Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing
International audience Abstract The present-day deep ocean global meridional overturning circulation is dominated by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), with dense water sinking in the high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, deep-water formation in the subarctic North Pa...
Published in: | Journal of Climate |
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Main Authors: | , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2024
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-04498487 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 |
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HAL de l'Institut Polytechnique de Paris |
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English |
topic |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
spellingShingle |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] Curtis, Paul Edwin Fedorov, Alexey Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
topic_facet |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
description |
International audience Abstract The present-day deep ocean global meridional overturning circulation is dominated by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), with dense water sinking in the high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, deep-water formation in the subarctic North Pacific is inhibited by a strong upper-ocean halocline, which prevents the development of an analogous Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC). Nevertheless, paleoclimate evidence suggests that a PMOC with deep-water formation in the North Pacific was active, for instance, during the warm Pliocene epoch and possibly during the most recent deglaciation. In the present study, we describe a spontaneous activation of the PMOC in a multimillennial abrupt 4 × CO 2 experiment using one of the configurations of the Community Earth System Model (CESM1). Soon after the imposed CO 2 increase, the model’s AMOC collapses and remains in a weakened state for several thousand years. The PMOC emerges after some 2500 years of integration, persists for about 1000 years, reaching nearly 10 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 10 6 m 3 s −1 ), but eventually declines to about 5 Sv. The PMOC decline follows the AMOC recovery in the model, consistent with an Atlantic–Pacific interbasin seesaw. The PMOC activation relies on two factors: (i) gradual warming and freshening of the North Pacific deep ocean, which reduces ocean vertical stratification on millennial time scales, and (ii) upper-ocean salinity increase in the subarctic North Pacific over several centuries, followed by a rapid erosion of the pycnocline and activation of deep-water formation. Ultimately, our results provide insights on the characteristics of global ocean overturning in warm climates. |
author2 |
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences New Haven Yale University New Haven Océan et variabilité du climat (VARCLIM) Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) ANR-18-MPGA-0001,ARCHANGE,Changement climatique et Arctique et circulation océanique globale(2018) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Curtis, Paul Edwin Fedorov, Alexey |
author_facet |
Curtis, Paul Edwin Fedorov, Alexey |
author_sort |
Curtis, Paul Edwin |
title |
Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
title_short |
Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
title_full |
Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
title_fullStr |
Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing |
title_sort |
spontaneous activation of the pacific meridional overturning circulation (pmoc) in long-term ocean response to greenhouse forcing |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-04498487 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 |
genre |
North Atlantic Subarctic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Subarctic |
op_source |
ISSN: 0894-8755 EISSN: 1520-0442 Journal of Climate https://hal.science/hal-04498487 Journal of Climate, 2024, 37 (5), pp.1551-1565. ⟨10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 hal-04498487 https://hal.science/hal-04498487 doi:10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 WOS: 001156421800001 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
37 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1551 |
op_container_end_page |
1565 |
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1799485305501253632 |
spelling |
ftinspolytechpar:oai:HAL:hal-04498487v1 2024-05-19T07:45:18+00:00 Spontaneous Activation of the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC) in Long-Term Ocean Response to Greenhouse Forcing Curtis, Paul Edwin Fedorov, Alexey Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences New Haven Yale University New Haven Océan et variabilité du climat (VARCLIM) Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) ANR-18-MPGA-0001,ARCHANGE,Changement climatique et Arctique et circulation océanique globale(2018) 2024-03-01 https://hal.science/hal-04498487 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 en eng HAL CCSD American Meteorological Society info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 hal-04498487 https://hal.science/hal-04498487 doi:10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 WOS: 001156421800001 ISSN: 0894-8755 EISSN: 1520-0442 Journal of Climate https://hal.science/hal-04498487 Journal of Climate, 2024, 37 (5), pp.1551-1565. ⟨10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1⟩ [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2024 ftinspolytechpar https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-23-0393.1 2024-04-22T01:46:12Z International audience Abstract The present-day deep ocean global meridional overturning circulation is dominated by the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), with dense water sinking in the high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. In contrast, deep-water formation in the subarctic North Pacific is inhibited by a strong upper-ocean halocline, which prevents the development of an analogous Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC). Nevertheless, paleoclimate evidence suggests that a PMOC with deep-water formation in the North Pacific was active, for instance, during the warm Pliocene epoch and possibly during the most recent deglaciation. In the present study, we describe a spontaneous activation of the PMOC in a multimillennial abrupt 4 × CO 2 experiment using one of the configurations of the Community Earth System Model (CESM1). Soon after the imposed CO 2 increase, the model’s AMOC collapses and remains in a weakened state for several thousand years. The PMOC emerges after some 2500 years of integration, persists for about 1000 years, reaching nearly 10 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 10 6 m 3 s −1 ), but eventually declines to about 5 Sv. The PMOC decline follows the AMOC recovery in the model, consistent with an Atlantic–Pacific interbasin seesaw. The PMOC activation relies on two factors: (i) gradual warming and freshening of the North Pacific deep ocean, which reduces ocean vertical stratification on millennial time scales, and (ii) upper-ocean salinity increase in the subarctic North Pacific over several centuries, followed by a rapid erosion of the pycnocline and activation of deep-water formation. Ultimately, our results provide insights on the characteristics of global ocean overturning in warm climates. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Subarctic HAL de l'Institut Polytechnique de Paris Journal of Climate 37 5 1551 1565 |