West Coast Perception Patterns are Changing by the Rising Ocean Temperature

Rising ocean Temperature in the Pacific are at the core of the West Coast’s precipitation patterns, driving winter storms, and could wind up causing the climate of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest to switch, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado have determined that ocean Temperature and not the planet’s ice sheets, are ‘directly responsible’ for changing the North Pacific’s atmosphere and the West Coast’s precipitation patterns.

This happened during the Last Glacial Maximum, which occurred between 31,000 and 16,000 years ago and is currently happening now. Scientists originally thought that during the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 20,000 years ago, large ice sheets hovered over North America and these ice sheets caused the dramatic shift in the atmosphere’s circulation.

Given that Pacific Ocean Temperature and West Coast precipitation patterns are linked, it could mean there could be a ‘dramatic change’ in the West Coast climate in a relatively short period of time. The lead author of the study said that it is distinctly plausible that they could get an ocean Temperature pattern in the North Pacific that looks very much like what we saw during the Last Glacial Maximum.Scientists thought that during the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 20,000 years ago, large ice sheets hovered over North America and these ice sheets caused the dramatic shift in the atmosphere’s circulation.