This summer, the currents reversed, and the water flowing from the north was fanned by winds that stirred upwellings of deeper and much colder water. He found that temperatures in the past year have plunged by as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Similar temperature declines also were reported off British Columbia and Alaska. This cooler water brought in different species of zooplankton that have a higher nutrient value to fish. The colder water has brought other signs of renewed marine life.
Coastal kelp beds, for example, appear to be three times larger than in the past four or five years.
That probably is a reflection of a more nutrient-rich ocean. The changes should have helped the young coho smolts that feed in offshore waters as they emerge from freshwater rearing streams. But the smolts' fate can't be fully measured until next year, when the salmon return to spawn in coastal streams and rivers. But researchers are sharply divided about what the trend might be in the next few decades. Some researchers, such as Oregon State University climatologist George Taylor, are convinced that huge fluctuations in surface and sea temperatures occur naturally through the decades and centuries.