Marine heatwaves – Importance of sustained observations
Ming Feng, Jessica Benthuysen, Madeleine Cahill, Eric Oliver, Anthony Richardson, Moninya Roughan, Amandine Schaeffer, Paul Thomson
With contributions from Neil Holbrook, Susan Wijffels and more 2011 Ningaloo Nino
Satellite
Surface Meteorology
Shelf moorings
Feng et al. 2013 Argo float Wernberg et al. 2013
Bridge et al. 2014 increased abundance with
Marine heat marine heat wave wave elevated abundance of Prochlorococcus throughout 2011 = change in phytoplankton Record strength LC community composition?
Thomson
Zooplankton biomass
Implications for higher trophic levels… Savage, Richardson et al. (in prep) Detection and attribution using National Reference Station time series
2011 marine heatwave
Freshening of the Leeuwin Stronger Leeuwin Current observed from moorings
(a) Climatology Mean
Jan ADCP mooring data have been used to quantify the mean Apr structure of onshore influences of the Leeuwin Current:
Oct
Jul The Leeuwin is strong during austral autumn-winter and weak during austral summer;
The Leeuwin is strong during La Nina event 2010-2011 (marine heatwave event), and is weaker during the 2014- 2015; (b) 2011 & 2015 Eddy’s role in the Leeuwin Current momentum balance is being analysed using the mooring data, in combination with Bluelink model results.
Liu et al. in preparation
Detecting marine heat waves off the NW Shelf
Thermosalinograph temperature OISSTv2 (AVHRR) temperature near-surface (2 m), hourly-averaged (0.25° x 0.25°), from nearest grid cell
6 Jan – 30 Mar 2016
Darwin
Broome
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer RV Solander in a marine heat wave (SST > threshold, for > 5 days) (Hobday, et al. 2016); based on 1982-2015 climatology not in a marine heat wave
(°C) Traversing waters in marine heat wave along the GBR Thermosalinograph temperature OISSTv2 (AVHRR) temperature near-surface (2 m), hourly-averaged (0.25° x 0.25°), from nearest grid cell
25 Feb – 29 Feb 2016
1 – 20 Feb 3 Mar – Townsville 21 Mar
RV Cape Ferguson Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer : in a marine heat wave (SST > threshold, for > 5 days) (Hobday, et al. 2016); based on 1982-2015 climatology : not in a marine heat wave (°C) Slocum gliders track sub-surface warming in the Great Barrier Reef March 2016 Cooktown Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly North 22 Mar 2016 East
°S
Cairns 12 Apr 2016
0 m 50 m 100 m °E 200 m IMOS OceanCurrent News, 24 May 2016 (°C) 2015-2016 SE Australia MHW
There was a marine heatwave Mean 2015-2016 DJF SST that occurred last summer off Anomaly southeastern Australia: 9 Sep 2015 – 16 May 2016 It is unprecedented in − Duration (251 days) − Intensity (2.9OC max) Impacts: POMS (Oysters), dead abalone, poor salmon farm performace, strange fish intrusions, kelp thinning… Oliver, Benthuysen, Bindoff, Hobday, Holbrook, Mundy and Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Nat Comms (under review)
NOAA OI SST Nearshore Record
Nearshore Records IMOS Maria Island NRS − 20 m temperature − Full-depth velocities IMAS Nearshore Temperature Monitoring − A number of sites in − 6-20 m depth This event was record strength (approx. 10-year records) in the coastal zone Record southward flows, possible indication of forcing mechanism Data streams to describe marine heatwaves
NRS and Shelf moorings – continuous, capturing sub-monthly variability
Gliders – infrequent, vertical structure, real time
SOOP tropical vessels – surface, mixed spatial and temporal, opportunistic but real time
Remote sensing and Oceancurrent – large-scale patterns, near-surface properties
Bluewater observations including Argo – large-scale structures, feed into ocean prediction models, such as OceanMAPS
NRS samplings, AUV – biogeochemical impacts non-IMOS contributions – temperature loggers, shelf models funded by projects, State Government agencies, industries? Drivers of marine heatwaves
West coast, Ningaloo Nino – Leeuwin Current transport, air-sea heat flux La Nina, local air-sea coupling
Northwest coast, offshore atolls – air-sea heat flux El Nino, Indian Ocean Dipole, Australian Monsoon, MJO
Northern and northeast coast, GBR – air-sea heat flux, boundary currents El Nino, Australian Monsoon
Southeast coast – EAC transport strengthening EAC and eddies, local alongshore wind, climate mode?