Scientists map below-normal sea surface temperatures in the north Pacific

Bob Tisdale
Watts Up with That
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 20:06 UTC

The weather pattern that created Siberia's well-below-normal land surface air temperatures in October 2016 ...

© GHCN-CAMS

October 2016 Land Surface Air Temperature Anomalies (GHCN-CAMS through KNMI Climate Explorer)

...has apparently extended eastward. It is now influencing the sea surface temperatures of the North Pacific and creating an atypical large swath of cooler-than-normal observations that stretches almost fully from eastern Asia to western North America. See Animation 1, which is a gif animation of daily sea surface temperature anomaly maps from CMC Environment Canada for the past 30 days. Depending on your browser, you may need to click on the animation here .

© CMC Environment Canada

Sea ice and ocean temperatures on October 11, 2016

If (big if) those below-normal anomalies persist in the North Pacific, they should influence reported global sea surface temperatures in coming months. Then again, they could well result from a short-term weather pattern like the one that caused the recent resurrection and demise of THE BLOB.

Time will tell. Sure would be fun to report on if they persist.