Summer is Coming: Bigger and Warmer Than Ever
Recent SST Trends and Phenology Shifts on the US Northeast Continental Shelf
Dr. Andrew Thomas
Professor of Oceanography
School of Marine Sciences
UMaine
Satellite sea surface temperature (SST) data are used to quantify and map regional differences in trends of SST and SST phenology on
the northeast North American continental shelf, an area of globally extreme positive SST trends. Strongest trends are over the Scotian
Shelf and the Gulf of Maine with weaker trends over the inner Mid-Atlantic Bight. There is a strong seasonal bias in when these SST
trends occur: winter trends are relatively weak and even negative, and summer trends are strongest. These seasonal biases create shifts
in many metrics of timing (phenology) within the SST seasonal cycle. One of the strongest phenology trends shows the duration of the
summer warm period increasing by > 2 days year-1 in the Gulf of Maine.
Polycom availability with Darling Marine Center, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and Bigelow Laboratories
Host: Lee Karp-Boss