Generated using version 3.0 of the official AMS L ATEX template Impact of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) on Arctic Surface Air Temperature and Sea-Ice Variability

• Main Authors: Salil Mahajan, Rong Zhang, Thomas L. Delworth
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Pacific; Chukchi; laptev; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.224.5071; http://www.gfdl.gov/cms-filesystem-action/user_files/td/amoc_and_arctic_jcli_revision2.pdf

The simulated impact of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) on the low frequency variability of the Arctic Surface Air temperature (SAT) and sea-ice extent is studied with a 1000 year-long segment of a control simulation of GFDL CM2.1 climate model. The simulated AMOC variations in the control simulation are found to be significantly anti-correlated with the Arctic sea-ice extent anomalies and significantly correlated with the Arctic SAT anomalies on decadal timescales in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. The maximum anti-correlation with the Arctic sea-ice extent and the maximum correlation with the Arctic SAT occur when the AMOC Index leads by one year. An intensification of the AMOC is associated with a sea-ice decline in the Labrador, Greenland and Barents Seas in the control simulation, with the largest change occurring in the winter. The recent declining trend in the satellite observed sea-ice extent also shows a similar pattern in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic in the winter, suggesting the possibility of a role of the AMOC in the recent Arctic sea-ice decline in addition to anthropogenic greenhouse gas induced warming. However, in the summer, the simulated sea-ice response to the AMOC in the Pacific sector of the Arctic is much weaker than the observed declining trend, indicating a stronger role for other climate forcings or variability in the recently observed summer sea-ice decline in the Chukchi, Beaufort, East Siberian and Laptev Seas.