Record-breaking 2020 summer marine heatwaves in the western North Pacific

Yao, Yulong; Wang, Chunzai; Wang, Chao

doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2023.105288

Record-breaking 2020 summer marine heatwaves in the western North Pacific

Journal Article · Tue Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Deep-Sea Research. Part 2. Topical Studies in Oceanography

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2023.105288· OSTI ID:2424580

Yao, Yulong ^[1]; ^[1]; Wang, Chao ^[2]

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou (China)
Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (China)

Record-breaking marine heatwaves (MHWs) occurred in the western North Pacific during the summer of 2020. These unprecedented MHWs were consistent with favorable large-scale conditions that are linked to an anomalous western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH), resulting mainly from sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies across the tropical oceans. In addition, a moderate La Niña-like pattern was also conducive to transporting warm seawater to the western North Pacific. Mixed-layer heat budgets suggest that surface heat flux contributed to the SST anomaly in the western subtropical Pacific. In contrast, oceanic heat advection dominanted in the South China Sea and the western equatorial Pacific. Numerical model experiments indicated that the tropical Indian Ocean SST anomalies were responsible for the enhanced WNPSH. The increased zonal SST gradient across the tropical Pacific also played an important role. Inter-ocean interactions can modulate climate variability through ocean-atmospheric coupling and deserve more attention when predicting MHWs within the context of global warming. Additionally, it is critical to consider MHWs as a powerful tool in detecting acute, intense thermal stress events in the coral bleaching pre-warning system.

Research Organization:: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou (China)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

OSTI ID:: 2424580

Journal Information:: Deep-Sea Research. Part 2. Topical Studies in Oceanography, Journal Name: Deep-Sea Research. Part 2. Topical Studies in Oceanography Journal Issue: C Vol. 209; ISSN 0967-0645

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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