Maren Hale, Heat Hub project manager and researcher, published her first lead author paper alongside co-authors Mark Merrifield, Rachel Clemesha, Sasha Gershunov, Kristen Guirguis, Tarik Benmarhnia, Clive Dorman, and Sam Iacobellis, in the July 2024 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. The paper, “Mean Summer Land Temperatures in the Southern California Coastal Zone: Connections With Ocean Processes” focuses on Southern California coastal temperatures and how they are connected with nearby ocean conditions.

The paper utilizes empirical orthogonal function analysis to uncover a unique pattern of summer-averaged temperature covariability in the Southern California coastal region. This pattern is linked with regional sea surface temperature, as well as wind speed, cloudiness, and inversion layer ΔT. Additionally, the researchers find that the number of heat wave days in a given summer is also related to ocean conditions. The main finding that summer-averaged ocean temperatures and coastal land temperatures covary at similar amplitudes suggests a strong connection through the marine layer.

Read the full paper online here.

Header image: A close up of a figure from Hale et al. (2024)