Local drivers of marine heatwaves: A global analysis with an Earth system model

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are periods of extreme warm ocean temperatures that can have devastating impacts on marine
organisms and socio-economic systems. Despite recent advances in understanding the underlying processes of individual events, a
global view of the local oceanic and atmospheric drivers of MHWs is currently missing. Here, we use daily-mean output of
temperature tendency terms from a comprehensive fully coupled Earth system model to quantify the main local processes leading
to the buildup and decay of MHWs in the surface ocean. Our analysis reveals that net ocean heat uptake associated with more
shortwave heat absorption and less latent heat loss is the primary driver of the buildup of MHWs in the subtropics and mid-to-high
latitudes. Reduced vertical mixing from the nonlocal portion of the KPP boundary layer scheme partially dampens the temperature
increase. In contrast, ocean heat uptake is reduced during the MHW build-up in the tropics, where reduced vertical local mixing
and diffusion cause the warming. In the subsequent decay phase, ocean heat loss to the atmosphere dominates the temperature
decrease globally. The processes leading to the buildup and decay of MHWs are similar for short and long MHWs. Different types of
MHWs with distinct driver combinations are identified within the large variability among events. Our analysis contributes to a
better understanding of MHW drivers and processes and may therefore help to improve the prediction of high-impact marine
heatwaves.