Corals of the eastern tropical Pacific live in a marginal and oceanographically dynamic environment. Along the Pacific coast of Panamá, stronger seasonal upwelling in the Gulf of Panamá in the east transitions to weaker upwelling in the Gulf of Chiriquí in the west, resulting in complex regional oceanographic conditions that drive differential coral-reef growth. Over millennial timescales, reefs in the Gulf of Chiriquí recovered more quickly from climatic disturbances compared with reefs in the Gulf of Panamá. In recent decades, corals in the Gulf of Chiriquí have also had higher growth rates than in the Gulf of Panamá. As the ocean continues to warm, however, conditions could shift to favor the growth of corals in the Gulf of Panamá, where upwelling may confer protection from high-temperature anomalies. Here we describe the recent spatial and temporal variability in surface oceanography of nearshore environments in Pacific Panamá and compare those conditions with the dynamics of contemporary coral-reef communities, during and after the 2016 coral-bleaching event. Although both gulfs have warmed significantly over the last 150 years, thermal maxima in the Gulf of Chiriquí are increasing faster, and ocean temperatures there are becoming more variable than in the recent past. In contrast to historical trends, we found that coral cover, coral survival, and coral growth-rates were all significantly higher in the Gulf of Panamá. Corals bleached extensively in the Gulf of Chiriquí following the 2015-2016 El Niño event, whereas upwelling in the Gulf of Panamá moderated the high temperatures caused by El Niño, allowing the corals largely to escape thermal stress. As the climate continues to warm, upwelling zones may offer a temporary and localized refuge from the thermal impacts of climate change, while reef growth in the rest of the eastern tropical Pacific continues to decline.

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上升流缓冲气候变化对热带太平洋东部珊瑚礁的影响

热带太平洋东部的珊瑚生活在边缘和海洋动态环境中。沿着巴拿马太平洋沿岸，东部巴拿马湾较强的季节性上升流过渡到西部奇里基湾较弱的上升流，导致复杂的区域海洋条件推动珊瑚礁的不同生长。在千年时间尺度上，与巴拿马湾的珊瑚礁相比，奇里基湾的珊瑚礁从气候扰动中恢复得更快。近几十年来，奇里基湾的珊瑚增长率也高于巴拿马湾。然而，随着海洋继续变暖，条件可能会转变为有利于巴拿马湾珊瑚的生长，在那里上升流可能会保护免受高温异常的影响。在这里，我们描述了太平洋巴拿马近岸环境表面海洋学的近期空间和时间变化，并将这些条件与 2016 年珊瑚白化事件期间和之后当代珊瑚礁群落的动态进行了比较。尽管这两个海湾在过去 150 年里都显着变暖，但奇里基湾的热最大值增加得更快，那里的海洋温度比最近变得更加多变。与历史趋势相反，我们发现巴拿马湾的珊瑚覆盖率、珊瑚存活率和珊瑚生长率都显着更高。2015-2016 年厄尔尼诺事件后，奇里基湾的珊瑚大量白化，而巴拿马湾的上升流缓和了厄尔尼诺现象造成的高温，使珊瑚在很大程度上摆脱热应力。随着气候继续变暖，上升流区可能会为气候变化的热影响提供临时的局部避难所，而东热带太平洋其他地区的珊瑚礁生长继续下降。