Rising ocean temperatures have long alarmed scientists and caused Maine’s environmentalists to advocate drastic government actions, but their apocalyptic warnings about boiling oceans may have been premature, according to new data that show the world’s oceans cooling.
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Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that early 2024, from February to March, saw the strongest Atlantic “warm event” since 1982, with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since then, from June until now, the Atlantic has undergone a rapid reversal, switching from anomalous heat to a rapidly dropping temperature with unprecedented speed.
The sudden cooling trend is baffling scientists.
“Never before in the observed record has the eastern equatorial Atlantic swung so quickly from one to another extreme event,” said Franz Tuchen, writing for NOAA.
The rapid shift has defied the predictions of scientists at NOAA, who expected the ocean’s warm spell to continue throughout the summer.
Scientists have not found the cause of the cooling.
According to the NOAA, periods of Atlantic cooling are typically accompanied by the strengthening of southeasterly trade winds—permanent east-to-west winds near the equator—but the current cooling pattern has come with weakening winds, something typically associated with warming oceans.
The cooling conditions in the Atlantic may lead climate scientists to declare an “Atlantic Niña,” a natural pattern of cooling temperatures in the eastern Atlantic often associated with cooler temperatures and drier weather.
The pattern is opposite the Atlantic Niño weather pattern, which brings warm weather and heightened hurricane risks.
According to the NOAA, shifts between the two patterns happen naturally every few years.
The dramatic downward shift in temperature is not isolated to the Atlantic.
Data from the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute show global ocean temperatures between the extreme North and South are also declining.
While the start of the year saw global temperatures far above the 2023 levels, by mid-July, the 2024 temperatures dropped below the 2023 levels and remained there, with a downward trajectory.
Currently, the temperature sits at 0.2 degrees Celsius below the same point last year, a small number, but nevertheless significant when considering global ocean temperatures.
NOAA’s new temperature data may throw cold water on environmentalists alarmist rhetoric over the urgent threat to ocean life and commercial fisheries posed by hotter oceans.
For years, climate activists in Maine and across the globe have used rising ocean temperatures to justify drastic and expensive government programs, such as major subsidies for inefficient energy systems, mandates for costly Electrical Vehicles, and other restrictive measures that burden ratepayers, taxpayers, and businesses.
Those activists will now have to contend with the unprecedented, rapid shift to a cooling pattern.
On the international level, a 2023 statement from the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres cited rising ocean temperatures as a cause for grave concern and claimed that the world has left its period of “global warming” and that “the era of global boiling has arrived.”
“July 2023 is set to be the hottest month ever recorded. The consequences are tragic: Children swept away by monsoon rains. Families running from the flames. Workers collapsing in scorching heat. No more hesitancy or excuses,” he added in a post on X.
More locally, Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree (D), a vocal advocate for climate regulations, was making claims as far back as 2017 that the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than the vast majority of the world’s oceans.
“Gulf of Maine is already warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans,” said Rep. Pingree in a 2017 tweet.
She has continued discussing the rising Gulf temperatures into 2024.
“The Gulf of Maine is warming at **3 TIMES** the global average. We need climate action NOW to protect the health of our oceans + our coastal communities,” said Pingree in a 2024 post.
Pingree has even used her climate activism to demand that everyday Mainers buy used clothes out of fear that they will produce too much waste by throwing away unwanted garments.
Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) has also used the warming of Maine’s oceans to push for drastic climate regulations.
During a 2023 interview with NPR, she claimed that increasing temperatures in the Gulf will affect both Maine’s historic fishing industry and its tourism.
“The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than about 99% of the remaining water bodies across the world. And we see it. The fishermen see it. The marine resources people see it. The hospitality industry sees it. So that’s happening,” said Gov. Mills.
Mills continued to use rising ocean temperatures to push radical regulations even after temperatures began to drop.
During her radio address, Mills linked rising ocean temperatures to rising sea levels and the increasing frequency of severe storms, such as the storms that devastated the state this past winter.
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“You know, Maine’s climate, like the rest of the world’s, is changing. Monday, July 22, 2024 was the hottest day ever on the planet Earth. The waters of the Gulf of Maine are warming faster than almost any other water body in the world. Ocean waters are rising, pushing tides higher. Storms are more frequent and more severe,” said Mills.
The Maine Climate Council, established by Mills, also cites the warming ocean as a cause for great concern, claiming that it will lead to a temperature increase across the state.
“The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming bodies of water in the world. This warming is also contributing to warmer temperatures on land in Maine,” says the state’s Climate Impact Dashboard.
The warming of the Gulf of Maine was even the subject of a NOVA documentary released earlier this month.
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The Governor’s Energy Office did not respond to an email asking whether the latest scientific data would alter the administration’s plans to move forward with her plans for controversial offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine.