Climate Change | Sea Level Rise | Ocean Acidification

July 6, 2026

NOAA Coral Reef Watch Daily 5km SST Categories for Tracking Marine Heatwaves (v1.01) 5 July 2026, public domain

The Pacific Ocean is running a fever. Why that’s an ominous sign – the Washington Post

Excerpt:
A marine heat wave covering an area eight times the size of the United States could soon fuel serious storms and extreme heat….

Across the Pacific Ocean, there’s a massive marine heat wave covering an area more than eight times the size of the contiguous United States — and it could have profound ripple effects for weather events around the globe in the coming weeks and months.

This area makes up about 13.5 percent of Earth’s total surface, stretching from the Philippines to Peru — where people are flocking to the beach during the Southern Hemisphere winter — and northward to the coasts of Hawaii and California.

Marine heat waves are a strong, sprawling and sustained warming in the ocean, sometimes near the surface and other times extending deep. They are ranked on a scale from 1 (moderate) to 5 (beyond extreme), reflecting both their intensity and duration.

The enormous Pacific marine heat wave formed as two separate marine heat waves combined: one in the North Pacific and another associated with a developing super El Niño along the equator.

While warmer seas might sound nice to some beachgoers, what happens in the ocean doesn’t stay in the ocean — and this marine heat wave is an ominous sign for weather patterns to come.

“Months and months of warmth could mean stark impacts this winter and next spring,” said climate scientist Dillon Amaya, who has been closely monitoring the warmth near California.

Two significant weather events in the next two weeks are connected to this marine heat wave: a super typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean and the potential for a profound heat dome in the western United States during mid-July.

The typhoon, named Bavi, will be powered by the bathtub-like warmth of the western Pacific. This dangerous storm will pass near the Northern Mariana Islands, north of Guam, on Monday local time and could also bring destructive impacts to Taiwan and China late in the week.

Meanwhile, thunderstorms bubbling over the marine heat wave could promote the formation of a powerful heat dome thousands of miles away in the western U.S. during mid-July, sending temperatures soaring there.

Defense Department meteorologist Eric Webb said in an X post that this pattern could “greatly increase heat/wildfire risks north of New Mexico and Arizona.” That’s an area where wildfires have recently been raging.

But there may be much more extreme weather after that.

In a recent live stream, climate scientist Daniel Swain said the very warm Pacific seas are expected to drive sea levels 6 inches to 2 feet higher near California.

Winds from storms this fall and winter will elevate the sea even more, potentially resulting in dangerous rises of 2 to 3 feet or more near the California coast.

“This is the time for local governments, for county governments and for the state government to start to prepare for a significant likelihood of much higher than average sea levels, more disruptive coastal flooding and potentially record-breaking coastal water levels during winter storm events and king tide events,” Swain said…

Read Full Article: the Washington Post (07-05-2026)

Image at top: NOAA Coral Reef Watch Daily 5km SST Categories for Tracking Marine Heatwaves (v1.01) 5 July 2026, public domain

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

More on Climate Change | Sea Level Rise | Ocean Acidification . . .

Early Melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet (2017) by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

Scientists just got some ancient clues about future sea-level rise – the Washington Post

Coastal Care January 6, 2026

Tangier Island — off the mainland coast of Virginia — is one of the last inhabited islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Before colonial settlers arrived in the 1700s, Indigenous people likely traveled to the island in the summer to take advantage of the abundant fish and crabs…Many descendants of the original settlers — with surnames like Crockett, Parks and Thomas — have remained to this day. The isolation has allowed the development of a unique accent, one that some residents describe as a mix between “Southern” and “Elizabethan” English….

Tangier Island is seen in Accomack County, Va., on March 20, 2017. (courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Program, photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program with aerial support by Southwings CC BY-NC 2.0 via Flickr).

This small Virginia island could be underwater before the next century – NPR

Coastal Care September 30, 2025

Tangier Island — off the mainland coast of Virginia — is one of the last inhabited islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Before colonial settlers arrived in the 1700s, Indigenous people likely traveled to the island in the summer to take advantage of the abundant fish and crabs…Many descendants of the original settlers — with surnames like Crockett, Parks and Thomas — have remained to this day. The isolation has allowed the development of a unique accent, one that some residents describe as a mix between “Southern” and “Elizabethan” English….

South Georgia Island, 2018 (courtesy of European Space Agency: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO via Flickr).

First sea-level records for coastal community protection – the European Space Agency

Coastal Care June 26, 2025

Satellites have revolutionised our ability to measure sea level but their data becomes less reliable near coasts…To address this critical gap, ESA’s Climate Change Initiative Sea Level Project research team has reprocessed almost two decades of satellite data to establish a pioneering network of ‘virtual’ coastal stations. These stations now provide, for the first time, reliable and consistent sea-level measurements along coastlines…

Load More
no more posts . . .
Instagram Facebook Twitter

© 2010 – 2024 CoastalCare.org