The giant mysterious blob in the Pacific Ocean has finally been revealed

Known since 2010, giant blobs in the Pacific Ocean have become a mystery to those who witness them .

Patches of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, commonly known as "blobs", have had a disastrous impact on marine ecosystems since 2010. Now we know what's causing them. of them.

A new publication by an international team of researchers, and several previous detailed computer simulations, have linked the appearance of blobs to a reduction in aerosol emissions in China.

That shows that policies enacted to improve the environment can also come with negative consequences.

Pacific blobs lead to the death of many marine creatures.

The reason is that small particles in the air emitted by power plants are very effective in reflecting sunlight back into space and keeping the atmosphere cooler.

Without that cover, the Pacific Ocean would be more exposed to heat from the Sun, combined with the increasing heat from man-made global warming. These causes originate the appearance of the giant blob in the Pacific Ocean.

The rapid aerosol reduction over China causes atmospheric circulation anomalies beyond the source region, leading to significant surface warming of the Northeast Pacific, creating favorable conditions for warming events. to the extremes of the ocean.

Various clean air laws introduced in China in the 2010s have been effective in reducing the levels of pollutants released into the air and improving air quality as a result.

For example, between 2006 and 2017, sulfur dioxide emissions decreased by about 70%. However, that also brings some bad consequences for the ocean.

The team suggests that it's not just the direct radiation effects of aerosols that are at play. Aerosols are systems of small solid or liquid particles suspended in air or another gas. These particles are very small in size, usually ranging from a few nanometers to several tens of micrometers.

It is likely that a chain reaction of warming caused by the absence of aerosols helped change weather systems, reducing wind speeds over specific areas of the Pacific and causing oceanic plates to become warmer. overheating to a greater extent.

As always with these complex meteorological systems, there are many factors at play besides natural variability. While it is not just emissions reductions in China that are causing this, they also appear to be making these incidents more likely and contributing to the warming trend.

These blobs have led to large-scale deaths of fish, seabirds and other marine life , as well as toxic algal blooms that can further damage ecosystems as they block sunlight. sunlight and oxygen consumption.

The appearance of the Pacific blobs and their disastrous consequences are another example of the incredibly fragile balance and myriad influencing factors at play across the planet.