The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.
International audience Recent results based on models using prescribed surface wind stress forcing have suggested that the net freshwater transport Σ by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) into the Atlantic basin is a good indicator of the multiple-equilibria regime. By means of a...
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Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 |
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00650156v1 2023-05-15T18:18:53+02:00 The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Arzel, Olivier England, Matthew H. Saenko, Oleg A. Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Climate Change Research Centre Sydney (CCRC) University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW) Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma) Environment and Climate Change Canada 2011-04 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 en eng HAL CCSD American Meteorological Society info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 hal-00650156 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 doi:10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 ISSN: 0894-8755 EISSN: 1520-0442 Journal of Climate https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, 2011, 24 (7), pp.1965-1984. ⟨10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1⟩ Meridional overturning circulation Feedback Atlantic Ocean Wind stress Stability Freshwater Transport [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2011 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 2021-10-17T01:50:48Z International audience Recent results based on models using prescribed surface wind stress forcing have suggested that the net freshwater transport Σ by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) into the Atlantic basin is a good indicator of the multiple-equilibria regime. By means of a coupled climate model of intermediate complexity, this study shows that this scalar Σ cannot capture the connection between the properties of the steady state and the impact of the wind stress feedback on the evolution of perturbations. This implies that, when interpreting the observed value of Σ, the position of the present-day climate is systematically biased toward the multiple-equilibria regime. The results show, however, that the stabilizing influence of the wind stress feedback on the MOC is restricted to a narrow window of freshwater fluxes, located in the vicinity of the state characterized by a zero freshwater flux divergence over the Atlantic basin. If the position of the present-day climate is farther away from this state, then wind stress feedbacks are unable to exert a persistent effect on the modern MOC. This is because the stabilizing influence of the shallow reverse cell situated south of the equator during the off state rapidly dominates over the destabilizing influence of the wind stress feedback when the freshwater forcing gets stronger. Under glacial climate conditions by contrast, a weaker sensitivity with an opposite effect is found. This is ultimately due to the relatively large sea ice extent of the glacial climate, which implies that, during the off state, the horizontal redistribution of fresh waters by the subpolar gyre does not favor the development of a thermally direct MOC as opposed to the modern case. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Journal of Climate 24 7 1965 1984 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
Meridional overturning circulation Feedback Atlantic Ocean Wind stress Stability Freshwater Transport [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Meridional overturning circulation Feedback Atlantic Ocean Wind stress Stability Freshwater Transport [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography Arzel, Olivier England, Matthew H. Saenko, Oleg A. The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
topic_facet |
Meridional overturning circulation Feedback Atlantic Ocean Wind stress Stability Freshwater Transport [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
description |
International audience Recent results based on models using prescribed surface wind stress forcing have suggested that the net freshwater transport Σ by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) into the Atlantic basin is a good indicator of the multiple-equilibria regime. By means of a coupled climate model of intermediate complexity, this study shows that this scalar Σ cannot capture the connection between the properties of the steady state and the impact of the wind stress feedback on the evolution of perturbations. This implies that, when interpreting the observed value of Σ, the position of the present-day climate is systematically biased toward the multiple-equilibria regime. The results show, however, that the stabilizing influence of the wind stress feedback on the MOC is restricted to a narrow window of freshwater fluxes, located in the vicinity of the state characterized by a zero freshwater flux divergence over the Atlantic basin. If the position of the present-day climate is farther away from this state, then wind stress feedbacks are unable to exert a persistent effect on the modern MOC. This is because the stabilizing influence of the shallow reverse cell situated south of the equator during the off state rapidly dominates over the destabilizing influence of the wind stress feedback when the freshwater forcing gets stronger. Under glacial climate conditions by contrast, a weaker sensitivity with an opposite effect is found. This is ultimately due to the relatively large sea ice extent of the glacial climate, which implies that, during the off state, the horizontal redistribution of fresh waters by the subpolar gyre does not favor the development of a thermally direct MOC as opposed to the modern case. |
author2 |
Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Climate Change Research Centre Sydney (CCRC) University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW) Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma) Environment and Climate Change Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arzel, Olivier England, Matthew H. Saenko, Oleg A. |
author_facet |
Arzel, Olivier England, Matthew H. Saenko, Oleg A. |
author_sort |
Arzel, Olivier |
title |
The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
title_short |
The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
title_full |
The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
title_fullStr |
The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Impact of Wind Stress Feedback on the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. |
title_sort |
impact of wind stress feedback on the stability of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation. |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 |
genre |
Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Sea ice |
op_source |
ISSN: 0894-8755 EISSN: 1520-0442 Journal of Climate https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, 2011, 24 (7), pp.1965-1984. ⟨10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 hal-00650156 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00650156 doi:10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3137.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
1965 |
op_container_end_page |
1984 |
_version_ |
1766195627868291072 |