Marine heatwaves of sea surface temperature off south Java

Mochamad Riza Iskandar; Mochamad Furqon Azis Ismail; Taslim Arifin; Handy Chandra

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08618

Marine heatwaves of sea surface temperature off south Java

Heliyon. 2021 Dec 16;7(12):e08618. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08618. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Mochamad Riza Iskandar¹, Mochamad Furqon Azis Ismail¹, Taslim Arifin², Handy Chandra²

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Oceanography, National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
² Marine Research Center, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Abstract

The frequency of marine heatwaves (MHWs) events has been rising globally in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue in the region off the coast of south Java Island. These oceanic extreme events may have the potential to devastate marine habitats, ecosystems and fisheries. This paper characterized MHWs off south Java from 1982 to 2019 using satellite-observed sea surface temperature. The aim of this study was to examine the dynamics of MHWs in one of Indonesia's most important fisheries hotspots, located in the southeast of the tropical Indian Ocean. We have identified two strong MHWs events in 1998 and 2016, both of which started in the austral winter months. Both events were lasted through the spring before dissipating in the early austral winter. These intense MHWs were likely related to a strong El Niño and decreased monsoon activity.

Keywords: Marine heatwaves; Satellite; Sea surface temperature; South Java.