Why did 1 million seabirds die in the ocean? Study: The culprit is the ocean heat wave

According to foreign media reports, a few days ago, a new study in the United States showed that the "clump" of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean was the "culprit" that killed about 1 million seabirds from 2015 to 2016.

Infographic: Seabirds. Photo by China News Service on the ocean

The bird is reportedly known as the Cliff Crow, and the cause of death may have been due to the fact that warm water disrupted its food supply, causing it to starve to death. Scientists say that such a large-scale death event is unprecedented for both cliff crows and all birds in the world.

John Piatt, a research biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center, said in a statement: "There is no precedent for the severity and scale of such accidents. This is alarming and alarming, as continued ocean warming can have a huge impact on marine ecosystems. ”

From May 2015 to April 2016, about 62,000 carcasses of cliff crows were found on beaches in north-central California to Alaska. Because only a small percentage of cliff crows are found within reach, scientists estimate that the number of dead cliff crows is close to 1 million.

The ocean heatwave reportedly began in 2013 and produced a warm pool of water, which over the next few years greatly affected marine life up and down the U.S. West Coast. During this period, many other species died in large numbers, including tufted puffins, sea lions, and baleen whales.

At one point, the water was 2 to 7 degrees Celsius above average, about 1,000 miles wide and more than 90 meters deep, covering about 4.5 million square miles of ocean.

The study's authors say the cliff crow event, the largest seabird death event ever recorded, could help explain other deaths that occurred during the northeast Pacific ocean heat wave, and could also warn of what could happen during future ocean heat waves.

Editor-in-charge: Jiang Lirong