Spatiotemporal variability of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea marine heatwaves during 1982-2020

For the first time, this study explored the dominant features of Marine HeatWaves (MHWs) in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea (1982-2020). The spatial extent of MHWs has nearly doubled in the last 24 years. Since 1997, the average number of MHW days in the central parts of the Persian Gulf has increased about 19 times compared to the period 1982-1997. The average number of the detected MHW events has increased by about three times. Simultaneously with the increase in MHWs frequency trend, the trend in the average number of MHW days has also increased. Since 1997, the average number of MHW days in the study area has almost increased by 10 times. The mean duration of the detected MHWs ranged from 5 to10 days. On average, in a major part of the Persian Gulf, about 1-2 MHW events occur annually.

Automated summary

This study is the first to explore the dominant features of Marine Heat Waves (MHWs) in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. The spatial extent of MHWs has nearly doubled in the last few decades, and the average number of MHW days in the central parts of the Persian Gulf has significantly increased. Additionally, there is an upward trend in both the average number of MHW days and the number of detected MHW events in the study area.