Speaker: Luanne Thompson, Professor of Oceanography, University of Washington
While the impact of the atmosphere on sea surface temperature (SST) has been studied through observational and modeling studies, examination of the characteristics of specific periods of warmer than normal SST were not identified as “Marine Heatwaves” (MHWs) until a 2010/2011 event that occurred West of Australia. Since then, research on the drivers, evolution and impacts of Marine Heatwaves has exploded.
In the first part of this talk, Thompson will discuss the impacts of MHWs on marine ecosystems in both observations and models. Thompson will then introduce an approach for characterizing MHWs by their spatial temporal evolution using a software package called OceTrac. This tool allows examination of MHWs as a collection of contiguous points at the surface ocean that evolve in space and time that allows MHWs to split and merge. Thompson will discuss application of OceTrac to evaluation of the prevalence spatiotemporal evolution and predictability of MHWs in observations and climate models.
This seminar can also be viewed via our live stream.
Hosted by the Climate, People and the Environment Program (CPEP) and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) Colloquium Series.