Sensitivity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to South Atlantic freshwater anomalies
Sensitivity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to South Atlantic freshwater anomalies
The sensitivity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to changes in basin integrated net evaporation is highly dependent on the zonal salinity contrast at the southern border of the Atlantic. Biases in the freshwater budget strongly affect the stability of the AMOC in numerical models. The impact of these biases is investigated, by adding local anomaly patterns in the South Atlantic to the freshwater fluxes at the surface. These anomalies impact the freshwater and salt transport by the different components of the ocean circulation, in particular the basin-scale salt-advection feedback, completely changing the response of the AMOC to arbitrary perturbations. It is found that an appropriate dipole anomaly pattern at the southern border of the Atlantic Ocean can collapse the AMOC entirely even without a further hosing. The results suggest a new view on the stability of the AMOC, controlled by processes in the South Atlantic.
atlantic meridional overturning circulation, salinity, freshwater budget, salt-advection feedback, climate models, biases, permanent collapse, south atlantic
2291-2306
Cimatoribus, Andrea A.
1e20d92c-fae8-49f6-9561-b0bbae3a645a
Drijfhout, Sybren S.
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
den Toom, Matthijs
4d4a5500-0c0c-474c-8042-08a602b999fe
Dijkstra, Henk A.
9178b06d-9de5-4f02-b9ff-204b20620291
2012
Cimatoribus, Andrea A.
1e20d92c-fae8-49f6-9561-b0bbae3a645a
Drijfhout, Sybren S.
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
den Toom, Matthijs
4d4a5500-0c0c-474c-8042-08a602b999fe
Dijkstra, Henk A.
9178b06d-9de5-4f02-b9ff-204b20620291
Cimatoribus, Andrea A., Drijfhout, Sybren S., den Toom, Matthijs and Dijkstra, Henk A.
(2012)
Sensitivity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to South Atlantic freshwater anomalies.
Climate Dynamics, 39 (9-10), .
(doi:10.1007/s00382-012-1292-5).
Abstract
The sensitivity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to changes in basin integrated net evaporation is highly dependent on the zonal salinity contrast at the southern border of the Atlantic. Biases in the freshwater budget strongly affect the stability of the AMOC in numerical models. The impact of these biases is investigated, by adding local anomaly patterns in the South Atlantic to the freshwater fluxes at the surface. These anomalies impact the freshwater and salt transport by the different components of the ocean circulation, in particular the basin-scale salt-advection feedback, completely changing the response of the AMOC to arbitrary perturbations. It is found that an appropriate dipole anomaly pattern at the southern border of the Atlantic Ocean can collapse the AMOC entirely even without a further hosing. The results suggest a new view on the stability of the AMOC, controlled by processes in the South Atlantic.
Text
Sensitivity_of_the_Atlantic_meridional_overturning_circulation_to_South_Atlantic_freshwater_anomalies.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 January 2012
Published date: 2012
Keywords:
atlantic meridional overturning circulation, salinity, freshwater budget, salt-advection feedback, climate models, biases, permanent collapse, south atlantic
Organisations:
Ocean and Earth Science
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 340324
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/340324
ISSN: 0930-7575
PURE UUID: 1440ef48-4f76-4ef8-b154-52a9e2c98527
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Date deposited: 18 Jun 2012 15:31
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:44
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Contributors
Author:
Andrea A. Cimatoribus
Author:
Matthijs den Toom
Author:
Henk A. Dijkstra
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