A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves

Hobday, Alistair J.; Alexander, Lisa V.; Perkins, Sarah E.; Smale, Dan; Straub, Sandra C.; Oliver, Eric C. J.; Benthuysen, Jessica A.; Burrows, Michael T.; Donat, Markus G.; Feng, Ming; Holbrook, Neil J.; Moore, Pippa J.; Scannell, Hillary A.; Gupta, Alex Sen; Wernberg, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2015.12.014

Cited by 1,422 publications

(1,554 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…However, the etiology of foam-based marine bird mortality events was not identified until the A. sanguinea bloom in Monterey Bay in 2007 (Jessup et al 2009). Given the physiological flexibility of A. sanguinea ) the rapid response of this species to favourable environmental conditions (Cloern et al 2005) and the increase in coastal warming and climate variability, including marine heatwave events (Hobday et al 2016, Scannell et al 2016, McCabe et al 2016, McKibben et al 2017, we speculate that the frequency of foaminduced bird mortality events may continue to increase in the CCS and perhaps elsewhere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass mortality of marine birds in the Northeast Pacific caused by Akashiwo sanguinea

Jones¹,

Parrish²,

Punt³

et al. 2017

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are dense concentrations of phytoplankton that can have deleterious effects on marine life. We documented two of the largest marine bird mortality events ever definitively ascribed to a single HAB, the cause of which was death resulting from plumage fouling by surfactant-like proteins produced by the dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea. The two mortality events were observed along the coast of Washington State in September and October 2009, collectively representing an estimated deposition of 10 500 carcasses, of which the majority were surf scoters, white-winged scoters and common murres. Each mortality event was coincident in space and time with observed bloom landfall, with each event preceded by a similar chain of environmental conditions. Prior to each event, the presence of A. sanguinea and upwelling-favourable conditions likely led to bloom proliferation. In both cases, this period was followed by conditions that transported the senescent bloom into the nearshore environment, whereupon subsequent wave action lysed A. sanguinea cells, creating foam that contained surfactant-like compounds. This sequence of conditions, exacerbated by the presence of aggregations of marine birds in wing moult, appear to be the necessary requirements for marine bird mortality of this scale due to foam-induced plumage fouling. This mechanism of HAB-induced mortality may become more prevalent in the California Current System given the apparent increasing occurrence of HABs and the broad environmental tolerances exhibited by A. sanguinea.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass mortality of marine birds in the Northeast Pacific caused by Akashiwo sanguinea

Jones¹,

Parrish²,

Punt³

et al. 2017

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…These data are contributed by seven different organizations and are collected in situ with a mixture of hand-held alcohol or mercury thermometers as well as digital underwater temperature recorders (UTRs). This data set currently consists of 135 daily time series, with a mean duration of 19.7 years, meaning that many the time series in this dataset are shorter than the 30 year minimum proscribed for the characterisation of MHWs (see "Marine heatwaves" section below) (Hobday et al, 2016). It is however deemed necessary to use these data when investigating extreme events in the nearshore (<400 m from the low tide mark) as satellite derived sea surface temperature (SST) values along the coast have been shown to display large biases (Smit et al, 2013) or capture minimum and maximum temperatures poorly (Smale and Wernberg, 2009;Castillo and Lima, 2010).…”

Section: Oceanic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extreme thermal events that occur in the ocean are classified here as "marine heatwaves" (MHWs) after Hobday et al (2016). These events may occur suddenly, anywhere in the world, and at any time of the year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is now possible to directly compare MHWs occurring anywhere on the globe during any time of year using a statistical methodology developed by Hobday et al (2016) that defined these events as "a prolonged discrete anomalously warm water event that can be described by its duration, intensity, rate of evolution, and spatial extent." Whereas the metrics created for the measurement of MHWs allowed for the comparison of events, they did not directly reveal what may be causing them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predominant Atmospheric and Oceanic Patterns during Coastal Marine Heatwaves

et al. 2017

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As the mean temperatures of the worlds oceans increase, it is predicted that marine heatwaves (MHWs) will occur more frequently and with increased severity. However, it has been shown that variables other than increases in sea water temperature have been responsible for MHWs. To better understand these mechanisms driving MHWs we have utilized atmospheric (ERA-Interim) and oceanic (OISST, AVISO) data to examine the patterns around southern Africa during coastal (<400 m from the low water mark; measured in situ) MHWs. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was first used to determine that the atmospheric and oceanic states during MHW are different from daily climatological states. Self-organizing maps (SOMs) were then used to cluster the MHW states into one of nine nodes to determine the predominant atmospheric and oceanic patterns present during these events. It was found that warm water forced onto the coast via anomalous ocean circulation was the predominant oceanic pattern during MHWs. Warm atmospheric temperatures over the subcontinent during onshore or alongshore winds were the most prominent atmospheric patterns. Roughly one third of the MHWs were clustered into a node with no clear patterns, which implied that they were not forced by a recurring atmospheric or oceanic state that could be described by the SOM analysis. Because warm atmospheric and/or oceanic temperature anomalies were not the only pattern associated with MHWs, the current trend of a warming earth does not necessarily mean that MHWs will increase apace; however, aseasonal variability in wind and current patterns was shown to be central to the formation of coastal MHWs, meaning that where climate systems shift from historic records, increases in MHWs will likely occur.

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“…Heat waves, in this context, are defined as a period of at least three to five days during which mean or maximum temperature anomalies were at least 3-5°C above normal (Hobday et al, 2016;Meehl and Tebaldi, 2004). Such heat waves affect marine ecosystems with respect to invertebrate, fish and macroalgal mortality, and the occurrence of algal blooms, as events in the North-western Mediterranean in 2003 (Garrabou et al, 2009) and heat waves in 2011 along the western Australian coast (Moore et al, 2012;Rose et al, 2012) have shown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of marine phytoplankton communities facing stress related to global change: Interactive effects of heat waves and turbidity

Remy

Hillebrand

Flöder

2017

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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A B S T R A C TAccording to climate models, coastal ecosystems will face an increased frequency of heat waves and increased turbidity due to terrestrial sediment run-off induced by increasing precipitation. Several studies have examined the effects of heat waves and turbidity separately, whereas this study analysed the individual effects of both stressors as well as their interaction, because stressors affect communities differently when acting in combination. Using a factorial experimental design, we simulated heat waves (22°C and 26°C compared to an 18°C control) and turbidity (sediment addition). The response of the phytoplankton community was analysed for the aggregate parameters biovolume and diversity index (H′), as well as for community composition. Heat waves had a significant negative effect on biovolume, whereas turbidity tended to affect biovolume positively. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant interactions of heat waves and turbidity for H′ and community composition. Strong heat waves (26°C) alleviated the otherwise positive effect of turbidity on H′, i.e. highest diversity remained in the turbid control. Diatoms gained dominance in the control and the 22°C heat wave treatment with Cylindrotheca closterium being the successful competitor. At 26°C this species was lost and small flagellates dominated the experimental communities. Future increases in heat wave intensity and frequency may thus induce major changes in phytoplankton community structure whereas algae might profit from increased turbidity as an additional source of nutrients.

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A hierarchical approach to defining marine heatwaves

Cited by 1,422 publications

References 63 publications

Mass mortality of marine birds in the Northeast Pacific caused by Akashiwo sanguinea

Mass mortality of marine birds in the Northeast Pacific caused by Akashiwo sanguinea

Predominant Atmospheric and Oceanic Patterns during Coastal Marine Heatwaves

Stability of marine phytoplankton communities facing stress related to global change: Interactive effects of heat waves and turbidity

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