Frequency of marine heatwaves in the North Atlantic and North Pacific since 1950

Extreme and large‐scale warming events in the ocean have been dubbed marine heatwaves, and these have been documented in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This paper examines the intensity, duration, and frequency of positive sea surface temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic and Nort...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inGeophysical research letters Vol. 43; no. 5; pp. 2069 - 2076
Main Authors Scannell, Hillary A., Pershing, Andrew J., Alexander, Michael A., Thomas, Andrew C., Mills, Katherine E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 16.03.2016
Subjects
Anomalies
Anthropogenic factors
Area
Climate
Climate change
Climate variability
Duration
Global warming
Heat
Heat waves
Heatwaves
Hemispheres
Marine
marine heatwave
Meteorology
Modes
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
Oceans
Pacific Ocean
Power law
Probability theory
Sea surface
Sea surface temperature
Sea surface temperature anomalies
SST anomaly
Surface temperature
Temperature anomalies
Temperature effects
Tradeoffs
Variability
AN, North Atlantic
IN, North Pacific
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Extreme and large‐scale warming events in the ocean have been dubbed marine heatwaves, and these have been documented in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This paper examines the intensity, duration, and frequency of positive sea surface temperature anomalies in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans over the period 1950–2014 using an objective definition for marine heatwaves based on their probability of occurrence. Small‐area anomalies occur more frequently than large‐area anomalies, and this relationship can be characterized by a power law distribution. The relative frequency of large‐ versus small‐area anomalies, represented by the power law slope parameter, is modulated by basin‐scale modes of natural climate variability and anthropogenic warming. Findings suggest that the probability of marine heatwaves is a trade‐off between size, intensity, and duration and that region specific variability modulates the frequency of these events. Key Points Marine heatwaves are discrete warming events with an areal extent and duration Marine heatwaves are influenced by intrinsic climate variability Probability of marine heatwaves is a trade‐off between size, intensity, and duration
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2015GL067308