Causes of a fresher, colder northern North Atlantic in late 20th century in a coupled model

• Published in: Progress in Oceanography
• Other Authors: Hu, Aixue (author), Meehl, Gerald (author), Han, Weiqing (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd. 2007
• Subjects: Meridional freshwater transport; Thermohaline circulation; Meridional heat transport; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-004-213; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2006.07.008

Observational evidence indicates that in the northern North Atlantic, especially in the Labrador Sea, almost the whole column of the ocean water is fresher, and colder in late 20th century than in 1950–1960s. Here we analyze a four-member ensemble of the 20th century simulations from a coupled climate model to examine the possible causes for these observed changes. The model simulations resemble the observed changes in the northern North Atlantic. The simulated results show that a decreased meridional freshwater divergence and an increased meridional heat divergence associated with a weaker thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic are the primary causes for the freshening and cooling in the northern North Atlantic. The increased precipitation less evaporation tends to enforce the freshening, but the reduced sea ice flux into this region tends to weaken it. On the other hand, the surface warming induced by a higher atmospheric CO₂ concentration tends to heat up the northern North Atlantic, but is overcome by the cooling from increased meridional heat divergence.