Panama’s seasonal upwelling collapsed in 2025, linked to reduced winds. The event signals risks for fisheries and climate-sensitive ocean processes. The annual phenomenon of upwelling in the Gulf of Panama failed to occur in 2025 for the first time on record. A team of scientists from the Smithso
For once, this title actually understates the issue here. We have only been collecting data on this for 40 years. This is the first time on record that the annual upwelling event has failed to occur. It is likely due to climate change reducing the strength of the trade winds. This is indicative of much larger, global impacts from weakened trade winds.
I doubt that anyone can really say what the broader impacts will be. I suspect that there are other regions experiencing similar disruptions. This will likely impact everything to local climate to migration patterns of sea life in many locations.
Well, Panama is located within the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and wind speeds within the ITCZ are relatively weak.