PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 29, 2024
Last year was the fifth hottest year on record in the Gulf of Maine, continuing a trend that makes it one of the fastest-warming bodies of ocean on Earth, according to the latest annual report from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Late winter and spring 2023 saw record-setting sea surface temperatures about five degrees above the climatological average. The second half of the year was relatively cool, thanks partly to the mixing effect of a passing storm, and much closer to long-term normals.