Mills similarly said that it can take months to conduct biological surveys and work with fisheries to measure outcomes

 Mills similarly said that it can take months to conduct biological surveys and work with fisheries to measure outcomes 

She said, however, that the warming observed in recent months has been unusually widespread.

“Globally there are very few places that are cooler than usual,” she said. “You would typically expect sort of a balance, but we have a large portion of the ocean that is hotter than long-term averages, and the certain regions experiencing these really exceptional temperatures.”

This year, El Niño conditions are also expected to play a role, compounding background warming from climate change. El Niño, a natural climate cycle characterized by warmer-than-usual waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, can have a significant effect on rainfall, hurricanes and other severe weather. El Nińo typically also increases average air and sea temperatures.

That means sea surface temperatures may continue to climb.

“The fact that this could be even more extreme if we had a strong El Niño already set up and in place is just shocking,” Mills said.