Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes
Prior to the 2000s, the North Atlantic was the basin showing the greatest warming. However, since the mid-2000s during the so-called global warming hiatus, large amounts of heat were transferred in this basin from upper to deeper levels while the dominance in terms of atmospheric heat capture moved...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AGU (American Geophysical Union)
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/7/Somavilla_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254 |
id |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:31704 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:31704 2023-05-15T17:27:45+02:00 Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes Somavilla, R. Gonzalez-Pola, C. Schauer, U. Budeus, G. 2016 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/7/Somavilla_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254 en eng AGU (American Geophysical Union) Wiley https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/7/Somavilla_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf Somavilla, R., Gonzalez-Pola, C., Schauer, U. and Budeus, G. (2016) Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes. Open Access Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (5). pp. 2059-2068. DOI 10.1002/2015GL067254 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254>. doi:10.1002/2015GL067254 cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254 2023-04-07T15:24:10Z Prior to the 2000s, the North Atlantic was the basin showing the greatest warming. However, since the mid-2000s during the so-called global warming hiatus, large amounts of heat were transferred in this basin from upper to deeper levels while the dominance in terms of atmospheric heat capture moved into the Indo-Pacific. Here we show that a large transformation of modal waters in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA) played a crucial role in such contrasting behavior. First, strong winter mixing in 2005 transformed ENA modal waters into a much saltier, warmer, and denser variety, transferring upper ocean heat and salt gained slowly over time to deeper layers. The new denser waters also altered the zonal dynamic height gradient reversing the southward regional flow and enhancing the access of saltier southern waters to higher latitudes. Then, the excess salinity in northern regions favored additional heat injection through deep convection events in later years. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Pacific Geophysical Research Letters 43 5 2059 2068 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
Prior to the 2000s, the North Atlantic was the basin showing the greatest warming. However, since the mid-2000s during the so-called global warming hiatus, large amounts of heat were transferred in this basin from upper to deeper levels while the dominance in terms of atmospheric heat capture moved into the Indo-Pacific. Here we show that a large transformation of modal waters in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA) played a crucial role in such contrasting behavior. First, strong winter mixing in 2005 transformed ENA modal waters into a much saltier, warmer, and denser variety, transferring upper ocean heat and salt gained slowly over time to deeper layers. The new denser waters also altered the zonal dynamic height gradient reversing the southward regional flow and enhancing the access of saltier southern waters to higher latitudes. Then, the excess salinity in northern regions favored additional heat injection through deep convection events in later years. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Somavilla, R. Gonzalez-Pola, C. Schauer, U. Budeus, G. |
spellingShingle |
Somavilla, R. Gonzalez-Pola, C. Schauer, U. Budeus, G. Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
author_facet |
Somavilla, R. Gonzalez-Pola, C. Schauer, U. Budeus, G. |
author_sort |
Somavilla, R. |
title |
Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
title_short |
Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
title_full |
Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
title_fullStr |
Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes |
title_sort |
mid-2000s north atlantic shift: heat budget and circulation changes |
publisher |
AGU (American Geophysical Union) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/7/Somavilla_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/31704/7/Somavilla_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf Somavilla, R., Gonzalez-Pola, C., Schauer, U. and Budeus, G. (2016) Mid-2000s North Atlantic shift: Heat budget and circulation changes. Open Access Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (5). pp. 2059-2068. DOI 10.1002/2015GL067254 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254>. doi:10.1002/2015GL067254 |
op_rights |
cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL067254 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2059 |
op_container_end_page |
2068 |
_version_ |
1766120036387258368 |