New England waters log the second warmest year on record in 2022
Fox News
Waters off the coast of New England were unusually hot in 2022. Last year the water temperatures were the second warmest on record in the Gulf of Maine.
The average sea surface temperature was 53.66 degrees, more than 3.7 degrees above the 40-year average, the scientists said. The accelerated warming is changing an ecosystem that's host to numerous important commercial fishing industries, especially for lobsters, they said.
One implication is that the warming is driving species more associated with southern waters into the Gulf of Maine and altering its food chain, said Janet Duffy-Anderson, chief scientific officer with the institute.
"Who will be the emergent species and who will be the species that decline is, in large part, a function of those interactions," said Duffy-Anderson. "At the moment, we’re not in a period of stability."