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Lookup NU author(s): Yuan-Jane LoORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 Elsevier B.V.The continually rising concentration of the surface aqueous partial pressure of carbon dioxide has led to sustained ocean acidification and increased sea surface temperature (SST) in the coral habitats of northeastern Taiwan. Since 2016, this region has been experiencing intense marine heatwave (MHW) events, with the accumulated thermal stress reaching its peak between 2020 and 2022. Apart from the attributing factor of the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, the Kuroshio (KC) path along the eastern coast of Taiwan has exhibited a westward tendency towards the coast of Taiwan from October to April. The westward and northward components of the KC's branch into the East China Sea (ECS) shelf have rapidly increased. The interplay between the KC and the northeastern Taiwan coastal countercurrent (NETCC) near the coral habitats has formed a counterclockwise circulation, which continues to show a westward trend. This has resulted in the influx of warmer waters into northeastern Taiwan. On another note, the pronounced negative phase of the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and La Niña conditions from 2020 to 2022 have further contributed to the increased SST, with the average MHW event accumulating to 172 days annually. The coral bleaching index, degree heating week (DHW), indicates that 2020 was historically the first year for this region to experience a DHW exceeding 8°C-weeks, reaching an Alert Level 2 for bleaching, and 2022 saw even more severe conditions with an average of 12 days at this level. With a reduced number of typhoon incursions in recent years in northeastern Taiwan, and the absence of periodic cold waters to mitigate the heat, the future marine environment of the coral habitats in this region is of significant concern.
Author(s): Hsu P-C, Macagga RAT, Lu C-Y, Lo DY-J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Regional Studies in Marine Science
Year: 2024
Volume: 71
Print publication date: 01/04/2024
Online publication date: 10/02/2024
Acceptance date: 09/02/2024
Date deposited: 18/03/2024
ISSN (electronic): 2352-4855
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2024.103431
DOI: 10.1016/j.rsma.2024.103431
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/s7t8-g731
Data Access Statement: This study has been conducted using Coral Reef Watch dataset provided by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/); The ENSO data provided by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (https://origin.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/); The PDO data provided by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/pdo/); The water quality data are provided by the NASA Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/). The OA-related data and ocean currents data are provided by E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information: https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00021; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00016; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00047; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00015.
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