Could Sea Breezes Increase Shark Attacks? | When Sharks Attack

The breeze, it seems like an innocuous detail, but according to meteorologist Joe Merchant, it's a vital piece of evidence when analyzing shark attacks.

"I've been a meteorologist for eight years for the National Weather Service, and I recently started studying sharks and in their behavior as it applies to weather." Merchant's research revolves around a familiar meteorological phenomenon.

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"The sea breeze. Whether it's in the Bahamas or off of the coast of Australia, every day across the globe there's a sea breeze. A sea breeze occurs when the heat from the sun bears down on the coast, causing a difference in air pressure, resulting in a localized wind that blows from the ocean towards the land. When this breeze blows, it displaces the surface of the ocean, causing the water at the bottom to move up to replace it, in turn dragging nutrients like phytoplankton to the surface. This process is called upwelling.

When the phytoplankton reach the surface, fish come to eat it, and then the sharks come to feed on the fish. This process can happen on any coastline in the world, provided there's enough heat from the sun hitting the surface of the earth. However, Merchant contends that if there's a sudden increase in surface temperatures, this creates a more intense sea breeze that supercharges the upwelling process, bringing in more fish and more sharks, increasing the chance of an encounter with humans."

"So could a sudden and intense sea breeze have resulted in sharks being lured to the attack sites during the summer of 2019? To explore the possibility, Joe examines weather data from the day of Jordan Lindsay's attack.

"I'm going to be looking for changes in the wind direction. That's a real strong indicator of a sea breeze. A sudden shift in the direction of the wind is a telltale sign that a strong sea breeze has occurred because the sea breeze itself disrupts other winds blowing through the region."

What Joe discovers is disturbing. "On the day of Jordan Lindsay's attack, the winds were pretty steady out of the east. They shifted to east-southeast just before the attack, and so that would be indicative of a sea breeze front crossing that location. Unfortunately, she was there at that time, and that sea breeze front likely played a role in her attack."

"When he analyzes the weather data from the other incidents, Merchant has yet more revelations. 'When I looked at the attacks in the Bahamas this past summer, the conditions are right for a sea breeze front and the conditions are right for sharks to come closer to shore. The sudden occurrence of strong sea breezes seems highly likely to have played a role in the spike in attacks. A piece of the puzzle has fallen into place.'"

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