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The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in high resolution models

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in high resolution models
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in high resolution models
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) represents the zonally integrated stream function of meridional volume transport in the Atlantic Basin. The AMOC plays an important role in transporting heat meridionally in the climate system. Observations suggest a heat transport by the AMOC of 1.3 PW at 26°N ‐ a latitude which is close to where the Atlantic northward heat transport is thought to reach its maximum. This shapes the climate of the North Atlantic region as we know it today. In recent years there has been significant progress both in our ability to observe the AMOC in nature and to simulate it in numerical models. Most previous modeling investigations of the AMOC and its impact on climate have relied on models with horizontal resolution that does not resolve ocean mesoscale eddies and the dynamics of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current system. As a result of recent increases in computing power, models are now being run that are able to represent mesoscale ocean dynamics and the circulation features that rely on them. The aim of this review is to describe new insights into the AMOC provided by high‐resolution models. Furthermore, we will describe how high‐resolution model simulations can help resolve outstanding challenges in our understanding of the AMOC.
Atlantic Meridional Overturning, high-resolution modeling, mesoscale
2169-9275
Hirschi, Joël J.‐m.
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Barnier, Bernard
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Böning, Claus
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Biastoch, Arne
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Blaker, Adam T.
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Coward, Andrew
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Danilov, Sergey
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Drijfhout, Sybren
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Getzlaff, Klaus
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Griffies, Stephen M.
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Hasumi, Hiroyasu
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Hewitt, Helene
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Iovino, Doroteaciro
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Kawasaki, Takao
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Kiss, Andrew E.
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Koldunov, Nikolay
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Marzocchi, Alice
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Mecking, Jennifer V.
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Moat, Ben
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Molines, Jean‐marc
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Myers, Paul G.
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Penduff, Thierry
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Roberts, Malcolm
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Treguier, Anne‐marie
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Sein, Dmitry V.
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Sidorenko, Dmitry
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Small, Justin
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Spence, Paul
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Thompson, Luanne
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Weijer, Wilbert
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Xu, Xiaobiao
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Hirschi, Joël J.‐m.
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Barnier, Bernard
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Böning, Claus
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Biastoch, Arne
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Blaker, Adam T.
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Coward, Andrew
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Danilov, Sergey
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Drijfhout, Sybren
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Getzlaff, Klaus
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Griffies, Stephen M.
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Hasumi, Hiroyasu
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Hewitt, Helene
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Iovino, Doroteaciro
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Kawasaki, Takao
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Kiss, Andrew E.
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Koldunov, Nikolay
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Marzocchi, Alice
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Mecking, Jennifer V.
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Moat, Ben
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Molines, Jean‐marc
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Myers, Paul G.
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Penduff, Thierry
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Roberts, Malcolm
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Treguier, Anne‐marie
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Sein, Dmitry V.
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Sidorenko, Dmitry
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Small, Justin
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Spence, Paul
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Thompson, Luanne
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Weijer, Wilbert
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Xu, Xiaobiao
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Hirschi, Joël J.‐m., Barnier, Bernard, Böning, Claus, Biastoch, Arne, Blaker, Adam T., Coward, Andrew, Danilov, Sergey, Drijfhout, Sybren, Getzlaff, Klaus, Griffies, Stephen M., Hasumi, Hiroyasu, Hewitt, Helene, Iovino, Doroteaciro, Kawasaki, Takao, Kiss, Andrew E., Koldunov, Nikolay, Marzocchi, Alice, Mecking, Jennifer V., Moat, Ben, Molines, Jean‐marc, Myers, Paul G., Penduff, Thierry, Roberts, Malcolm, Treguier, Anne‐marie, Sein, Dmitry V., Sidorenko, Dmitry, Small, Justin, Spence, Paul, Thompson, Luanne, Weijer, Wilbert and Xu, Xiaobiao (2020) The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in high resolution models. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125 (4), [e2019JC015522]. (doi:10.1029/2019JC015522).

