Atmospheric wavenumber-4 driven South Pacific marine heat waves and marine cool spells.

Marine heat waves (MHW) and cool spells (MCS) can both positively and negatively impact marine ecosystems with potentially large societal and economic impacts. Here, I examine the global teleconnections of MHW/MCS in the southern hemisphere and Tasman Sea. When MHW/MCS are defined with respect to a linear warming trend, there is little evidence that MHW in the Tasman Sea are changing in either frequency or intensity but may be lasting longer. MCS may be becoming weaker and less frequent. I show that MHW/MCS in the Tasman Sea co-occur with corresponding events in the Atlantic, Indian, and eastern-Pacific Oceans, and these southern hemisphere events are likely driven by stalling of a global wavenumber-4 (W4) atmospheric wave, leading to anomalously weak north-easterly winds during MHW or strong south-westerly winds during MCS. Thus, the key to predicting MHW/MCS is in understanding what causes the atmospheric W4 wave to stall. © 2021. The Author(s).

Citation

Stephen M Chiswell. Atmospheric wavenumber-4 driven South Pacific marine heat waves and marine cool spells. Nature communications. 2021 Aug 06;12(1):4779

PMID: 34362924

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