Marine heatwaves—what exactly are they? 🥵

Marine heatwaves can have irreversible impact on oceans and the ecosystems they support.

July 11, 2024

Feature of the week

Marine heatwaves are harming oceans and the ecosystems that depend on them

A marine heatwave occurs when the temperature, over five or more days, continues to be among the top 10 percent hottest days in the last 30 years for that location. Lasting anywhere from a few days to several months, marine heatwaves can have an irreversible impact on oceans and the ecosystems they support.

While oceanographers continue to debate where the threshold lies for a marine heatwave, there’s no denying its potential to destroy coral reefs and drive away aquatic life—bringing long-term consequences for coastal communities.

Climate models are becoming better at predicting marine heatwaves, which could assist in short-term planning and management at the local level. By generating better insights into marine heatwaves, and how different species cope with their effects, these models could potentially improve the resilience of fisheries.

Editorial highlights

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The South China Sea’s biggest bivalve reveals that ocean temperatures in the Middle Ages were warmer than they are today.

IN THE LAB

Using computational tools, a research group in India has found that basic chemical reactions producing precursors of proteins and RNA could be driven by heat from the ocean.

PRINT

In an interview with Supercomputing Asia, Torsten Hoefler, director of Scalable Parallel Computing Laboratory at ETH Zurich, talks about HPC education, regulation and international collaboration.

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