The Role of Clouds in Coral Bleaching Events Over the Great Barrier Reef

Zhao, Wenshuo; Huang, Yi; Siems, Steven T.; Manton, M. J.

doi:10.1029/2021gl093936

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Analysis of the synoptic meteorology of GBR coral bleaching during El Niño events (1983–2016) between 23° 26′ 24″ °S to 14° 40′ 12″ °S found reduced high cloud cover was pivotal in inducing thermal stress and bleaching at individual coral reef scale and not background oceanic warming trends 18 . This finding was supported by a subsequent whole of GBR analysis of SST anomaly and cloud cover (1996–2018) which identified a strong relationship between total cloud cover and the one-month lagged SST during the summer coral bleaching season, confirming the relationship between cloud cover and coral bleaching 19 . This supports other research that found that the GBR, particularly the southern GBR, may be predisposed to coral thermal stress events because of less warm season cloud cover relative to French Polynesia and the central equatorial Pacific 16 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

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Atypical weather patterns cause coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia during the 2021–2022 La Niña

McGowan

Theobald

2023

Sci Rep

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Widespread coral bleaching was observed over the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, the world’s largest coral reef during the 2021–2022 La Niña. This raised concerns that background global warming may have crossed a critical threshold causing thermal stress to corals during a climate state historically associated with increased cloud cover, rainfall and cooler summer water temperatures. Here we present an analysis of recent summer La Niña events focused on their synoptic meteorology and corresponding water temperatures over the Great Barrier Reef. Results show that the 2021–2022 summer La Niña caused accumulated coral heat stress to exceed previous La Niña conditions by 2.5 times. We find that weather patterns that favoured the build-up of heat in water overlying the Great Barrier Reef during the 2021–2022 summer were likely the result of repositioning of planetary scale atmospheric longwaves. This insight provides an additional means to predict potential future atmospheric conditions that increase the risk of extremely high water temperatures and coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…The significance of reduced (enhanced) cloud cover in enhancing (suppressing) coral bleaching has been shown in previous research 16 , 17 , 19 , 25 . Cloud controls the amount of solar radiation received at the water surface and is the primary energy input to the surface energy balance of coral reefs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Atypical weather patterns cause coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia during the 2021–2022 La Niña

McGowan

Theobald

2023

Sci Rep

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“…Our main study domain is (as in Zhao et al, 2021) shown in Figure 1, which is defined as the Greater GBR region. Three subdomains are defined in Figure 1a, namely land, GBR, and open ocean.…”

Section: Investigation Area and Study Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By interacting with radiation, clouds modulate the flow of energy through the atmosphere across a range of temporal and spatial scales. The important role of local cloud cover in modulating the regional energy budget across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) was explored in Zhao et al (2021), and the importance of clouds in preventing thermal coral bleaching was highlighted. Usually, warmer sea surface temperature (SST) is recognized as one of the main drivers of coral bleaching (Donner et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, clouds have been suggested to temporally shade corals by limiting the UV radiation exposure and the sea surface heating caused by incoming solar radiation (Mumby et al, 2001;Jones et al, 2017). Zhao et al (2021) identified a natural relationship between local cloud cover, radiation and SST, independent of the large-scale El Niño-Southern Oscillation impacts, particularly over the subtropical trade wind area where low clouds prevail. Low clouds reflect a significant fraction of incoming solar radiation and emit long-wave radiation at relatively high temperatures, and thus exert a net cooling effect on the earth (Klein and Hartmann, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A characterization of clouds over the Great Barrier Reef and the role of local forcing

Zhao

Huang

Siems

et al. 2022

Intl Journal of Climatology

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A characterization of cloud properties associated with precipitation in the region around the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is constructed using decadelong (2007-2017) satellite observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) combined with CloudSat. The spatial and vertical distributions of low-level cloud properties over the region are also investigated and discussed. In general, different cloud types are observed over different regions and vary by season: high clouds are dominant over the low latitudes in summer, altocumulus are mainly observed over northeast Queensland and low-level clouds are dominant over the ocean and coast during the winter months at higher latitudes under a trade wind regime. A strong latitudinal dependence of total precipitation across the Greater GBR region is identified with a significant orographic enhancement near Cairns in the wet tropics. MODIS and CloudSat-CALIPSO cloud observations show good agreement on significant differences in low-level cloud microphysical properties between the land and the ocean. The largest land-ocean differences in warm cloud microphysical properties are found over the mid-latitudes near 18 S, which is strongly associated with orographic forcing, with these enhancements extending further east to the coral reef area. However, the frequency of warm cloud is not enhanced upwind of the mountains in the wet tropics. In addition, no significant differences in warm cloud properties between the actual GBR and the open ocean are identified. These results suggest that low-level clouds over the GBR do not show any significant response to the reef-related microphysical perturbations.

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Combined Role of the MJO and ENSO in Shaping Extreme Warming Patterns and Coral Bleaching Risk in the Great Barrier Reef

Gregory,

Holbrook,

Spillman

et al. 2024

Geophysical Research Letters

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Local meteorology over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) can significantly influence ocean temperatures, which in turn impacts coral ecosystems. While El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) provides insight into the expected synoptic states, it lacks details of anticipated sub‐seasonal weather variability at local scales. This study explores the influence of the Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO) on Australian tropical climate, both independently and in combination with ENSO, focusing on GBR impacts. We find that during El Niño periods, including the summer of 2009/10, faster propagating MJO patterns can disrupt background warm, dry conditions, and potentially provide cooling relief via increased cloud cover and stronger winds. In La Niña periods, such as the summer of 2021/22, the MJO tends to be prevented from passing the Maritime continent, forcing it to remain in a standing pattern in the Indian Ocean. This leads to decreased cloud cover and weaker winds over the GBR, generating warm ocean anomalies.

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The Role of Clouds in Coral Bleaching Events Over the Great Barrier Reef

Cited by 14 publications

References 41 publications

Atypical weather patterns cause coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia during the 2021–2022 La Niña

Atypical weather patterns cause coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia during the 2021–2022 La Niña

A characterization of clouds over the Great Barrier Reef and the role of local forcing

Combined Role of the MJO and ENSO in Shaping Extreme Warming Patterns and Coral Bleaching Risk in the Great Barrier Reef

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