Trade wind regimes during the Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching season

Abstract

The trade winds over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) dominate the local weather in the region, bringing cooler and drier air over the Reef, which promotes ocean cooling. The absence of the trade winds is often marked by periods of weaker winds and higher humidity, known as the doldrums, which cause ocean temperatures to spike and can develop into marine heatwaves that lead to coral bleaching. As the shallow waters of the GBR are strongly tied to the local meteorology, studying the evolution and structure of the trade winds during the austral warmer months is essential for understanding the development of thermal bleaching events. Through a K-Means cluster analysis on reanalysis soundings at Dav..