Arctic Amplification of marine heatwaves under global warming
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) and total heat exposures (THEs), extreme warming events occurring across the global oceans, seriously threaten marine ecosystems and coastal communities as the climate warms. However, future changes in MHWs and THEs in the Arctic Ocean, where unique marine ecosystems are present, are still unclear. Here, based on the latest CMIP6 climate simulations, we find that both MHWs and THEs in the Arctic Ocean are anticipated to intensify in a warming climate, mainly due to Arctic sea ice decline and long-term warming trend, respectively. Particularly striking is the projected rise in MHW mean intensity during the 21<sup>st</sup> century in the Arctic Ocean, surpassing the global average by more than sevenfold under the CMIP6 SSP585 scenario. This phenomenon, coined the 'Arctic MHW Amplification', underscores an impending and disproportionately elevated threat to the Arctic marine life, necessitating targeted conservation and adaptive strategies.
Authors
- Zhenya Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8098-5529)
- Qi Shu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4781-571X)
- Qiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2704-5394)
- Yan He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7094-6809)
- Fangli Qiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5829-4780)
- Shizhu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3213-5746)
- Min Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5998-5711)
- Lujun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6299-3357)
- Haibo Bi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9764-7780)
- Rongrong Pan
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
- First Institute of Oceanography (CN)
- Numerical Method (China) (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-09-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52760-1
- Citations
- 20
- Primary Topic
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.53
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
- National Key Research and Development Program of China