Study: Dead sea creatures covered 98% of seafloor last year about 150 miles off California coast; Unprecedented, had been below 1% prior to event -- 'Major' changes began in spring 2011

'Study: Dead sea creatures covered 98% of seafloor last year about 150 miles off California coast; Unprecedented, had been below 1% prior to event -- 'Major' changes began in spring 2011'

National Geographic, Nov. 22, 2013: [...] “In the 24 years of this study, the past 2 years have been the biggest amounts of this detritus by far,”  said study leader Christine Huffard, a marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. [...] In March 2012, less than one percent of the seafloor beneath Station M [located 145 miles west of the coast of California between Santa Barbara and Monterey] was covered in dead sea salps. By July 1, more than 98 percent of it was covered in the decomposing organisms, according to the study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [...]  Although climate change is a leading contender for explaining the major increases in 2011 and 2012, Huffard says that these spikes could be part of a longer-term trend that scientists haven’t yet observed. She hopes to continue gathering data from Station M to try and figure it out.

For the full article, please go to:  http://enenews.com/study-dead-sea-creatures-covered-98-of-seafloor-last-year-150-miles-off-california-coast-had-been-less-than-1-previously