Fresh water forcing of the North Atlantic

• Main Author: Aura, Stella M. (Stella Marris)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 1992
• Subjects: Physical Oceanography; Physics; Atmospheric Science; Arctic; Greenland; Greenland Sea; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic; North atlantic Thermohaline circulation
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=56641

Several numerical experiments are carried out using the Bryan-Cox Ocean General Circulation Model to investigate the variability of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation under steady, non-zonal, surface forcing and realistic geometry. To this end the annual mean surface forcing fields were derived from the climatological data sets of Levitus (1982), Hellerman and Rosenstein (1983) and, Schmitt et al. (1989). Further, Arctic freshwater flux, an important part of the hydrological cycle within the North Atlantic Deep Water formation region, is taken into account. It is found that under present-day climatological surface forcing the system may oscillate at interdecadal period. The mechanism driving the oscillations is linked to changes in both the horizontal and vertical extent of convection in the northern "Labrador Sea". The structure of the surface freshwater flux forcing plays a major role in both the initiation and sustenance of the interdecadal oscillations. Allowing for a freshwater flux into the northern region of the "Labrador Sea" inhibits the interdecadal variability. The oscillations, however, appear, relatively insensitive to Arctic fresh water transport into the "Greenland Sea". A detailed three-dimensional discussion of the physics behind the interdecadal oscillations is presented.