The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic
The total heat gained by the North Atlantic Ocean over the past 50 years is equivalent to a basinwide increase in the flux of heat across the ocean surface of 0.4 ± 0.05 watts per square meter. We show, however, that this basin has not warmed uniformly: Although the tropics and subtropics have warme...
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2008
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146436 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1146436 |
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craaas:10.1126/science.1146436 2024-06-23T07:54:55+00:00 The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic Lozier, M. Susan Leadbetter, Susan Williams, Richard G. Roussenov, Vassil Reed, Mark S. C. Moore, Nathan J. 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146436 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1146436 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 319, issue 5864, page 800-803 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2008 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1146436 2024-06-13T04:01:21Z The total heat gained by the North Atlantic Ocean over the past 50 years is equivalent to a basinwide increase in the flux of heat across the ocean surface of 0.4 ± 0.05 watts per square meter. We show, however, that this basin has not warmed uniformly: Although the tropics and subtropics have warmed, the subpolar ocean has cooled. These regional differences require local surface heat flux changes (±4 watts per square meter) much larger than the basinwide average. Model investigations show that these regional differences can be explained by large-scale, decadal variability in wind and buoyancy forcing as measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Whether the overall heat gain is due to anthropogenic warming is difficult to confirm because strong natural variability in this ocean basin is potentially masking such input at the present time. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science 319 5864 800 803 |
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Open Polar |
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AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
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craaas |
language |
English |
description |
The total heat gained by the North Atlantic Ocean over the past 50 years is equivalent to a basinwide increase in the flux of heat across the ocean surface of 0.4 ± 0.05 watts per square meter. We show, however, that this basin has not warmed uniformly: Although the tropics and subtropics have warmed, the subpolar ocean has cooled. These regional differences require local surface heat flux changes (±4 watts per square meter) much larger than the basinwide average. Model investigations show that these regional differences can be explained by large-scale, decadal variability in wind and buoyancy forcing as measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation index. Whether the overall heat gain is due to anthropogenic warming is difficult to confirm because strong natural variability in this ocean basin is potentially masking such input at the present time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lozier, M. Susan Leadbetter, Susan Williams, Richard G. Roussenov, Vassil Reed, Mark S. C. Moore, Nathan J. |
spellingShingle |
Lozier, M. Susan Leadbetter, Susan Williams, Richard G. Roussenov, Vassil Reed, Mark S. C. Moore, Nathan J. The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Lozier, M. Susan Leadbetter, Susan Williams, Richard G. Roussenov, Vassil Reed, Mark S. C. Moore, Nathan J. |
author_sort |
Lozier, M. Susan |
title |
The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
title_short |
The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
title_full |
The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Spatial Pattern and Mechanisms of Heat-Content Change in the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
spatial pattern and mechanisms of heat-content change in the north atlantic |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1146436 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1146436 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Science volume 319, issue 5864, page 800-803 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1146436 |
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Science |
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319 |
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5864 |
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800 |
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803 |
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1802647253388623872 |