xrMHW: A High-Performance Multidimensional Marine Heatwave Detector v2.0.0

The xrMHW package is a module designed to extract marine heatwave (MHW) statistics from a netCDF file dataset of temperature, allowing users to specify initial parameters according to the hierarchical approach of Hobaday et al. (2016). By leveraging the capabilities of xarray and dask, the xrMHW processes data more swiftly and efficiently than previous packages by vectorizing and parallelizing the detection and analysis of MHWs. Additionally, xrMHW can identify and characterize MHWs in four dimensions (4D) when provided with datasets such as Global Ocean Reanalysis Data (GLORYS) that include a depth dimension. The package is also capable of processing data without overloading RAM when the appropriate settings are applied. A user-friendly and straightforward xrMHW is ready for automatic MHW detection across any group of .nc files.

Tests have been carried out to determine the equivalence of results with Hobaday et al. (2016). The option to join the gaps between marine heatwaves before and after calculating the intensity has been added, which modifies the duration of the events (further details will be added later). For results equivalent to those of Hobaday et al. (2016), the option join_method = 'post-processing' should be used.

This code has been developed inside The Nippon Foundation-POGO Centre of Excellence (NF-POGO CofE) as part of the project "Subsurface marine heatwaves vertical structure in the Grand Banks, Newfoundland" (Supervisors: Dr. Frédéric Cyr (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1581-7502), Dr. Eric Oliver (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4006-2826), and Dr. Nancy Soontiens (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2880-8717)). NF-POGO CofE is being hosted by the Ocean Frontier Institute, in partnership with the Faculty of Open Learning and Career Development, Dalhousie University; the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University; the Hakai Institute; and key curriculum partner the International Ocean Institute-Canada.