Cenderawasih Hot Pool: The Frequent High Sea Surface Temperature Phenomena At Cenderawasih Bay, Papua

The term “warm pool” refers to a body of water with the characteristic of SST exceeding 28°C within a particular area and a relatively long period in an annual circle. However, there are regions with an annual mean SST measured above 30°C, and we classified them as hot pools because of the conditions of intense solar radiation and low wind speed. One of the Hot Pool spots was found in Indonesia, in Cenderawasih Bay. The present study examines the existence of the Cenderawasih Hot Pool using long-term observation of satellite SST data. In order to learn more about their mechanisms, we also analyzed surface wind, surface heat flux, and surface current data. The results show that SSTs in Cenderawasih Bay have a 50% chance of exceeding 30°C within the 13 years of study (2013-2015). Heat input comes from strong solar radiation, i.e., 50% of solar radiation is more than 200 W/m2. The location is also dominated by low wind speed, i.e., 80% wind speed of lower than 4 m/s, which caused the low latent loss in Cenderawasih Bay. Cenderawasih Bay is fully separated from surface currents during the dry and wet seasons since the easterly subsurface water flow does not enter the bay. The absence of strong currents prevents the mixing process, maintaining the high temperature in the surface layer. Those processes are discovered and they serve as compelling evidence to support Cenderawasih Bay as one of the Hot Pool areas within the Indonesian seas.