Hot blob: vast patch of warm water off New Zealand coast puzzles scientists

Area of water in the Pacific Ocean off NZ is 6C hotter than normal, possibly due to a lack of wind in the region

A spike in water temperature of up to 6C above average across a massive patch of ocean east of New Zealand is likely to have been caused by an "anti-cyclone" weather system, a leading scientist says.

Appearing on heat maps as a deep red blob, the patch spans at least a million square kilometres - an area nearly 1.5 times the size of Texas, or four times larger than New Zealand - in the Pacific Ocean.