A global assessment of marine heatwaves and their drivers

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) can cause devastating impacts to marine life. Despite the serious consequences of MHWs, our understanding of their drivers is largely based on isolated case studies rather than any systematic unifying assessment. Here we provide the first global assessment under a consistent framework by combining a confidence assessment of the historical refereed literature from 1950 to February 2016, together with the analysis of MHWs determined from daily satellite sea surface temperatures from 1982-2016, to identify the important local processes, large-scale climate modes and teleconnections that are associated with MHWs regionally. Clear patterns emerge, including coherent relationships between…

• AG
  Australian Government

  Award: CE170100023
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/H017151/1, NE/K008439/1, NE/J022446/1, NE/J021938/1, NE/N00678X/1, NE/J024082/1
• CE
  Climate Extremes

  Award: CE170100023
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/N00678X/1, NE/J022446/1, NE/K008439/1, NE/J024082/1, NE/H017151/1, NE/J021938/1, NE/J024082/1