Atmospheric wavenumber-4 driven South Pacific marine heat waves and marine cool spells

Abstract

Marine heat waves and cold spells threaten ocean ecosystems and are thought to be increasing with climate change. Here the author shows that MHW/MCS in the Tasman Sea co-occur with corresponding events in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and these southern hemisphere events are driven by stalling of a global wavenumber-4 atmospheric wave.