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    Equatorial refuge amid tropical warming

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    Date
    2012-03-16
    Author
    Karnauskas, Kristopher B.  Concept link
    Cohen, Anne L.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5304
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1499
    Abstract
    Upwelling across the tropical Pacific Ocean is projected to weaken in accordance with a reduction of the atmospheric overturning circulation, enhancing the sea surface temperature (SST) increase relative to other regions in response to greenhouse forcing. In the central Pacific, home to one of the largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and fishery regions in the global tropics, SSTs are projected to increase by 2.8°C by the end of this century. Of critical concern is that MPAs may not provide refuge from the anticipated rate of large–scale warming, which could exceed the evolutionary capacity of coral and their symbionts to adapt. Combining high–resolution satellite measurements, an ensemble of global climate models, and an eddy–resolving regional ocean circulation model, we show that warming and productivity decline around select Pacific islands will be mitigated by enhanced upwelling associated with a strengthening of the equatorial undercurrent (EUC). Enhanced topographic upwelling will act as a negative feedback, locally mitigating the surface warming. At the Gilbert Islands, the rate of warming will be reduced by 0.7 ± 0.3°C or 25 ± 9% per century, or an overall cooling effect comparable to the local anomaly for a typical El Niño by the end of this century. Since the EUC is dynamically constrained to the equator, only a handful of coral reefs stand to benefit from this equatorial island effect. Nevertheless, those that do face a lower rate of warming, conferring a significant advantage over neighboring reef systems. If realized, these predictions help to identify potential refuges for coral reef communities from anticipated climate changes of the 21st century.
    Description
    Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Climate Change 2 (2012): 530-534, doi:10.1038/nclimate1499.
    Collections
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    Suggested Citation
    Preprint: Karnauskas, Kristopher B., Cohen, Anne L., "Equatorial refuge amid tropical warming", 2012-03-16, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1499, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/5304
     
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