Dynamics of three anomalous SST events in the Coral Sea

Abstract

Variability of the circulation in the Coral Sea, accompanied by large heat transport anomalies, has the potential to have detrimental impacts on underlying ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef. In this study we analyze the dynamics of three events, characterized by extremes in sea-surface temperature, as simulated in an eddy-resolving ocean reanalysis. We show that a cooling in April 1997 results from strong wind anomalies and is supported by vertical and horizontal advective heat losses. A warm event in October 1998 is attributable to a heat gain by horizontal advection. A heat budget of the mixed-layer within a closed box shows that warm anomalies in January 2002 involve a quasi-balance between horizontal advection and vertical entrainment with a large local heat gain through the ocean surface near-shore that apparently caused a coral bleaching event. The dynamics of these extreme events are all quite different, with both local and remote influences.