It appears that in 2007 we had an upwelling along the entire Western part of North America. This event last occurred about 50 years ago or more. As best I can interpret the highly technical data, this upwelling may well be responsible for why the water was colder than normal although this was not the issue the authors of this highly paper were interested in.

Evidence for upwelling of corrosive "acidified" water onto the continental shelf.
Feely RA, Sabine CL, Hernandez-Ayon JM, Ianson D, Hales B. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115-6349, USA.
Science. 2008 Jun 13;320(5882):1490-2. Epub 2008 May 22

“The absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ocean lowers the pH of the waters. This so-called ocean acidification could have important consequences for marine ecosystems. To better understand the extent of this ocean acidification in coastal waters, we conducted hydrographic surveys along the continental shelf of western North America from central Canada to northern Mexico. We observed seawater that is undersaturated with respect to aragonite upwelling onto large portions of the continental shelf, reaching depths of approximately 40 to 120 meters along most transect lines and all the way to the surface on one transect off northern California. Although seasonal upwelling of the undersaturated waters onto the shelf is a natural phenomenon in this region, the ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 has increased the areal extent of the affected area. PMID: 18497259 [PubMed - in process]”

• Re: So why the water was so cold so long this last year? seahunt 12:25:34 06/20/08 (0)