Extensive coral bleaching occurred throughout depths on the north shore of Moorea throughout the 2019 marine heatwave. Credit: Peter J. Edmunds
From April to May 2019, the coral reefs close to the French Polynesian island of Moorea within the central South Pacific Ocean suffered extreme and extended thermal bleaching. The disaster occurred regardless of the absence of El Niño situations that yr, intriguing ocean scientists all over the world.
An worldwide analysis crew led by Prof. Alex Wyatt of the Department of Ocean Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has investigated this stunning and paradoxical coral bleaching episode. The surprising occasion was associated to the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies that elevated sea ranges and concentrated scorching water over the reef, resulting in an underwater marine heatwave that was largely hidden from view on the floor. The findings have been printed in Nature Communications.
Most research of coral bleaching patterns depend on sea-surface measures of water temperatures, which can’t seize the complete image of threats from ocean heating to marine ecosystems, together with tropical coral reefs. These floor measurements carried out over broad areas with satellites are worthwhile, but are unable to detect heating beneath the floor that influences communities dwelling in waters deeper that the shallowest few meters of the ocean.
Prof. Wyatt and colleagues analyzed information collected at Moorea over 15 years from 2005 to 2019, making the most of a uncommon mixture of remotely sensed sea-surface temperatures and high-resolution, long-term in-situ temperatures and sea stage anomalies. Results confirmed that the passage of anti-cyclonic eddies within the open ocean previous the island raised sea ranges and pushed inside waves down into deeper water. Internal…
2023-01-06 05:00:03 Fathoming the hidden heatwaves that threaten coral reefs
Link from phys.org