Waters Off Northeast US Coast Unusually Warm, Says NOAA | Eoin O'Carroll

Sea surface temperatures on the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf reached the highest recorded in 150 years, says an advisory issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A lobsterman returns an undersized lobster while checking traps in Mount Desert, Maine, in May 2012. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP/File)

April 26, 2013 (Christian Science Monitor) -- From North Carolina to Maine, the waters have been unusually warm lately.

This is according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Fisheries Science Center, which issued an advisory today noting that sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during the second half of 2012 were the highest recorded in 150 years.

According to the advisory, sea surface temperatures in this region, which extends from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Maine and outward to the boundary of the continental shelf, increased dramatically to reach a record 57.2 degrees Fahrenheit, beating a previous record high in 1951. The average temperature over the past three decades has been typically lower than 54.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

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