Why is it happening?
Although New Englanders recently endured early June air temperatures more typical of July and August, this past winter was not especially warm, making it unlikely that the Gulf of Maine warmed up due to atmospheric heating. Rather, satellite images from mid- to late January show exceptionally high water temperatures along the edge of the continental shelf and into the northern Gulf of Maine. We’re seeing warming throughout the water column, not just at the surface, which suggests these trends are in fact driven by Atlantic Ocean currents, not atmospheric conditions. By late May, the unusually warm water had reached the western Gulf of Maine, tracking the dominant counterclockwise circulation pattern.
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