On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature
The North Atlantic (NA) basin-averaged sea surface temperature (NASST) is often used as an index to study climate variability in the NA sector. However, there is still some debate on what drives it. Based on observations and climate models, an analysis of the different influences on the NASST index...
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:50292 2023-05-15T17:31:19+02:00 On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature Sun, Jing Latif, Mojib Park, Wonsun Park, Taewook 2020-06-12 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/1/jclid190158.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 en eng AMS (American Meteorological Society) https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/1/jclid190158.pdf Sun, J. , Latif, M. , Park, W. and Park, T. (2020) On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature. Open Access Journal of Climate, 33 (14). pp. 6025-6045. DOI 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1>. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 2023-04-07T15:51:29Z The North Atlantic (NA) basin-averaged sea surface temperature (NASST) is often used as an index to study climate variability in the NA sector. However, there is still some debate on what drives it. Based on observations and climate models, an analysis of the different influences on the NASST index and its low-pass filtered version, the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) index, is provided. In particular, the relationships of the two indices with some of its mechanistic drivers including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) are investigated. In observations, the NASST index accounts for significant SST variability over the tropical and subpolar NA. The NASST index is shown to lump together SST variability originating from different mechanisms operating on different time scales. The AMO index emphasizes the subpolar SST variability. In the climate models, the SST-anomaly pattern associated with the NASST index is similar. The AMO index, however, only represents pronounced SST variability over the extratropical NA, and this variability is significantly linked to the AMOC. There is a sensitivity of this linkage to the cold NA SST bias observed in many climate models. Models suffering from a large cold bias exhibit a relatively weak linkage between the AMOC and AMO and vice versa. Finally, the basin-averaged SST in its unfiltered form, which has been used to question a strong influence of ocean dynamics on NA SST variability, mixes together multiple types of variability occurring on different time scales and therefore underemphasizes the role of ocean dynamics in the multidecadal variability of NA SSTs. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Journal of Climate 33 14 6025 6045 |
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OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
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ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
The North Atlantic (NA) basin-averaged sea surface temperature (NASST) is often used as an index to study climate variability in the NA sector. However, there is still some debate on what drives it. Based on observations and climate models, an analysis of the different influences on the NASST index and its low-pass filtered version, the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) index, is provided. In particular, the relationships of the two indices with some of its mechanistic drivers including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) are investigated. In observations, the NASST index accounts for significant SST variability over the tropical and subpolar NA. The NASST index is shown to lump together SST variability originating from different mechanisms operating on different time scales. The AMO index emphasizes the subpolar SST variability. In the climate models, the SST-anomaly pattern associated with the NASST index is similar. The AMO index, however, only represents pronounced SST variability over the extratropical NA, and this variability is significantly linked to the AMOC. There is a sensitivity of this linkage to the cold NA SST bias observed in many climate models. Models suffering from a large cold bias exhibit a relatively weak linkage between the AMOC and AMO and vice versa. Finally, the basin-averaged SST in its unfiltered form, which has been used to question a strong influence of ocean dynamics on NA SST variability, mixes together multiple types of variability occurring on different time scales and therefore underemphasizes the role of ocean dynamics in the multidecadal variability of NA SSTs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sun, Jing Latif, Mojib Park, Wonsun Park, Taewook |
spellingShingle |
Sun, Jing Latif, Mojib Park, Wonsun Park, Taewook On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
author_facet |
Sun, Jing Latif, Mojib Park, Wonsun Park, Taewook |
author_sort |
Sun, Jing |
title |
On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
title_short |
On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
title_full |
On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
title_fullStr |
On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature |
title_sort |
on the interpretation of the north atlantic averaged sea surface temperature |
publisher |
AMS (American Meteorological Society) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/1/jclid190158.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50292/1/jclid190158.pdf Sun, J. , Latif, M. , Park, W. and Park, T. (2020) On the Interpretation of the North Atlantic Averaged Sea Surface Temperature. Open Access Journal of Climate, 33 (14). pp. 6025-6045. DOI 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1>. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0158.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
14 |
container_start_page |
6025 |
op_container_end_page |
6045 |
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1766128823553753088 |