All This Warm Water NOW... and an El Nino on the Way? Shudder!

[drbill]

Last summer and fall the water temperature off Catalina's leeward side was HOT, HOT, HOT. Heck, I'm still diving a 3/2mm full wetsuit in February and March for single dives. And now they say that a true El Nino may be on the way? Not good news IMHO.

Giant kelp (Macrocystis) has already had a horrible year with warm water, low nutrients and storm surge. Hardly any of it left in some places and the "plants" (I just can't refer to giant kelp as a Protist) trying to emerge through the dense Sargassum horneri are really struggling to capture sunlight. If we are faced with another warm water episode this year, I fear for the giant kelp forests that make our local diving so incredible.

Macrocystis propagules have a limited dormancy (some say about one year). Will they survive a second year of near-tropical heat? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Buoy_A]

I was just telling someone today that I'm not sure I'd be diving at all if it weren't for giant kelp; that's how much I love it and the environment it sustains.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

We had very little kelp up here in Norcal last year. This year there isn't ANY growing, not even stubs. I know our winter storms are many times stronger than anything you guys get down south but the bull kelp is supposed to be able to withstand more punishment than giant kelp. Still, there should be something at least. At this rate the abalone are going to have a tough time along with the urchins.
But, this also may mean we will get a lot of much needed rain if the pineapple belt kicks in.
The other day I was out diving and the water was 57 degrees, that's 7 to 9 degrees warmer than usual. It's the first time in a long time that my exposed face between my hood and mask didn't go numb and actually felt warm.
Now if the bugs would only come north then I'd be happy.

 

[drbill]

Wow... I didn't realize the warm temperatures extended up that far north. Hopefully they won't trigger withering disease in the abs there.

Here in SoCal the warm temperatures killed off a lot of our urchins (at least the Strongylocentrotus species, Centrostephanus is a warm water species and seemed to fare fine). The lack of drift kelp made it tough for the local abs. When the Sargassum horneri dies out, it floats to the surface so it doesn't provide much food to the abs on the bottom. I have to hand feed them.

Perhaps the only "good" thing about the warm water ecologically appears to be that the invasive Sargassum is dying out earlier than I expected. My colleagues in Japan are concerned that ocean warming there is causing a reduction in that commercially important species.

Had 64 F as my bottom temp at 100 ft yesterday on both computers. 64 F in early March? Yikes.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Wow... I didn't realize the warm temperatures extended up that far north. Hopefully they won't trigger withering disease in the abs there.

Here in SoCal the warm temperatures killed off a lot of our urchins (at least the Strongylocentrotus species, Centrostephanus is a warm water species and seemed to fare fine). The lack of drift kelp made it tough for the local abs. When the Sargassum horneri dies out, it floats to the surface so it doesn't provide much food to the abs on the bottom. I have to hand feed them.

Perhaps the only "good" thing about the warm water ecologically appears to be that the invasive Sargassum is dying out earlier than I expected. My colleagues in Japan are concerned that ocean warming there is causing a reduction in that commercially important species.

Had 64 F as my bottom temp at 100 ft yesterday on both computers. 64 F in early March? Yikes.

I'll bet on the lee side of Catalina you guys will see mid 70's water temps this summer.
That's board short temps or at the most a 3 mil for me.
I sampled an urchin the other day and the roe was thin, brownish and bitter, not plump bright yellow and sweet like they are when the kelp is thick and healthy. That's a sign that they're not eating enough or eating the wrong things to survive.

On the bugs, that's a pipe dream because there would be no way they would survive up here even if the water temps became favorable. The giant pacific octupus would wipe them out. I hear the two don't share any territory.
One thing I have seen in abundance (and is considered an invasive species) are the Puget Sound king crabs. They seem to be doing just fine.

 

[geoff w]

I guess we're luckier over here on the other side of the pond from Avalon - cold water near shore (low 50s this past weekend) and still reasonably healthy kelp beds to dive in. However, the weekend before last at Little Dume I noticed the invasive sargassum is starting to take hold, and then this past weekend I started seeing the sargassum at Leo Carrillo closer to shore. Farther out at Leo Carrillo we didn't see any sargassum. Even though the water is a little warmer than normal for this time of year, it sure felt cold yesterday!