Jul 14, 2017
The unprecedented 2015/16 Tasman Sea marine heatwave
by
,
Nature Communications
- States that the Tasman Sea off southeast Australia exhibited its longest and most intense marine heatwave ever recorded in 2015/16
- Reports on several inter-related aspects of this event: observed characteristics, physical drivers, ecological impacts and the role of climate change
- Outlines the characteristics of this heatwave, which lasted for 251 days reaching a maximum intensity of 2.9 °C above climatology
- Finds that the anomalous warming is dominated by anomalous convergence of heat linked to the southward flowing East Australian Current
- Uses global climate models to estimate the increased risk of MHWs in the Tasman Sea, with the duration and intensity of this particular event observed in the summer of 2015/16, due to anthropogenic climate change (≥330 times and ≥6.8 times as likely, respectively)
- Documents how the 2015/16 MHW affected regional coastal ecosystems, from new disease outbreaks in farmed shellfish to mortality of wild molluscs