Officials have recently said that a massive toxic algal bloom along the West Coast of United States and Canada appears to be the largest ever seen. The algal bloom has now spread to coastal waters of Alaska, British Columbia and all the way to California.

As per authorities this large toxic algal bloom has resulted in shutdown of economically vital fisheries up and down the West Coast. The bloom has erupted within an area of the northeast Pacific Ocean. It is said that the area has persistently seen an above average sea surface temperatures for more than past two years.

Experts stated that this ocean feature has caused rise in ocean temperature by nearly five degrees Fahrenheit above average. Such a situation exists for about two years in the Gulf of Alaska and as well as off the coast of California, they said.

Now, experts suspect that warm ocean temperature might have played a significant role in triggering California's worst drought in a millennium, since it has altered atmospheric circulation in ways that steered storms away from the Golden State.

Don Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, told Mashable in an interview that the warm water may be an indicative of a layer in ocean where warm surface waters and cooler subsurface waters are getting mixed.

This stagnant ocean surface can play a major role in the algal blooms and can benefit certain types of algae, he said.

Boesch, said, "Warmer, more stable water masses could allow this particularly toxic species of algae to gain advantage and grow more abundant than other species".