research during the Blob showed that temperatures were unusually warm 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) below the surface. Long after surface temperatures had stabilized, the subsurface warming continued into 2017.

The Blob's surface warming, which was caused by atmospheric circumstances and was fading, has been well investigated.

The frequency, size, and length of marine heatwaves are anticipated to rise as global temperatures continue to rise.

These occurrences may have lasting effects on marine life as well as economic repercussions for nearby populations who depend on marine ecosystems and fisheries.

Scientists will be able to predict the commencement and progression of marine heatwaves with the aid of an understanding of the physical processes involved, and people will be able to foresee and deal with the ecological and economic effects.

Similar to terrestrial heatwaves, the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves have dramatically increased during the past ten years.

The more data experts can get, the better equipped we'll be to comprehend what's occurring and meet the problems.

Also Read: Male Elephant Seals Intentionally Eat to Gain Weight or Die Trying: New Study

Elephant seals

Although they may be found in California and Baja California, northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) prefer to visit offshore islands rather than the North American continent, as per the National Geographic.

The sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters where southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) reside are extremely cold yet teeming with the fish, squid, and other marine delicacies that these seals love.

Elephant seals from the southern hemisphere give birth on land but spend the winters in the chilly waters of the Antarctic close to the pack ice.

The biggest seal species are the southern elephants. Males may weigh up to 8,800 pounds and measure longer than 20 feet.

However, despite their enormous size, these huge pinnipeds are not known as elephant seals. They get their name from the inflated snouts on their trunk-like faces.

These seals, known as sea elephants, give birth to a single pup in the late winter and raise it for about a month.

Females do not eat when nursing their young; instead, both the mother and the youngster rely on the energy provided by the mother's vast reserves of blubber.

Each year, females give birth to one pup following an 11-month pregnancy.

Elephant seals travel great distances in search of food, spending months at sea and frequently going quite deep to hunt.

In the winter, they return to their rookeries to reproduce and give birth. Elephant seals of both sexes spend time at sea, but their migration patterns and feeding strategies are different.

Males take a more predictable path, whilst females change their itineraries to pursue shifting food.