Forbes quotes Thomas, Pershing in article on Gulf of Maine warming

Forbes quoted Andrew Thomas, a professor in the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, and Andrew Pershing, an associate professor in the UMaine Climate Change Institute and chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, in an article about ocean heat waves and the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf of Maine is warming 99 percent faster than the rest of the world’s oceans, and is currently experiencing its third-warmest year in 37 years with water temperatures nearly 3 degrees warmer than average, the article states. “The temperature trends we see in this area are among the largest on the planet,” said Thomas. This accelerated warming is reducing lobster populations in the Gulf and depleting the populations of herring and haddock that puffin chicks rely on for nutrients, negatively impacting their survival rates as well, according to the article. “We wound up in the absurd situation that 250 of 313 days so far have qualified as an ocean heat wave,” said Pershing. “Weird is the new normal.”