Record-breaking 2023 marine heatwaves
The year 2023 witnessed an extraordinary surge in marine heatwaves (MHWs) across Earth's oceans, setting new records in duration, extent, and intensity, with MHW activity totaling 53.6 billion °C days square kilometer-more than three standard deviations above the historical norm since 1982. Notable events include the North Atlantic MHW (276-year return period) and the Southwest Pacific (141 years). Using ECCO2 (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean-Phase II) high-resolution daily data, we conducted a mixed-layer heat budget analysis and identified region-specific drivers: enhanced shortwave flux and a shallower mixed layer in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, reduced cloud cover and increased advection in the Southwest Pacific, and oceanic advections in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. The 2023 MHWs highlight the intensifying impacts of a warm climate and the challenges in understanding extreme events.
Authors
- Dashan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9743-4806)
- Alan D. Ziegler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5305-2136)
- Ming Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3350-8719)
- Yubin Jin
- Zhenzhong Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6851-2756)
- Lili Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3978-1858)
- Shijing Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8136-484X)
- Xiaowen Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3936-590X)
- Shuxin Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9876-8872)
- Tianyun Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2449-268X)
- Tianjun Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5829-7279)
- Laurent Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3855-3976)
- Dongxiao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6930-5994)
- Shuai Yang
- Yuntian Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4566-8197)
- Dongzhi Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1780-3117)
- Deliang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0288-5618)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- École Polytechnique (FR)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- Kasetsart University (TH)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (FR)
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (CN)
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN)
- Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-07-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr0910
- Citations
- 11
- Primary Topic
- Climate variability and models
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.16
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Meteorological Administration
- Tsinghua University
- Southern University of Science and Technology
- University of California, San Diego
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province