Pacific Coast Ecosystems Return to Normal

SAN FRANCISCO -- The northerly winds that sustain the Pacific Coast's marine ecosystems have returned, but their arrival came too late for fish and birds that couldn't survive the unseasonably warm waters.

Coastal ecosystems rely on winds blowing south to push warmer surface waters away from shore and bring up colder water from the ocean bottom. That upwelling of nutrient-rich water feeds massive blooms of plankton -- the tiny plant-like organisms that form the basis of the marine food web.

The winds usually start blowing in March or April, but when they didn't arrive this spring, researchers saw the effects up and down the coast -- higher ocean temperatures near the shore, very little plankton, a drop in groundfish catches and a spike in dead seabirds on beaches.