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The dominant mechanisms of variability in Atlantic Ocean Heat Transport in a Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere GCM
Author(s) -
Dong B.W.,
Sutton R. T.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl012531
Subject(s) - ocean gyre , thermohaline circulation , climatology , teleconnection , atlantic multidecadal oscillation , extratropical cyclone , ekman transport , environmental science , north atlantic oscillation , ocean dynamics , atmosphere (unit) , tropical atlantic , north atlantic deep water , shutdown of thermohaline circulation , ocean current , sea surface temperature , atmospheric sciences , geology , oceanography , subtropics , upwelling , el niño southern oscillation , meteorology , physics , fishery , biology
The variability of the Atlantic meridional ocean heat transport (OHT) has been diagnosed from a simulation of a coupled ocean‐atmosphere general circulation model (GCM), and the mechanisms responsible for this variability have been elucidated. Interannual variability is dominated by windstress‐driven Ekman fluctuations, which account for 50.3% of the OHT variance. By contrast, decadal and multidecadal variability in Atlantic OHT is dominated by a mixed thermohaline/gyre mode driven by variations in buoyancy fluxes and windstress curl. It accounts for 55.6% of low pass filtered OHT variance. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has a significant role in both the interannual mode and the low frequency mode, but it is not the only important driver. A notable feature of both modes is significant changes in the tropical atmosphere and ocean. We highlight a number of potential mechanisms involved in the tropical‐extratropical teleconnections.