Sensors on the seafloor off the coast of Vancouver Island have detected the highest daily average water temperatures since monitoring started in 2009.
One station near Bamfield in Folger Passage has been measuring a steady increase in temperatures all through July, to hit a high on August 10 of 8.57 degrees Celsius, more than one degree warmer than the last record set in 14 years of measurements. The station is at a depth of 95 metres.
Another station farther offshore in Barkley Canyon that’s 400 metres deep measured a temperature high of 6 degrees, 10% higher than the last record.
Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is a University of Victoria project which operates the North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments observatory, or NEPTUNE. The network collects a variety of scientific data through an 800-kilometre network of cables off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
