Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: The Tasman Sea off southeast Australia exhibited its longest and most intense marine heatwave ever recorded in 2015/16. Here we report on several inter-related aspects of this event: observed characteristics, physical drivers, ecological impacts and the role of climate change. This marine heatwave lasted for 251 days reaching a maximum intensity of 2.9 °C above climatology. The anomalous warming is dominated by anomalous convergence of heat linked to the southward flowing East Australian Current. Ecosystem impacts range from new disease outbreaks in farmed shellfish, mortality of wild molluscs and out-of-range species observations. Global climate models indicate it is very likely to be that the occurrence of an extreme warming event of this duration or intensity in this region is respectively ≥330 times and ≥6.8 times as likely to be due to the influence of anthropogenic climate change. Climate projections indicate that event likelihoods will increase in the future, due to increasing anthropogenic influences.
Source: Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16101
Institutions: University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Australian Research Council, UNSW Sydney, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Climate Change Research Centre
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Funder: Australian Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W2735759243