New research based on ocean models and near real-time data from autonomous gliders indicates that the "The Blob" and El Niño together strongly depressed productivity off the West Coast, with The Blob driving most of the impact.The research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters by scientists from NOAA Fisheries, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California, Santa Cruz is among the first to assess the marine effects of the 2015-2016 El Niño off the West Coast of the United States."Last year there was a lot of speculation about the consequences of 'The Blob' and El Niño battling it out of the U.S. West Coast," said lead author Michael Jacox, of UC Santa Cruz and NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center. "We found that off California El Niño turned out to be much weaker than expected, The Blob continued to be a dominant force, and the two of them together had strongly negative impacts on marine productivity."