HALIFAX - 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Read more about: