ENSO Weather and Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

McGowan, Hamish A.; Theobald, Alison

doi:10.1002/2017gl074877

Cited by 33 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…The most common type is associated with above average mean sea level pressure, higher surface air temperatures, negative cloud cover anomalies, and high humidity. Under these conditions water temperatures over individual coral reefs are typically >2 °C above average (McGowan & Theobald, ), similar to conditions found during energy balance observations at Heron Island in February 2010 when coral bleaching occurred. Accordingly, these studies highlight the role of atmospheric processes at the synoptic scale in controlling the energy balance of individual coral reefs at micro to local scales over hours and hundreds of meters, rather than ENSO or background warming of the oceans.…”

Section: Insights Into Surface—atmosphere Energetics At Heron Reefsupporting

confidence: 77%

Insights From a Decade of Research on Coral Reef—Atmosphere Energetics

et al. 2019

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Coral reefs cover approximately 0.10 to 0.25% of the marine environment and yet are home to around 25% of marine species and support the livelihoods of more than 500 million people. They face a wide range of threats, with the impact of global warming gaining most attention due to its frequently claimed causal link to coral bleaching. Here we review a decade of research into the micrometeorology of Heron Reef, a lagoonal platform coral reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Using novel pontoon‐mounted eddy covariance systems, we show that often >80% of net radiation is partitioned into heating the water overlying the reef, the reef benthos, and substrate. Significant spatial variability in energy and trace gas exchanges occurs over the reef in response to different geomorphic and hydrodynamic conditions. Synoptic weather patterns that bring light winds, clear skies, and high humidity, result in reef scale meteorology that appears to have a greater influence on coral bleaching events than the background oceanic warming trend. The reef develops its own convective internal boundary layer, with potential to influence cloud development and therefore the surface energy balance. Knowledge of such local effects is lacking, so it is recommended that future research is needed into reef scale processes and how they interact with larger‐scale forcing.

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Section: Insights Into Surface—atmosphere Energetics At Heron Reefsupporting

confidence: 77%

Insights From a Decade of Research on Coral Reef—Atmosphere Energetics

et al. 2019

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“…At large scales (5–50 km) patterns of bleaching severity can be successfully predicted and explained by accumulated heat stress, especially during summer months, often measured as degree heating weeks ([DHWs], Table ), but local‐scale heterogeneity in bleaching patterns is likely to be reflective of a variety of reef‐ and organismal‐scale factors . During this time, extrinsic factors such as hydrodynamics influence the local‐scale water temperatures and as a result the severity of bleaching . In fact, several studies have determined that factors like the mixing of the water column and advection of cooler water, in addition to higher water flow velocities, can provide a refuge from high temperatures mitigating the impacts of adverse conditions on coral physiology …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Resistance in Coral Reef Ecosystems: The Interplay of Biophysical Factors and Bleaching Resistance under a Changing Climate

et al. 2019

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If we are to ensure the persistence of species in an increasingly warm world, of interest is the identification of drivers that affect the ability of an organism to resist thermal stress. Underpinning any organism's capacity for resistance is a complex interplay between biological and physical factors occurring over multiple scales. Tropical coral reefs are a unique system, in that their function is dependent upon the maintenance of a coral-algal symbiosis that is directly disrupted by increases in water temperature. A number of physical factors have been identified as affecting the biological responses of the coral organism under broadscale thermal anomalies. One such factor is water flow, which is capable of modulating both organismal metabolic functioning and thermal environments. Understanding the physiological and hydrodynamic drivers of organism response to thermal stress improves predictive capabilities and informs targeted management responses, thereby increasing the resilience of reefs into the future.

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“…In the GBR region, coral bleaching was enhanced by specific local El Niño associated weather patterns. These were dominated by reduced cloud coverage during most previously reported bleaching events in 1983, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2010(McGowan and Theobald, 2017. The 1997/1998 El Niño caused global coral bleaching (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Large scale anomalous warming of the Australian coastal ocean has been observed as a consequence of ENSO influenced SST variability for the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef (GBR, Redondo-Rodriguez et al, 2012;Hughes et al, 2017;McGowan and Theobald, 2017;Benthuysen et al, 2018;Stuart-Smith et al, 2018), the Leeuwin Current (Holbrook et al, 2009;Feng et al, 2013), the East Australian Current (EAC) (Holbrook et al, 2009), and the Tasman Sea . In regards to the GBR, the relation between El Niño/La Niña and summer SST anomalies is spatially variable and the strongest in the south of the reef over a 60 years study period (Redondo-Rodriguez et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%