Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales

The dependence of the air–sea interactions over the North Atlantic on the ocean dynamics is explored by analyzing multicentury integrations with two different coupled ocean–atmosphere models. One is a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), in which both the atmospheric and the oceanic components...

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Published in:Journal of Climate
Main Authors: Park, Wonsun, Latif, Mojib
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: AMS (American Meteorological Society) 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/1/JCLI-3307.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1
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spelling ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:5847 2023-05-15T17:28:54+02:00 Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales Park, Wonsun Latif, Mojib 2005 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/1/JCLI-3307.pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1 en eng AMS (American Meteorological Society) https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/1/JCLI-3307.pdf Park, W. and Latif, M. (2005) Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales. Open Access Journal of Climate, 18 (7). pp. 982-995. DOI 10.1175/JCLI-3307.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1>. doi:10.1175/JCLI-3307.1 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2005 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1 2023-04-07T14:51:46Z The dependence of the air–sea interactions over the North Atlantic on the ocean dynamics is explored by analyzing multicentury integrations with two different coupled ocean–atmosphere models. One is a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), in which both the atmospheric and the oceanic components are represented by general circulation models (GCMs). The second coupled model employs the same atmospheric GCM, but the oceanic GCM is replaced by a fixed-depth mixed layer model, so that variations of the ocean dynamics are excluded. The coupled model including active ocean dynamics simulates strong multidecadal variability in the sea surface temperature (SST) of the North Atlantic, with a monopolar spatial structure. In contrast, the coupled model that employs an oceanic mixed layer model and thus does not carry active ocean dynamics simulates a tripolar SST anomaly pattern at decadal time scales. The tripolar SST anomaly pattern is characterized by strong horizontal gradients and is by definition the result of the action of surface heat flux anomalies on the oceanic mixed layer. The differences in the spatial structures of the dominant decadal SST anomaly patterns yield rather different atmospheric responses. While the response to the monopolar SST anomaly pattern is shallow and thermal, the response to the tripolar SST anomaly pattern involves changes in the transient eddy statistics. The latter can be explained by the strong horizontal SST gradients that affect the surface baroclinicity, which in turn affects the growth rate of the transient eddies. The differences in the atmospheric response characteristics yield completely different response patterns. In the coupled run with active ocean dynamics, the sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies exhibit a rather homogeneous pattern that resembles somewhat the East Atlantic Pattern (EAP), while a dipolar (North Atlantic Oscillation) NAO-like SLP anomaly pattern is simulated in the coupled run without active ocean dynamics. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Journal of Climate 18 7 982 995
institution Open Polar
collection OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel)
op_collection_id ftoceanrep
language English
description The dependence of the air–sea interactions over the North Atlantic on the ocean dynamics is explored by analyzing multicentury integrations with two different coupled ocean–atmosphere models. One is a coupled general circulation model (CGCM), in which both the atmospheric and the oceanic components are represented by general circulation models (GCMs). The second coupled model employs the same atmospheric GCM, but the oceanic GCM is replaced by a fixed-depth mixed layer model, so that variations of the ocean dynamics are excluded. The coupled model including active ocean dynamics simulates strong multidecadal variability in the sea surface temperature (SST) of the North Atlantic, with a monopolar spatial structure. In contrast, the coupled model that employs an oceanic mixed layer model and thus does not carry active ocean dynamics simulates a tripolar SST anomaly pattern at decadal time scales. The tripolar SST anomaly pattern is characterized by strong horizontal gradients and is by definition the result of the action of surface heat flux anomalies on the oceanic mixed layer. The differences in the spatial structures of the dominant decadal SST anomaly patterns yield rather different atmospheric responses. While the response to the monopolar SST anomaly pattern is shallow and thermal, the response to the tripolar SST anomaly pattern involves changes in the transient eddy statistics. The latter can be explained by the strong horizontal SST gradients that affect the surface baroclinicity, which in turn affects the growth rate of the transient eddies. The differences in the atmospheric response characteristics yield completely different response patterns. In the coupled run with active ocean dynamics, the sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies exhibit a rather homogeneous pattern that resembles somewhat the East Atlantic Pattern (EAP), while a dipolar (North Atlantic Oscillation) NAO-like SLP anomaly pattern is simulated in the coupled run without active ocean dynamics.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Park, Wonsun
Latif, Mojib
spellingShingle Park, Wonsun
Latif, Mojib
Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
author_facet Park, Wonsun
Latif, Mojib
author_sort Park, Wonsun
title Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
title_short Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
title_full Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
title_fullStr Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
title_full_unstemmed Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales
title_sort ocean dynamics and the nature of air-sea interactions over the north atlantic at decadal time scales
publisher AMS (American Meteorological Society)
publishDate 2005
url https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/1/JCLI-3307.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1
genre North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
genre_facet North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
op_relation https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/5847/1/JCLI-3307.pdf
Park, W. and Latif, M. (2005) Ocean Dynamics and the Nature of Air-Sea Interactions over the North Atlantic at Decadal Time Scales. Open Access Journal of Climate, 18 (7). pp. 982-995. DOI 10.1175/JCLI-3307.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1>.
doi:10.1175/JCLI-3307.1
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-3307.1
container_title Journal of Climate
container_volume 18
container_issue 7
container_start_page 982
op_container_end_page 995
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