An enormous marine heatwave off the US west coast is ringing alarm bells among ocean and atmospheric scientists as new data shows its ecological and environmental effects are intensifying.
The unusual area of warm water has persisted since peaking in size during September 2025 and still stretches thousands of miles from the California coastline – more than halfway across the Pacific – affecting a vast triangle-shaped region of oceanic habitats from Hawaii to British Columbia and southward to Mexico.
As recently as early April, marine scientists had hoped that the heatwave might diminish and the worst of its effects might be avoided. However, new projections released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) show it is now expected to expand and strengthen in the months to come.
Scientists say the effects may already be far reaching. A surge in the marine heatwave would accompany the formation of El Niño in the tropical Pacific – resulting in an atmospheric and oceanic mélange that could influence everything from record-breaking temperatures on land to disrupted marine food chains.




Authorities in Orange county, California have ordered the evacuation of 40,000 people over concerns about a chemical leak that threatened to spill or explode.
A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, siding with the mistakenly deported man in finding that he was the subject of a likely vindictive prosecution.
A group of some of the world's leading aid organisations on Thursday said US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" for Gaza is "failing", precisely because Israel is still obstructing the vast majority of aid into the enclave.
The heavy burden the US endured to defend Israel has caused the shortage of interceptors that Middle East Eye and other outlets reported on previously.
US intelligence assessed that Ukraine recaptured around 400 square kilometers of territory after Ukrainian officials disabled thousands of Starlink terminals used illegally by Russian forces. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said the Starlink shutdown, together with middle-strike drones, helped shift battlefield momentum in Ukraine’s favor.





























