Response of North Atlantic Ocean Circulation to Atmospheric Weather Regimes

• Published in: Journal of Physical Oceanography
• Main Authors: Barrier, Nicolas, Cassou, Christophe, Deshayes, Julie, Treguier, Anne-Marie
• Other Authors: 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), Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation Avancée en Calcul Scientifique (CERFACS), CERFACS
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Models and modeling; Ocean models; Climate classification/regimes; Wind; Physical Meteorology and Climatology; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena; Gyres; North Atlantic Oscillation; Meridional overturning circulation; Circulation/ Dynamics; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; Curl; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01132189; https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-0217.1

International audience A new framework is proposed for investigating the atmospheric forcing of North Atlantic Ocean circulation. Instead of using classical modes of variability, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) or the east Atlantic pattern, the weather regimes paradigm was used. Using this framework helped avoid problems associated with the assumptions of orthogonality and symmetry that are particular to modal analysis and known to be unsuitable for the NAO. Using ocean-only historical and sensitivity experiments, the impacts of the four winter weather regimes on horizontal and overturning circulations were investigated. The results suggest that the Atlantic Ridge (AR), negative NAO (NAO−), and positive NAO (NAO+) regimes induce a fast (monthly-to-interannual time scales) adjustment of the gyres via topographic Sverdrup dynamics and of the meridional overturning circulation via anomalous Ekman transport. The wind anomalies associated with the Scandinavian blocking regime (SBL) are ineffective in driving a fast wind-driven oceanic adjustment. The response of both gyre and overturning circulations to persistent regime conditions was also estimated. AR causes a strong, wind-driven reduction in the strengths of the subtropical and subpolar gyres, while NAO+ causes a strengthening of the subtropical gyre via wind stress curl anomalies and of the subpolar gyre via heat flux anomalies. NAO− induces a southward shift of the gyres through the southward displacement of the wind stress curl. The SBL is found to impact the subpolar gyre only via anomalous heat fluxes. The overturning circulation is shown to spin up following persistent SBL and NAO+ and to spin down following persistent AR and NAO− conditions. These responses are driven by changes in deep water formation in the Labrador Sea.