Record type: Review

Abstract

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) represents the zonally integrated stream function of meridional volume transport in the Atlantic Basin. The AMOC plays an important role in transporting heat meridionally in the climate system. Observations suggest a heat transport by the AMOC of 1.3 PW at 26°N ‐ a latitude which is close to where the Atlantic northward heat transport is thought to reach its maximum. This shapes the climate of the North Atlantic region as we know it today. In recent years there has been significant progress both in our ability to observe the AMOC in nature and to simulate it in numerical models. Most previous modeling investigations of the AMOC and its impact on climate have relied on models with horizontal resolution that does not resolve ocean mesoscale eddies and the dynamics of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current system. As a result of recent increases in computing power, models are now being run that are able to represent mesoscale ocean dynamics and the circulation features that rely on them. The aim of this review is to describe new insights into the AMOC provided by high‐resolution models. Furthermore, we will describe how high‐resolution model simulations can help resolve outstanding challenges in our understanding of the AMOC.

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Hirschi_et_al-2020-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 20 January 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 January 2020
Published date: 1 April 2020
Additional Information: Funding Information: We acknowledge constructive comments by Martha Buckley and one anonymous reviewer as well as from Harry Bryden and David Webb. We thank Alain Colin de Verdi?re for providing the barotropic stream function data. J. H. and A. B. acknowledge funding from the NERC, the NERC RAPID-AMOC project DYNAMOC (NE/M005097/1), and the NERC project ACSIS (NE/N018044/1). This work used the ARCHER U.K. National Supercomputing Service (http://www.archer.ac.uk) and is a contribution to the DRAKKAR project (https://www.drakkarocean.eu). J. S. is partially supported by the International Laboratory for High Resolution Earth System Prediction (iHESP)?a collaboration among the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology Development Center (QNLM), Texas A&M University (TAMU), and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). D. Sein acknowledges the state assignment of FASO Russia (Theme 0149-2019-0015). M. R., D. I., and D. Sein acknowledge PRIMAVERA funding received from the European Commission under Grant Agreement 641727 of the Horizon 2020 research programme, and M. R. and H. H. were supported by the Joint UK BEIS/Defra Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (GA01101). A. K.was funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (LP160100073). L. Thompson acknowledges support from NASA (Grant NNX17AH56G). W. W. was supported by the HiLAT-RASM project of the U.S. Department of Energy's Regional and Global Model Analysis (RGMA) program. The ACCESS-OM2 suite was configured by COSIMA (cosima.org.au) which is funded by the Australian Research Council (Linkage Program LP160100073). It was also supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (Australian Research Council Grant CE170100023) and undertaken using the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), which is supported by the Australian Government.
Keywords: Atlantic Meridional Overturning, high-resolution modeling, mesoscale

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 437800
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/437800
ISSN: 2169-9275
PURE UUID: ea1ac57b-4021-477b-b97e-2874c89fd058
ORCID for Sybren Drijfhout: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5325-7350

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Date deposited: 17 Feb 2020 17:32
Last modified: 01 Jun 2024 01:44

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Contributors

Author: Joël J.‐m. Hirschi
Author: Bernard Barnier
Author: Claus Böning
Author: Arne Biastoch
Author: Adam T. Blaker
Author: Andrew Coward
Author: Sergey Danilov
Author: Klaus Getzlaff
Author: Stephen M. Griffies
Author: Hiroyasu Hasumi
Author: Helene Hewitt
Author: Doroteaciro Iovino
Author: Takao Kawasaki
Author: Andrew E. Kiss
Author: Nikolay Koldunov
Author: Alice Marzocchi
Author: Jennifer V. Mecking
Author: Ben Moat
Author: Jean‐marc Molines
Author: Paul G. Myers
Author: Thierry Penduff
Author: Malcolm Roberts
Author: Anne‐marie Treguier
Author: Dmitry V. Sein
Author: Dmitry Sidorenko
Author: Justin Small
Author: Paul Spence
Author: Luanne Thompson
Author: Wilbert Weijer
Author: Xiaobiao Xu

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