Coastal Compound Extreme Events and Their Multi-scale Dynamical Driving Mechanisms

Under the overarching context of ongoing global climate change, the frequency and absolute intensity of marine extreme events are significantly increasing worldwide. More alarmingly, recent paradigm shifts in research indicate that the most destructive environmental disasters are often not triggered by a single extreme phenomenon, but stem from a combination of multiple interacting extreme processes—namely, "Compound extreme events". These events occur amid spatially concurrent, temporally overlapping, or successively occurring multiple anomalies of environmental physical variables, and their resulting impacts are far beyond the simple linear superposition of individual events.In coastal and continental shelf waters, due to the concurrent confluence of oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial forcing signals, the manifestation of such compound extreme events is particularly intense and common. For example, intense marine heatwaves may co-occur with severe coastal bottom hypoxia, extreme marine stratification, or coastal upwelling triggered by strong storms and terrestrial runoff caused by extreme precipitation. The non-linear interactions between these physical and biogeochemical environmental events often produce extremely severe ecological aftermaths. Compound events can lead to aquatic habitats being doubly "squeezed" by extreme temperatures and critically low oxygen levels, thereby triggering massive mortalities of benthic organisms and farmed fish, the collapse of coral reef ecosystems, and causing irreversible damage to coastal socioeconomic structures highly dependent on marine fisheries.Although the scientific community's attention to extreme climate events is increasingly growing, the vast majority of current studies still isolated focus on single types of extreme events. In complex coastal environments, the formation mechanisms of compound extreme events, the non-linear coupling associations among different physical elements, their cross-scale dynamical propagation processes, and the cascading ecological collapse mechanisms they trigger remain major cognitive blind spots. With the accumulation of multi-source long-term observational datasets, the maturation of coupled ocean-land-atmosphere regional Earth system models, and especially the rise of joint probability statistical models and machine learning algorithms, researchers are now equipped with the tools to identify, attribute, and quantify these complex events. This research topic is dedicated to promoting the construction of a comprehensive research framework on the occurrence mechanisms, statistical characteristics, climate change trends, and profound ecological impacts of coastal compound extreme events.This special issue aims to:i. Establish multi-dimensional statistical and analytical models for identifying, quantifying, and assessing coastal compound extreme events.ii. Investigate the deep coupling mechanisms among different physical and biogeochemical extreme events (e.g., heatwaves, storm surges, red tides, hypoxia, and acidification).iii. Reveal the multi-scale meteorological and hydrodynamic mechanisms driving the occurrence and evolution of compound extreme events.iv. Comprehensively evaluate the non-linear impacts of compound extreme events on the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems, fisheries, and socioeconomics.Scope of Call for PapersSubmissions on the following research topics are welcome:1. Innovations in joint probability statistical methods for defining, detecting, and quantifying multivariate coastal compound extreme events.2. Physical and biogeochemical driving mechanisms of the co-occurrence of marine heatwaves and coastal hypoxia/acidification events.3. Interactions of extreme riverine freshwater runoff and storm surges on coastal water stratification, mixing, and extreme salinity anomalies.4. Ecological cascading responses triggered by compound events, such as habitat compression and mass mortality events caused by multiple stressors.5. The role of multi-scale climate forcing (cyclones, blocking high-pressure systems) and atmosphere-ocean energy flux anomalies in compound events.6. Prediction and assessment of coastal compound extreme events under future climate change scenarios based on regional coupled Earth system models.7. Application of machine learning and data-driven approaches in multi-hazard marine risk identification and early warning systems.8. Socioeconomic impacts and adaptation strategies of compound extreme events on fishery resources and aquaculture in coastal communities.This special issue will analyze coastal extreme events from the novel perspective of cross-impacts of multiple stressors, providing crucial scientific support for assessing future systemic climate risks, and holding irreplaceable value for the formulation of scientific coastal environmental management policies and disaster prevention strategies. Topic editors: Wenbin Yin, Miaohua Mao, Jiliang Xuan Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78168/coastal-compound-extreme-events-and-their-multi-scale-dynamical-driving-mechanisms