Not Enough Wind

Here is an interesting meteorological problem that has crept up on coastal Californians, and one that I would never have suspected existed, since we got more than our normal spring rainfall this year, and which I thought meant stormy: there hasn't been enough wind along the coast recently, which means less overturning of cold water from the deep, which means warming of the water and less fertilization of plankton, and thus the starvation of all marine creatures:

Marine biologists are spotting ominous signs all along the Pacific Coast this year: higher nearshore ocean temperatures, plummeting catches of groundfish, an explosion of dead birds on coastal beaches, and perhaps most disturbing, very few plankton - the tiny critters that form the basis of the ocean's intricate food web.

From California to British Columbia, unusual weather patterns have disrupted the marine ecosystem, scientists say. The normal northerly winds failed to show up this year, preventing the usual upwelling of colder water that sustains the plankton, and in turn, many other species from anchovies to cormorants to whales.