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| Sea snails - the picture shows a pteropod - play an important role in the marine food web. They are especially sensitive to ocean warming and acidification. Source: Universität Bern Credit: Charlotte Havermans |
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Compound Marine Extreme Events
The Core Concept: Compound marine extreme events refer to the simultaneous or combined occurrence of multiple environmental stressors, such as marine heatwaves and extreme ocean acidity, which severely amplify pressure on marine ecosystems.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: Unlike isolated climate anomalies, compound events involve interacting physical and chemical oceanographic drivers—such as temperature increases correlating with higher proton concentrations or altered water column mixing—that exponentially worsen environmental stress.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Marine heatwaves characterized by prolonged sea surface temperature anomalies significantly exceeding historical averages.
- Extreme ocean acidity defined by elevated proton concentrations within seawater.
- Earth system model simulations projecting exponential increases in co-occurring extreme days under future global warming scenarios.
- Regional ocean dynamics, including thermal expansion, subsurface water circulation, and localized chemical interactions.
Branch of Science: Marine Biology, Climatology, Oceanography, Earth Science, and Environmental Science
Future Application: Advanced climate modeling systems, regional ecological forecasting tools, and integrated conservation frameworks designed to protect fisheries and sensitive marine species from multi-stressor threats.
Why It Matters: Understanding compound marine extremes is vital because their projected escalation threatens irreversible damage to global marine biodiversity, fragile habitats, and commercial fisheries under continued carbon emissions.
When marine heatwaves and ocean acidity extreme events co-occur, it can have severe impacts on marine ecosystems. Researchers at the Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern have determined for the first time the frequency and drivers of these compound events and have projected them into the future.
A group of researchers at the Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, led by Thomas Frölicher, has now investigated whether marine heatwaves co-occur in combination with extreme events in other potential marine ecosystem stressors. In addition to heat, potential stressors also include high acidity levels in the ocean. "For the first time, we have quantified the frequency of compound events in which marine heatwaves happen together with extreme acidity", says Friedrich Burger, postdoctoral researcher and first author of the study just published in the journal Nature Communications. Extreme events of high ocean acidity are occurrences where the proton concentration in seawater is higher than normal.
Compound events especially frequent in the subtropical oceans
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| Prof. Dr. Thomas Frölicher, Physics Institute, Climate and Environmental Physics (CEP) / Oeschger Center for Climate Research (OCCR). Photo Credit: Courtesy of Thomas Frölicher |
The main finding of the study, which is based on monthly observations from the surface open ocean from 1982 to 2019, is that marine heatwaves and extreme ocean acidity events occur relatively often together. This means that the negative impacts of past marine heatwaves were potentially exacerbated by extreme acidic conditions. "We can show," says ocean modeler Friedrich Burger, "that these compound events are most common in the subtropical oceans, but comparably rare in the high latitudes and tropical Pacific."
The co-occurrence of marine heatwaves and ocean acidity extremes in regions such as the subtropical oceans is caused by an increase in acidity at higher temperatures. However, if the temperature increase causes also other effects, such as less mixing of relatively more acidic subsurface water with surface water, a heatwave can also reduce acidity and thus decrease the frequency of compound events. This happens in the Southern Ocean or the tropical Pacific. "To determine the relative frequency of combined extreme events, it is crucial to understand the effects of heatwaves on the circulation, biology, and chemistry of the respective ocean region" says Jens Terhaar, co-author of the study.
Compound events in the ocean are increasing strongly
As a result of climate change and continuing CO2 emissions, extreme events such as marine heatwaves and ocean acidity extremes will continue to increase in frequency, and so will compound marine heatwave and ocean acidity extreme events. Earth system model simulations conducted by the Bern researchers show that the number of days in which marine heatwaves and high acidity events co-occur increases 22-fold at a global warming of 2 °C compared to pre-industrial conditions. "This large projected increase may have severe impacts on marine ecosystems," said Thomas Frölicher, co-author.
A team led by Frölicher had already shown the impact of marine heatwaves in a 2018 Nature study. The conclusion was that ocean heatwaves can irreversibly damage ecosystems and may pose a threat to fisheries. Although there is evidence that marine organisms can be further harmed by the concurrence of warm and acidic seawater conditions, still relatively little is known about the biological effects of co-occurrences of marine heatwaves and ocean acidity extremes.
Reference material: What Is: Ocean Acidification
Funding: This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
Published in journal: Nature Communications
Title: Compound marine heatwaves and ocean acidity extremes
Authors: Friedrich A. Burger, Jens Terhaar, and Thomas L. Frölicher
Source/Credit: Universität Bern
Edited by: Scientific Frontline
Reference Number: en081622_01