Characterising the Indo-Pacific Ocean in a changing climate Seminar

Over recent decades, Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures have been warming at a relatively rapid rate compared with many other regions of the world, while elsewhere an intensification of the South Pacific Gyre has pushed East Australian Current waters further southwards causing an intense multi-decadal warming of the western Tasman Sea. On interannual time scales, El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole dominate the climates of Indo-Pacific Ocean Rim countries and islands. Most dominant, however, ENSO-related temporal and distribution changes are observed throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean, including changes to ocean temperatures, heat content, Australian coastal sea level and regional tropical cyclones, rainfall, and Indo-Pacific net primary productivity. While recent observations suggest there has been a shift in ENSO-type characteristics over the past few decades, Pacific decadal variability itself has a modulating effect on ENSO. This talk will synthesise some of Neil and his team’s recent research findings associated with Indo-Pacific Ocean interannual to multi-decadal variability and trends in ocean temperature, heat content, sea level and chlorophyll based on remotely sensed and in situ observations, ocean reanalysis data, and model simulations. Specifically, he will discuss ocean climate changes and dynamic linkages observed across the Indo-Pacific Ocean in recent times.