Improving marine heatwave simulations through realistic Kuroshio representation in a high-resolution dynamical downscaling ensemble

Marine heatwaves (MHWs), marked by extended periods of unusually warm seawater, significantly impact marine ecosystems and human communities. They have notably increased in the recent decades especially in the Northwest Pacific, a complex coastal region rich in biodiversity and economic activities. To develop effective policies for sustainable and resilient marine ecosystems in this region, high-resolution and reliable ocean climate information is essential. In this study, we simulate the long-term (1982–2014) North Pacific ocean climate using a high-resolution Regional Ocean Modeling Systems (ROMS) driven by eight relatively low-resolution Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) models through dynamical downscaling. The ensemble median of eight ROMS simulations reduces warm biases of CMIP6 sea surface temperature by 20–69%. It also improves the spatio-temporal variation of MHW p…