The development and persistence of doldrums over the Great Barrier Reef

Richards, Lara S.; Huang, Yi; Barnes, Michael A.; Jin, Chenhui; Muhammad, Fadhlil R.; Harrison, Daniel P.; Siems, Steven T.

doi:10.5194/wcd-7-1977-2026

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1977-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1977-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 4

Research article

|

13 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 13 Oct 2026

The development and persistence of doldrums over the Great Barrier Reef

Lara S. Richards, Yi Huang, Michael A. Barnes, Chenhui Jin, Fadhlil R. Muhammad, Daniel P. Harrison, and Steven T. Siems

Data sets

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Daily Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), Version 2.0 Hai-Tien Lee https://doi.org/10.25921/9pt5-by77

Processed data for "The development and duration of doldrums over the Great Barrier Reef" Fadhlil Rizki Muhammad et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23253209

Model code and software

skaderli/WaveBreaking: WaveBreaking v0.3.6 Severin Kaderli https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8063526

Short summary

The doldrums are regions of light winds and relatively clear skies found in the tropics. They often occur during severe coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef yet remain poorly understood. This study examines why the doldrums form and persist, identifying how both tropical and extratropical weather systems align to first form the doldrums and how the stalling of these weather systems prolongs the doldrums over the Great Barrier Reef.