Satellite data showed that California coastal winds weakened enough during the Pacific 'Blob' to prevent cold upwelling water from breaking through the unusually warm surface water.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by peer-reviewed study (Gentemann et al. 2017, GRL) and corroborated by NASA Earthdata and Earth Observatory features describing the same satellite-based finding on weakened winds preventing upwelling during the 'Blob' marine heat wave. [tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- A Striking New View of the Pacific 'Blob' (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/feature-articles/blob (corroboration)
- https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87513/the-demise-of-the-warm-blob (corroboration)
- https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL071039 (corroboration)