Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient
Increasing intensity of marine heatwaves has caused widespread mass coral bleaching events, threatening the integrity and functional diversity of coral reefs. Here we demonstrate the role of inter-ocean coupling in amplifying thermal stress on reefs in the poorly studied southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48031 |
| _version_ | 1848757997496434688 |
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| author | Zinke, Jens Hoell, A. Lough, J. Feng, M. Kuret, A. Clarke, H. Ricca, V. Rankenburg, K. McCulloch, M. |
| author_facet | Zinke, Jens Hoell, A. Lough, J. Feng, M. Kuret, A. Clarke, H. Ricca, V. Rankenburg, K. McCulloch, M. |
| author_sort | Zinke, Jens |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Increasing intensity of marine heatwaves has caused widespread mass coral bleaching events, threatening the integrity and functional diversity of coral reefs. Here we demonstrate the role of inter-ocean coupling in amplifying thermal stress on reefs in the poorly studied southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO), through a robust 215-year (1795-2010) geochemical coral proxy sea surface temperature (SST) record. We show that marine heatwaves affecting the SEIO are linked to the behaviour of the Western Pacific Warm Pool on decadal to centennial timescales, and are most pronounced when an anomalously strong zonal SST gradient between the western and central Pacific co-occurs with strong La Niña's. This SST gradient forces large-scale changes in heat flux that exacerbate SEIO heatwaves. Better understanding of the zonal SST gradient in the Western Pacific is expected to improve projections of the frequency of extreme SEIO heatwaves and their ecological impacts on the important coral reef ecosystems off Western Australia. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:36:59Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-48031 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:36:59Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-480312017-09-13T14:21:32Z Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient Zinke, Jens Hoell, A. Lough, J. Feng, M. Kuret, A. Clarke, H. Ricca, V. Rankenburg, K. McCulloch, M. Increasing intensity of marine heatwaves has caused widespread mass coral bleaching events, threatening the integrity and functional diversity of coral reefs. Here we demonstrate the role of inter-ocean coupling in amplifying thermal stress on reefs in the poorly studied southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO), through a robust 215-year (1795-2010) geochemical coral proxy sea surface temperature (SST) record. We show that marine heatwaves affecting the SEIO are linked to the behaviour of the Western Pacific Warm Pool on decadal to centennial timescales, and are most pronounced when an anomalously strong zonal SST gradient between the western and central Pacific co-occurs with strong La Niña's. This SST gradient forces large-scale changes in heat flux that exacerbate SEIO heatwaves. Better understanding of the zonal SST gradient in the Western Pacific is expected to improve projections of the frequency of extreme SEIO heatwaves and their ecological impacts on the important coral reef ecosystems off Western Australia. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48031 10.1038/ncomms9562 Nature Publishing Group fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Zinke, Jens Hoell, A. Lough, J. Feng, M. Kuret, A. Clarke, H. Ricca, V. Rankenburg, K. McCulloch, M. Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title | Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title_full | Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title_fullStr | Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title_short | Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient |
| title_sort | coral record of southeast indian ocean marine heatwaves with intensified western pacific temperature gradient |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48031 |