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A Climatology of Ocean-Atmosphere Heat Flux Estimates over the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: Implications for Recent Mass Coral Bleaching Events
Citation
Weller, E and Nunez, M and Meyers, G and Masiri, IO, A Climatology of Ocean-Atmosphere Heat Flux Estimates over the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea: Implications for Recent Mass Coral Bleaching Events, Journal of Climate, 21, (15) pp. 3853-3871. ISSN 0894-8755 (2008) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© Copyright 2008 American Meteorological Society (AMS)
Official URL: http://www.ametsoc.org/
DOI: doi:10.1175/2007JCLI2085.1
Abstract
A regional-scale estimate of the surface heat budget of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea (10°–26°S,
142°–155°E) has been developed for the period 1995–2005 in the hope of understanding the trends of sea
surface temperatures and the surface heat balance. This report describes the methodology to acquire input
parameters from satellite observations, the resultant individual components of the surface heat budget, and
their validation with existing datasets and surface measurements.
The accuracy of individual flux components of the heat budget were analyzed with an array of surface
measurements. Derived monthly averaged latent and sensible heat flux estimates show RMS errors of
approximately 25.2 and 3.4 W m2, respectively. Monthly averaged longwave and shortwave radiation flux
estimates show RMS errors of approximately 6.7 and 13.3 W m2, respectively. These improved estimates
allow a higher confidence in studies that examine recent sea surface temperature (SST) trends and observed
mass coral bleaching for the region.
It is proposed that the greatest uptake of heat occurs over the spring/summer period in the central and
southern regions of the Great Barrier Reef, agreeing well with areas where anomalously high sea surface
temperatures are observed and where the most significant coral bleaching has occurred, and not in the most
northern, more tropical region, as might be expected. The surface heat budget climatology was used to
examine the mass bleaching episode that occurred in 2002. Results show that areas of maximum and
minimum bleaching are better discriminated by the anomaly from mean seasonal values in the net surface
heat flux (QNET), with accuracy of 86% and 79%, respectively, than by absolute QNET, absolute SST, or SST
anomaly. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Heat budget; Sea surface temperature; SST trends |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Climate change science |
Research Field: | Climate change processes |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
Objective Field: | Global effects of climate change (excl. Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the South Pacific) (excl. social impacts) |
UTAS Author: | Weller, E (Mr Evan Weller) |
UTAS Author: | Nunez, M (Dr Manuel Nunez) |
UTAS Author: | Masiri, IO (Mr Itsara Masiri) |
ID Code: | 54985 |
Year Published: | 2008 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 12 |
Deposited By: | Geography and Environmental Studies |
Deposited On: | 2009-03-03 |
Last Modified: | 2009-06-09 |
Downloads: | 1 View Download Statistics |
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