Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia
This study introduces a combined Marine Heatwaves-Degree Heating Weeks (MHW-DHW) analysis to evaluate climate change impacts on three coral refugia: Green Island, Nanwan Bay, and Dongsha Atoll. MHWs reflect rapid rises in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and their timing, while DHW captures sustained h...
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2448240 |
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| author | Po-Chun Hsu Rose Angeli Tabanao Macagga Roshin P. Raj |
| author_facet | Po-Chun Hsu Rose Angeli Tabanao Macagga Roshin P. Raj |
| author_sort | Po-Chun Hsu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study introduces a combined Marine Heatwaves-Degree Heating Weeks (MHW-DHW) analysis to evaluate climate change impacts on three coral refugia: Green Island, Nanwan Bay, and Dongsha Atoll. MHWs reflect rapid rises in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and their timing, while DHW captures sustained high SSTs, indicating thermal stress, potential bleaching risks, and vulnerability of coral habitats. Since 2016, rapid MHW development has significantly increased annual thermal stress. Between 2020 and 2022, nearly half of each year they faced MHW threats corresponding to Bleaching Alert Levels 2 and 3. Historically, bleaching events were linked to strong El Niño transitioning to strong La Niña conditions during the negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation; however, recent sustained global ocean warming has masked this pattern. Periodic cooling due to upwelling in these habitats is not fully captured by the CoralTemp dataset due to smoothing and low spatial resolution. CoralTemp SST values differ from Himawari satellite observations by about 1 to 1.4 °C in daily minima, leading to average SST discrepancies of 0.2–0.5 °C. This suggests diurnal temperature variations may still mitigate sustained high temperatures. Furthermore, multi-satellite data revealed that rapid MHW development has not significantly affected chlorophyll concentrations within coral habitats. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d2cdbc03fe3b407f84036dbf46892b73 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1947-5705 1947-5713 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk |
| spelling | doaj-art-d2cdbc03fe3b407f84036dbf46892b732025-08-20T02:26:15ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk1947-57051947-57132025-12-0116110.1080/19475705.2024.2448240Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugiaPo-Chun Hsu0Rose Angeli Tabanao Macagga1Roshin P. Raj2Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Taoyuan City, TaiwanCenter for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Taoyuan City, TaiwanNansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, NorwayThis study introduces a combined Marine Heatwaves-Degree Heating Weeks (MHW-DHW) analysis to evaluate climate change impacts on three coral refugia: Green Island, Nanwan Bay, and Dongsha Atoll. MHWs reflect rapid rises in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and their timing, while DHW captures sustained high SSTs, indicating thermal stress, potential bleaching risks, and vulnerability of coral habitats. Since 2016, rapid MHW development has significantly increased annual thermal stress. Between 2020 and 2022, nearly half of each year they faced MHW threats corresponding to Bleaching Alert Levels 2 and 3. Historically, bleaching events were linked to strong El Niño transitioning to strong La Niña conditions during the negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation; however, recent sustained global ocean warming has masked this pattern. Periodic cooling due to upwelling in these habitats is not fully captured by the CoralTemp dataset due to smoothing and low spatial resolution. CoralTemp SST values differ from Himawari satellite observations by about 1 to 1.4 °C in daily minima, leading to average SST discrepancies of 0.2–0.5 °C. This suggests diurnal temperature variations may still mitigate sustained high temperatures. Furthermore, multi-satellite data revealed that rapid MHW development has not significantly affected chlorophyll concentrations within coral habitats.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2448240Coral habitatupwellingocean warmingMarine HeatwaveDegree Heating Week |
| spellingShingle | Po-Chun Hsu Rose Angeli Tabanao Macagga Roshin P. Raj Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk Coral habitat upwelling ocean warming Marine Heatwave Degree Heating Week |
| title | Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia |
| title_full | Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia |
| title_short | Assessment of the impacts of rapid Marine Heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold-water upwelling coral refugia |
| title_sort | assessment of the impacts of rapid marine heatwaves and cumulative thermal stress on cold water upwelling coral refugia |
| topic | Coral habitat upwelling ocean warming Marine Heatwave Degree Heating Week |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2024.2448240 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pochunhsu assessmentoftheimpactsofrapidmarineheatwavesandcumulativethermalstressoncoldwaterupwellingcoralrefugia AT roseangelitabanaomacagga assessmentoftheimpactsofrapidmarineheatwavesandcumulativethermalstressoncoldwaterupwellingcoralrefugia AT roshinpraj assessmentoftheimpactsofrapidmarineheatwavesandcumulativethermalstressoncoldwaterupwellingcoralrefugia |