Heatwaves on the land are well known. But marine heatwaves — or the ones that form on oceans — have been on the rise in the waters around India, says a study.
Marine heatwaves are periods of extremely high temperatures in the ocean. These events are linked to coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, affecting the fisheries sector adversely. An underwater survey showed that 85% of the corals in the Gulf of Mannar near the Tamil Nadu coast got bleached after the marine heatwave in May 2020. Emerging studies have reported their occurrence and impacts in the global oceans, but are little understood in the tropical Indian Ocean. The study appears in the journalJGR Oceans.
