Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: A shift in depth range enables marine organisms to adapt to marine heatwaves (MHWs). Subsurface MHWs could limit this pathway, yet their response to climate warming remains unclear. Here, using an eddy-resolving Earth system model forced under a high emission scenario, we project a robust global increase in subsurface MHWs driven by rising subsurface mean temperatures and enhanced temperature variability. Historically, maximum MHW intensity occurs around 100 m depth, which shifts to the faster-warming surface under greenhouse warming. However, removing the long-term warming trend yields an increase in subsurface MHW intensity and annual days greater than that at the surface, especially in large marine ecosystem regions, primarily due to increased variability. Additionally, days of the surface and subsurface concurrent event increase ten times more than those of individual events. Our study highlights a heightened threat to marine organisms under global warming, as the increased subsurface heatwaves reduce their refuge options. Using a high-resolution model forced under a high emission scenario, the authors find an increase in subsurface marine heatwaves, and in concurrent surface and subsurface marine heatwaves, which can restrict refuge options of marine organisms.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: Laoshan Laboratory, Ocean University of China, Xiamen University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Earth Environment, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, University of Gothenburg, Tsinghua University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, University of Washington, University of California, Irvine
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,790
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Battelle, Stiftelsen för Miljöstrategisk Forskning, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research, Office of Science, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Biological and Environmental Research, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Awards: G1202769797, G125460123, G138090931, G1899721271, G2506945562, G2510423872, G2820049545, G2988778103, G3189061849, G391136020, G4628468002, G5321382714, G5373841109, G5653134238, G5726405315, G5834903178, G5859727629, Collaborative Research: Midlatitude Marine Heatwaves in a changing climate: Variability, Predictability, and Projections, G7560550554, G7806135606, G821644656
OpenAlex ID: W4405893222