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The Great Barrier Reef Experiences Coral Bleaching During El Nin˜O–Southern Oscillation Neutral Conditions

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The Great Barrier Reef Experiences Coral Bleaching During El Nin˜O–Southern Oscillation Neutral Conditions CSIRO PUBLISHING Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science, 2019, 69, 310–330 Seasonal Climate Summary https://doi.org/10.1071/ES19006 Seasonal climate summary for the southern hemisphere (autumn 2017): the Great Barrier Reef experiences coral bleaching during El Nin˜o–Southern Oscillation neutral conditions Grant A. Smith Bureau of Meteorology, 700 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic., Australia. Email: [email protected] Abstract. Austral autumn 2017 was classified as neutral in terms of the El Nin˜o–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), although tropical rainfall and sub-surface Pacific Ocean temperature anomalies were indicative of a weak La Nin˜a. Despite this, autumn 2017 was anomalously warm for most of Australia, consistent with the warming trend that has been observed for the last several decades due to global warming. The mean temperatures for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia were all amongst the top 10. The mean maximum temperature for all of Australia was seventh warmest on record, and amongst the top 10 for all states but Western Australia, with a region of warmest maximum temperature on record in western Queensland. The mean minimum temperature was also above average nationally, and amongst top 10 for Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. In terms of rainfall, there were very mixed results, with wetter than average for the east coast, western Victoria and parts of Western Australia, and drier than average for western Tasmania, western Queensland, the southeastern portion of the Northern Territory and the far western portion of Western Australia. Dry conditions in Tasmania and southwest Western Australia were likely due to a positive Southern Annular Mode, and the broader west coast and central dry conditions were likely due to cooler eastern Indian Ocean sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) that limited the supply of moisture available to the atmosphere across the country. Other significant events during autumn 2017 were the coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), cyclone Debbie and much lower than average Antarctic sea-ice extent. Coral bleaching in the GBR is usually associated on broad scales with strong El Nin˜o events but is becoming more common in ENSO neutral years due to global warming. The southern GBR was saved from warm SST anomalies by severe tropical cyclone Debbie which caused ocean cooling in late March and flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. The Antarctic sea-ice extent was second lowest on record for autumn, with the March extent being lowest on record. Received 7 November 2018, accepted 16 May 2019, published online 11 June 2020 1 Introduction 2 Pacific and Indian Basin climate indices Australautumnin2017followedayearofrecordhigh- 2.1 Southern Oscillation Index surface temperature in 2016 that was dominated by a strong The Troup Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) for the period El Nin˜o at the beginning of the year and transitioned to weak La Nin˜a–like conditions by the end of 2016 and start of 2017 January 2013 to May 2017 is shown in Fig. 1 (Troup 1965), (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2017). In together with a 5-month weighted moving average to smooth Australia for 2016, temperatures were very warm (fourth out volatility (Wright 1989). Following positive SOI values for warmest on record) driven by both El Nin˜o and anthropogenic the second half of 2016, the first 5 months of 2017 alternated climate change (Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO 2017). between positive and negative. The SOI values for March, The Australian national average rainfall in 2016 was ,17% April and May were þ5.1, À6.3, þ0.5 respectively, giving a above average. neutral seasonal average of À0.2. The 5-month weighted This summary reviews the climate patterns for Austral moving average finished negative at À3.3 at the end of autumn. autumn 2017, with particular attention given to the Australasian The monthly mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) anomalies for and Pacific regions. The main sources of information for this both Darwin (provided by the Bureau of Meteorology) and report are analyses prepared by the Bureau of Meteorology using Tahiti (provided by the Me´te´o France inter-regional direction data sourced from a range of centres and data sets. for French Polynesia) were near to neutral in the 3-month Journal compilation Ó BoM 2019 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND www.publish.csiro.au/journals/es BoM climate summary: autumn 2017 Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science 311 20 3 15 2 10 5 1 0 0 –5 –10 –1 –15 –2 –20 –25 –3 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 SOI 5-month weighted average 5VAR 3-month weighted average Fig. 1. Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), from January 2013 to May 2017, Fig. 2. 5VAR composite standardised monthly El Nin˜o–Southern Oscilla- together with a 5-month binomially weighted moving average. The Troup tion (ENSO) index from January 2013 to May 2017, together with a SOI is 10 times the standardised monthly anomaly of the difference in mean weighted 3-month moving average. The principal component analysis and sea-level pressure between Tahiti and Darwin. The calculation is based on a standardisation of this ENSO index is performed over the period 1950–99. 60-year climatology (1933–92). La Nin˜a signal, and therefore the ENSO indicators pointing period (between À0.2 and þ0.8 hPa). The 5-month weighted towards El Nin˜o had little impact on the Australian climate for moving average was trending towards negative territory for the autumn 2017. autumn period. 2.3 Tropical convection and rainfall 2.2 Composite monthly El Nin˜o–Southern Oscillation Index Outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) is a good proxy for trop- (5VAR) and multivariate El Nin˜o–Southern Oscillation Index ical convection and rainfall. Decreased OLR usually indicates The 5VAR is a composite monthly El Nin˜o–Southern Oscilla- increased convection and enhanced associated cloudiness and tion (ENSO) Index developed by the Bureau of Meteorology, rainfall, and increased OLR usually indicates decreased con- calculated as the standardised amplitude of the first principal vection. During El Nin˜o, OLR is often decreased near the Date component of monthly Darwin and Tahiti MSLP (data obtained Line indicating increased convection (and rainfall) as the from http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/soihtm1.shtml, Walker Circulation weakens, and the warm pool and associated accessed 29 April 2020) and monthly NINO3, NINO3.4 and tropical rainfall is displaced to the east. The reverse is true NINO4 sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) from the National during La Nin˜a events. Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP), obtained from Standardised monthly anomalies of OLR are computed for an 8 8 8 8 ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wd52dg/data/indices/sstoi.indices, equatorial region from 5 Sto5N and 160 E to 160 Wby accessed 29 April 2020 (Kuleshov et al. 2009). Persistent pos- NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre (obtained from http://www. itive or negative 5VAR values in excess of 1 standard deviation cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/olr, accessed 29 April 2020). þ þ þ À2 are typically associated with El Nin˜o or La Nin˜a events Monthly values for autumn were 1.1, 0.4, 0.1 W m for respectively. The monthly 5VAR values for the period January March, April and May respectively, indicating that convection 2013 to May 2017 are shown in Fig. 2, along with the 3-month was suppressed in that area during autumn. The overall autumn þ moving average. The autumn period of March/April/May 2017 mean was 0.5, with the countries in the region reporting exhibited mildly positive values of þ0.16, þ0.75 and þ0.72 drought conditions, for example, Kiribati Meteorological respectively, which were all below the 1 standard deviation Service (2017), and the northern Marshall Islands (UNOCHA threshold for El Nin˜o events. ROAP 2017). The spatial patterns of seasonal OLR anomalies 8 8 The multivariate ENSO index (MEI), produced by the across the Asia–Pacific region between 40 S and 40 N for Physical Sciences Division of the Earth Systems Research autumn 2017 are shown in Fig. 3. Across Indonesia in locales Laboratory (formerly known as the US Climate Diagnostics of Sulawesi, Borneo and West Sumatra, there were reports of Centre), is a standardised anomaly derived from a number of widespread floods and landslides during the autumn period atmospheric and oceanic parameters calculated as a 2-month (Davies 2017a). Rainfall associated with cyclone Debbie can mean (Wolter and Timlin 1993, 1998). As for 5VAR, significant be seen crossing the Queensland border in Fig. 4. The OLR and positive anomalies are typically associated with El Nin˜o, rainfall patterns in western Pacific and Indonesia are consistent whereas large negative anomalies indicate La Nin˜a. The 2017 with a weak La Nin˜a, which is in contrast to what the 5VAR and February/March (À0.08), March/April (þ0.74) and April/May MEI indicators were suggesting for this period. (þ1.44) values were increasing over the autumn period, similar to the 5VAR, although did not reach significant magnitudes. 2.4 Indian Ocean Dipole Contrary to this, rainfall patterns (Section 2.3) and sub-surface The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) describes the pattern of SST Pacific warming (Section 4.2) were more indicative of a weak anomalies across the equatorial Indian Ocean. A positive phase 312 Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science G. A. Smith OLR 2.5 × 2.5 NOAA REAL TIME-OLRAV (W/M–2) 20170301 0000 20170528 0000 55 45 35 25 15 5 –5 –15 –25 –35 –45 –55 © Commonwealth of Australia 2017, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Issued: 05/06/2017 Fig.
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