ODYSSEY

Whale Wandered Because of Climate Change

Species migration shows scope of global warming.

Last year, scientists discovered an endangered 43-foot gray whale off the coast of Israel. Scientists have now concluded that the whale, which usually lives in the Arctic waters, was able to wander south because melting ice had cleared the famous Northwest Passage above Canada. The migration of species through the Northwest Passage is a worrying sign of how global warming is affecting animals and plants in the oceans. Scientists have also found plankton in the North Atlantic waters, where it had not existed for some 800,000 years. "It's an indication of the speed of change that is taking place in our world in the present day because of climate change," said Philip C. Reid from the Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in England, who is publishing a study this year on climate change in our oceans and living species.