Fig. 5: Comparison of internal-wave cooling (IWC) across depths during recent surface marine heatwaves (MHWs) around Moorea.
From: Hidden heatwaves and severe coral bleaching linked to mesoscale eddies and thermocline dynamics
Based on average a daily temperature variance (in °C2) and b IWC (\(\overline{{{{{{\rm{IWC}}}}}}}\) in °C) during the six recent local MHWs (see Table S4 for dates) that can be grouped into: (1) high IWC events during 2012 (blue), 2015 (green) and 2016 (purple); and, (2) low IWC events that coincided with bleaching events in 2007 (red) and 2019 (orange), along with early 2017 (yellow). The daily variance and \(\overline{{{{{{\rm{IWC}}}}}}}\) during Dec–Apr across all years (2005–2019) is shown for reference (black dashed lines). Contours of c–f heat accumulation as degree heating days (DHD in °C days) and g–j degree cooling days due to internal waves (DCDIW in °C days) across depths are shown for 2007, 2012, 2016 and 2019. Due to data gaps in the in situ records, contours are not shown for the 2015 or 2017 events.
