In this project, we propose a staged research to assess and downscale the climate impacts on the physical environment off the Kimberley coast and their impacts on marine biota. Historical data and numerical model outputs will be used to identify sensitivity of ocean temperature, sea level, and shelf circulations off the  Kimberley coast to natural and anthropogenic climate drivers in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. A nested modelling approach will be used to downscale future changes of the physical environment such as ocean temperature, ocean circulation off the Kimberley coast. The downscaled model outputs will be used to understand shelf water retention and dispersals under different forcing scenarios.

Research Articles

Feng M, Zhang X, Sloyan B, Chamberlain M (2017) Contribution of the deep ocean to the centennial changes of the Indonesian Throughflow Geophys. Res. Lett., 44. DOI: 10.1002/2017GL072577.

Zhang N, Feng M, Hendon HH, Hobday AJ, Zinke J. (2017) Opposite polarities of ENSO drive distinct patterns of coral bleaching potentials in the southeast Indian Ocean. Scientific Reports doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02688-y

Zhang N, Feng M, Du Y, Lan J, Wijffels S. (2016) Seasonal and interannual variations of mixed layer salinity in the southeast tropical Indian Ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans, 121, 4716-4731. doi: 10.1002/2016JC011854

Ming Feng, Jessica Benthuysen, Ningning Zhang and Dirk Slawinski (October 2015) Freshening anomalies in the Indonesian throughflow and impacts on the Leeuwin Current during 2010–2011 Research Letters DOI: 10.1002/2015GL065848

Yan Du, Yuhong Zhang, Ming Feng, Tianyu Wang, Ningning Zhang & Susan Wijffels Decadal trends of the upper ocean salinity in the tropical Indo-Pacific since mid-1990s Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 16050 (2015) doi:10.1038/srep16050

Jens Zinke, A. Hoell, J.M. Lough, M. Feng, A.J. Kuret, H. CLarke, V. Ricca, K. Rankenburg, & M.T. McCulloch (October 2015) Coral record of southeast Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient, Nature Communications doi:10.1038/ncomms9562

Ming Feng, Harry H. Hendon, Shang-Ping Xie4, Andrew G. Marshall, Andreas Schiller, Yu Kosaka, Nick Caputi and Alan Pearce 2015. Decadal increase in Ningaloo Niño since the late 1990s. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(1), doi: 10.1002/2014GL062509.

Presentations

Feng M. Opposite polarities of ENSO drive distinct patterns of coral bleaching potentials off WA coast. 2017 WAMSI Research Conference (video of presentation) Presentation slides

Ming Feng, Dirk Slawinski, Kenji Shimizu, Ningning Zhang Predicting biophysical response to climate change WAMSI Presentation at Parks and Wildlife, Kensington (29 August 2017) (Presentation slides)

Feng M, Benthuysen, J, Zhang N, Slawinski D, Freshening of the Indonesian Throughflow and the Leeuwin Current during the 2010-11 La Niña/Ningaloo Niño, Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference, Geelong, Australia, 5-9 July 2015.

Feng M, Climate change research off Kimberley, KMRP Node Project 2.2.7 presentation at the WAMSI Symposium, 1 April 2015.

Slawinski D, Feng M, Darby I (2014) West Australian IMOS moorings – A near continuous latitudinal coastal observation network for the south-east Indian Ocean. Australian Marine Science Association Annual Conference, Canberra, 6-10 July 2014.

Feng M, Benthuysen J, Zhang N, Slawinski D (2016) Freshening anomalies in the Indonesian throughflow and impacts on the Leeuwin Current during 2010–2011. Australian Meteorology and Oceanography Society National Conference, Melbourne, 8-11 February 2016.

Zhang N, Feng M, Du Y, Lan J, Wijffels S (2016) Seasonal and interannual variations of mixed layer salinity in the southeast Indian Ocean. Australian Meteorology and Oceanography Society National Conference, Melbourne, 8-11 February 2016.

Feng M (2016) The marine heatwaves, public lecture at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China, 21-25 November 2016.

Feng M (2016) Climate drivers of marine heatwaves in the southeast Indian Ocean. Australian Coastal and Oceans Modelling and Observations Workshop, Canberra, 11-12 October 2016.

Feng M (2017) Opposite polarities of ENSO drive distinct patterns of coral bleaching potentials in the southeast Indian Ocean. Australian Meteorology and Oceanography Society National Conference, Canberra, 7-10 February 2017.

Feng M (2017) Contribution of the deep ocean to the centennial changes of the Indonesian Throughflow. Australian Meteorology and Oceanography Society National Conference, Canberra, 7-10 February 2017.

Feng M (2017) The marine heatwaves – importance of sustained ocean observations, IMOS Annual planning meeting, Perth, Australia, 14-16 February 2017.

Feng M (2017) Climate drivers of marine heatwaves off the Kimberley coast, AMSA Annual Conference, Darwin, 2-6 July 2017.

 

News
Climate swings enhance marine heatwave risk off the Kimberley coast (WAMSI Bulletin May 2017)
Giant corals reveal WA's heatwave history (WAMSI Bulletin October 2015)
The good-news El Niño story for Western Australia’s oceans (The Conversation May 2015)
Indian Ocean creates its own flow-on effect (WAMSI BUlletin November 2015)