Ocean Burning Beneath The Waves, Arabian Sea Hardest Hit

The article reports marine heatwaves across the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and neighboring basins, with impacts including coral bleaching, shifts in fish populations, disruption of plankton and reduced ocean productivity. It notes INCOIS monitoring updates and places regional patterns in context: Red Sea and Persian Gulf show impacts across about 9% of their waters; the southern Indian Ocean (around Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles) about 10% affected with 4% in combined Alert and Warning. In the Bay of Bengal, roughly 19–22% of the area is affected (mostly Watch, with ~3% Alert), strongest signals near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands extending toward Myanmar and Thailand. The South China Sea registers about 7% under heat stress, with the largest share of severe Warning conditions (~2%) and similar Alert levels. The piece also notes potential disruption to tuna migration in the southern Indian Ocean and emphasizes ongoing monitoring by INCOIS.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issues a marine heatwave advisory across six major areas from the Arabian Sea to the Andaman waters in the Bay of Bengal. In the Arabian Sea, about 22% of the basin is under Watch, 9% under Alert, and around 5% under Warning. Thresholds are defined as: Watch up to 0.5°C above long-term daily averages; Alert 0.5–1.0°C above; Warning more than 1.0°C above. The advisory notes that elevated temperatures could lead to coral bleaching, shifts in pelagic fish, disruption of plankton, and reduced ocean productivity.