The Effect of Indian Ocean Surface Freshwater Flux Biases On the Multi-Stable Regime of the AMOC

It is known that global climate models (GCMs) have substantial biases in the surface freshwater flux. Using numerical bifurcation analyses on a global ocean model, we study here the effect of freshwater flux biases over the Indian Ocean on the multiple equilibrium regime of the Atlantic Meridional O...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography
Main Authors: Henk A. Dijkstra, René M. van Westen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Stockholm University Press 2024
Subjects:
atlantic ocean circulation
freshwater flux biases
bifurcation analysis
Oceanography
GC1-1581
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
Indian
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.16993/tellusa.3246
https://doaj.org/article/6e619c03f9714f92abda745cd08953d9
Description
Summary:It is known that global climate models (GCMs) have substantial biases in the surface freshwater flux. Using numerical bifurcation analyses on a global ocean model, we study here the effect of freshwater flux biases over the Indian Ocean on the multiple equilibrium regime of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). We find that a (positive) freshwater flux bias over the Indian Ocean shifts the multiple equilibrium regime to larger values of North Atlantic freshwater input but hardly affects the associated hysteresis width. The magnitude of this shift depends on the way the anomalous North Atlantic freshwater flux is compensated. The changes in bifurcation diagrams can be explained from the overall freshwater balance over the Atlantic basin.

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