Given the California drought is expanding into the West Coast drought, as drought conditions expand in Oregon and Washington, I thought it best to further look into one of the main factors causing this drought — the giant ‘blob’ of warm ocean water forming off the California coast, which is causing the ‘ridiculously resilient’ high pressure system, which is preventing moisture to reach California. The thing is, nobody is discussing what is causing the ocean water to warm to such unusual temperatures off the California coast (a seemingly separate phenomena from the developing El Nino).
Though obviously I am only relying on public information on this subject, I can only but wonder whether there is a link between events in Antarctica and the warming of the northern Pacific ocean waters. It is a verifiable scientific fact that the land-based ice in Antarctica is melting at an accelerating pace, due to rising ocean water temperatures. Scientific research shows that the accelerating melt off has caused a large layer of fresh water (low saline water) to form in the ocean surrounding Antarctica, which has greatly reduced ocean ‘mixing’, where the warmer deeper water is no longer able to rise to the surface and thus no longer able to cool. Given this, the Antarctica Bottom Water, which is a product of this mixing and is a cold water current, has all but disappeared, which means that the water flowing from Antarctica northward into the northern Pacific is now warm water, not cold water. This fact is not being discussed in the media.
If this is true — it is the logical conclusion of public information, though a conclusion not being discussed — then, this would be one factor behind the massive El Nino that is currently developing. It would also be a major factor for the giant warm blob of abnormally warm ocean water that has formed off the California coast. It also means that the northern Pacific water temperature will continue to rise. If the disappearance of the Antarctica Bottom Water is indeed a major factor in the rise of ocean temperatures in the north Pacific, then this is something totally unprecedented. Given this scenario, we can expect the sea lions of California to all but disappear (this past year has seen an unprecedented number of seal pups being abandoned), we can expect high temperatures to worsen off the West Coast and with it, a continuation of drought conditions despite the coming of El Nino, and who knows what else will happen should the northern Pacific waters continue to warm.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/antarctica-ice-melt-sea-level-18155
http://www.livescience.com/43805-global-warming-changes-antarctica-ocean-currents.html
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-antarctic-magazine/2011-2015/issue-23-december-2012/science/antarctic-bottom-water-disappearing