Fast and slow subpolar ocean responses to the North Atlantic oscillation ...

• Main Authors: Khatri, Hemant, Williams, Richard, Woollings, Tim, Smith, Doug
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2023
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.57757/iugg23-0092; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5016439

<!--!introduction!--> The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index is one of the most common metrics to characterize atmospheric regimes in the northern hemisphere, revealing how different patterns of atmospheric winds and air-sea fluxes over Europe and North America affect the ocean state. We analyse climate model hindcasts to reveal the impacts of the NAO on the North Atlantic subpolar ocean, which exhibits variability on seasonal to decadal timescales. The ocean response to a single winter NAO event is separated into fast and slow responses. The fast response persists over winter-spring seasons, during which wind stress and heat flux anomalies associated with the NAO rapidly modify ocean temperatures via changes in Ekman transport and ocean-atmosphere heat exchanges. The slow response persists for 3-4 years, during which overturning and gyre circulations redistribute opposing-signed surface temperature anomalies created by the NAO. This redistribution modifies east-west temperature contrasts altering ... : The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023) ...