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Federal scientist says Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia abnormally warm after it reaches 14 C

A federal scientist says deep water off the coast of Nova Scotia was abnormally warm earlier this week. Natasha Pace/File

A federal scientist says deep water off the coast of Nova Scotia was abnormally warm earlier this week.

Scientists found water temperatures reaching 14 C during a regular survey Sunday and Monday of the Northeast Channel in the Gulf of Maine between Georges Bank and the Scotian Shelf.

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Dave Hebert, a research scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Halifax, says that’s six degrees warmer than the average water temperature.

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He says the cause is unclear, and it is too early to say whether climate change is the cause.

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Hebert says the warm temperature might have been caused by the Gulf Stream pushing warmer water from the south right up to the Scotian Shelf.

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He says the Gulf Stream, which normally ebbs and flows from south to north, is reaching the Scotian Shelf more frequently and randomly every year.

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