Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin

Abstract Anthropogenic CO2 emissions lead to ocean warming, deoxygenation and acidification. Superimposed on long‐term trends are episodic extremes of temperature, oxygen, and acidity. Here we present an innovative method for assessing single and compound extremes using a high‐resolution regional mo...

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Main Authors: Amber M. Holdsworth, Andrew Shao, James R. Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-05-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112591
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author Amber M. Holdsworth
Andrew Shao
James R. Christian
author_facet Amber M. Holdsworth
Andrew Shao
James R. Christian
author_sort Amber M. Holdsworth
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Anthropogenic CO2 emissions lead to ocean warming, deoxygenation and acidification. Superimposed on long‐term trends are episodic extremes of temperature, oxygen, and acidity. Here we present an innovative method for assessing single and compound extremes using a high‐resolution regional model of the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. We use an unsupervised clustering approach to identify regions with similar habitat characteristics near the seafloor, define extreme thresholds seasonally using a fixed baseline (1996–2020) within each cluster, and quantify the fraction of ocean waters that exceed these thresholds for both single and compound stressors. Compound extremes (most commonly of O2 and acidification) are rare but show an increasing trend in some clusters. Potential predictability of occurrence of extremes is demonstrated by correlation with basin‐scale climate variability.
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-cfe2fc389395421d95e4bf04ded5e44c2025-08-20T03:26:38ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-05-015210n/an/a10.1029/2024GL112591Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental MarginAmber M. Holdsworth0Andrew Shao1James R. Christian2Fisheries and Oceans Canada Victoria BC CanadaHewlett Packard Enterprise Victoria BC CanadaFisheries and Oceans Canada Victoria BC CanadaAbstract Anthropogenic CO2 emissions lead to ocean warming, deoxygenation and acidification. Superimposed on long‐term trends are episodic extremes of temperature, oxygen, and acidity. Here we present an innovative method for assessing single and compound extremes using a high‐resolution regional model of the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. We use an unsupervised clustering approach to identify regions with similar habitat characteristics near the seafloor, define extreme thresholds seasonally using a fixed baseline (1996–2020) within each cluster, and quantify the fraction of ocean waters that exceed these thresholds for both single and compound stressors. Compound extremes (most commonly of O2 and acidification) are rare but show an increasing trend in some clusters. Potential predictability of occurrence of extremes is demonstrated by correlation with basin‐scale climate variability.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112591ocean modelingextremesPacific oceanmachine learningacidificationdeoxygenation
spellingShingle Amber M. Holdsworth
Andrew Shao
James R. Christian
Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
Geophysical Research Letters
ocean modeling
extremes
Pacific ocean
machine learning
acidification
deoxygenation
title Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
title_full Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
title_fullStr Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
title_full_unstemmed Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
title_short Clustering to Characterize Extreme Marine Conditions for the Benthic Region of the Northeastern Pacific Continental Margin
title_sort clustering to characterize extreme marine conditions for the benthic region of the northeastern pacific continental margin
topic ocean modeling
extremes
Pacific ocean
machine learning
acidification
deoxygenation
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112591
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AT andrewshao clusteringtocharacterizeextrememarineconditionsforthebenthicregionofthenortheasternpacificcontinentalmargin
AT jamesrchristian clusteringtocharacterizeextrememarineconditionsforthebenthicregionofthenortheasternpacificcontinentalmargin