Warm water Blob survives as El Niño dies

Sea surface temperature observations in late July 2016 show higher-than-normal temperatures lingering in the North Pacific and Bering Sea. (Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction)
It’s being called a marine heat wave. The combination of the strongest El Niño in recent history and the warm water anomaly known as the Blob generated the greatest amount of warm ocean water that has ever been recorded, possibly af