On the Relationship between Decadal Buoyancy Anomalies and Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
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jcli-d-11-00505.1.pdf
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Author(s)
Buckley, Martha Weaver
Ferreira, David
Campin, Jean-Michel
Marshall, John C
Tulloch, Ross
Date Issued
February 2012
Journal
Journal of Climate
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Buckley, Martha W. et al. “On the Relationship Between Decadal Buoyancy Anomalies and Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.” Journal of Climate 25, 23 (December 2012): 8009–8030 © 2012 American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Owing to the role of theAtlanticmeridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in ocean heat transport, AMOC variability is thought to play a role in climate variability on a widerange of time scales. This paper focuses on the potential role of the AMOC in climate variability on decadal time scales. Coupled and ocean-only general circulation models run inidealized geometries are utilized to study the relationships between decadal AMOC and buoyancy variability and determine whether the AMOC plays an active role in setting sea surface temperature on decadal time scales. Decadal AMOC variability is related to changes in the buoyancy field along the western boundary according to the thermal wind relation. Buoyancy anomalies originate in the upper ocean of the subpolar gyre and travel westward as baroclinic Rossby waves. When the buoyancy anomalies strike the western boundary, they areadvected southward by the deep western boundary current, leading tolatitudinally coherentAMOC variability. The AMOC is observed to respond passively to decadal buoyancy anomalies: although variability of the AMOC leads to meridional ocean heat transport anomalies, these transports are not responsible for creating the buoyancy anomalies in the subpolar gyre that drive AMOC variability. Keywords: Meridional overturning circulation; Coupled models; Decadal variability; Multidecadal variability
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00505.1
