Stanford sea turtle study uncovers new effects of global warming in the Pacific Ocean

ByTim Didion and Spencer Christian KGO logo
Monday, January 27, 2025
Stanford sea turtle study uncovers new effects of global warming
What started as a Stanford migration study of Loggerhead Sea Turtles has now uncovered new effects global warming has on the Pacific Ocean.

STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- An ocean-going research project we told you about last year is suddenly yielding a surprising result.

Scientists believe it could signal significant changes ahead for the Pacific Ocean and our own Bay Area coastline. Understanding those changes could be key to staying Climate Ready.

When Stanford researchers began tracking a group of Loggerhead Sea Turtles, they were trying to answer a simple question about their migration pattern. Now, they've wound up generating far bigger questions about the future of our oceans.

Professor Larry Crowder, Ph.D. and his team fit the sea turtles with satellite transmitters to follow their movement.

"The turtles are moving northward six times faster than the average for marine animals. So, our loggerhead, our sentinel loggerheads, are teaching us about this new ocean, this new warming ocean there. They're able to respond to it, but they're moving extremely rapidly," Crowder said.

RELATED: Sea turtles followed with Stanford tracking device reach California coast, researchers say

He said the animals typically migrate across the Pacific in search of food, following a path called the North Pacific Convergent Zone. It's essentially a mix of warmer and cooler currents that host a kind of moving buffet line filled with their favorite prey. But now that buffet line, and the marine creatures the turtles depend on, appear to be drifting hundreds of miles north as waters in the Pacific warm.

Fellow researcher Dana Briscoe, Ph.D., tracks temperatures along the feeding route and helped analyze decades of data.

"We expected to see the sea turtles track north, but we didn't expect them to move so far north. And what we're seeing is that the ocean is changing, but it's changing at a rate much faster than anticipated," Briscoe said.

Measurements suggest the nutrient-rich band is now 1.6 degrees Celsius warmer than it was several decades ago. And, perhaps more importantly, it may contain less food than it once did.

"And so not only are temperature is getting warmer, but that access to critical food is decreasing. And as a result, animals have to change and adapt," she said.

MORE: Sea turtles may be using mysterious waterway to get from Japan to California coast: scientists

And for the Turtles, that means heading further north. But the study comes at a time when other species appear to be on the move as well. Juvenile white sharks were spotted in nursery areas as far north as Monterey Bay. A squid species typically seen off our coast was turning up in Alaska, where it's been blamed for preying on local salmon populations.

Crowder believes humans may ultimately have to adjust to new realities as well, from the seafood we eat to the way we manage our fisheries and marine sanctuaries.

"So the animals are on the move and rather than thinking they're lost, we should think maybe they're trying to tell us something, because we could just say these white sharks are lost or that turtles are lost, or that they're responding to a changing ocean and being our animal oceanographers. And if we choose to, we can learn from them," he said.

The Stanford team is continuing their research project, known as "STRETCH," and plans to release more satellite-tracking sea turtles this summer.

View a tracking map of the sea turtle study here.

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