Project description
Assessing the relationship between Indian Ocean warming and marine heatwaves
The Indian Ocean (IO) is the fastest-warming tropical basin, impacting monsoons and ecosystems with marine heatwaves that disrupt coral reefs and fisheries. Despite its significance, it is less studied than other oceans. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IO-WAVE project will evaluate the ability of climate models to replicate observed IO warming, climate models and marine heatwaves (MHWs). It aims to downscale large-scale drivers through high-resolution simulations, with particular focus on subsurface MHWs, which have significant ecological impacts. By combining model evaluation, downscaling and MHW analysis, the project will provide a comprehensive assessment of the IO warming-MHW relationship and develop plausible future scenarios for MHWs at different warming levels.
Objective
The Indian Ocean (IO), home to nearly one-third of the global population, is the fastest-warming tropical basin under human influence. Its uneven warming affects monsoons, ecosystems, and extremes such as marine heatwaves (MHWs)-periods of anomalously warm ocean temperatures that increasingly disrupt coral reefs, tuna fisheries, and productive upwelling systems. MHWs are modulated by climate modes such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), while intensifying most in regions of strongest anthropogenic warming. Yet the IO remains far less studied than the Pacific and Atlantic, leaving critical gaps in understanding the drivers, model representation, and future evolution of MHWs.
IO-WAVE will address these gaps by: (i) evaluating how climate models reproduce observed IO warming, climate modes, and MHWs; (ii) assessing how the warming pattern and changes in climate modes influence future MHWs in the CMIP database; and (iii) downscaling these large-scale drivers with high-resolution simulations. A distinctive feature is the focus on subsurface MHWs, still poorly explored but strongly affecting ecosystems. By combining climate model evaluation, dynamical downscaling, and analysis of surface and subsurface MHWs, IO-WAVE will deliver the first comprehensive assessment of the IO warming-MHW nexus. It will generate storylines of plausible MHW futures across warming levels.
IO-WAVE will be hosted at IRD/LOCEAN-IPSL (France) under the joint supervision of Drs. Jérôme Vialard and Camila Artana. A secondment at Mercator Ocean International, Europe's leader in operational oceanography, will ensure that scientific outcomes also benefit society. The fellowship will provide new skills in large-scale climate variability and downscaling, while leveraging the fellow's expertise on MHWs, fine-scale processes, and the IO.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries fisheries
- natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes el niño
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences oceanography
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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13572 Marseille
France
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