Dr. Nicholas Bond will be presenting his lecture How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blob this Thursday. Dr. Bond is the Washington State Climatologist and a Research Meteorologist at the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington.  “The Blob” is a large mass of warm water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of North America, and was first detected in the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014 by Dr. Bond who coined the term.   An article about “The Blob” appeared in the July 31, 2015 issue of The Seattle Times quoted Dr. Bond in an July 2015 article ‘The Blob’ may warm Puget Sound’s waters, hurt marine life.

This presentation will focus on the recent “marine heat wave” in the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.  It will include brief descriptions of what happened, and some of the more notable impacts on the marine ecosystem.  The talk will conclude with some material about whether this event provides us with some insights into some of the probable effects of climate change.