Leading role of outer-Arctic circulation transport in AMOC response to global warming over a century

Using the Alfred Wegener Institute Climate Model (AWI-CM 1.1 LR), we explored how Arctic and extra-Arctic warming affect the response of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to quadruple carbon dioxide (4 × CO _2 ) forcing. The results suggest that AMOC weakening is mainly affected by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Research Letters
Main Authors: Jiao Chen, Xidong Wang, Xuezhu Wang, Tido Semmler
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023
Subjects:
AMOC response
global warming
heat transport
outer-Arctic impact
Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
TD1-1066
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Science
Q
Physics
QC1-999
Arctic
Global warming
Labrador Sea
Nordic Seas
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acfb25
https://doaj.org/article/6c2069857bb949c899fa7fa2b538d156
Description
Summary:Using the Alfred Wegener Institute Climate Model (AWI-CM 1.1 LR), we explored how Arctic and extra-Arctic warming affect the response of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to quadruple carbon dioxide (4 × CO _2 ) forcing. The results suggest that AMOC weakening is mainly affected by circulation adjustment caused by extra-Arctic warming, while Arctic warming has a limited local impact and a relatively small contribution to AMOC weakening. Due to the warming outside the Arctic, the increase in northward advective heat transport dominates the weakening of deep convection in Nordic Seas. While in the Labrador Sea, the decrease in advection heat transport is compensated by a more significant decrease in ocean heat loss to the atmosphere, leading to an enhancement of the upper ocean stratification. Besides, the weakening of deep convection associated with AMOC response under global warming is more pronounced in Nordic Seas than in Labrador Sea.

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