An ocean model's response to North Atlantic Oscillation like wind forcing

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Visbeck, Martin, Cullen, H., Krahmann, Gerd, Naik, N.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AGU (American Geophysical Union) 1998
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/6319/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/6319/1/Visbeck_et_al-1998-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/1998GL900162

The response of the Atlantic Ocean to North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)-like wind forcing was investigated using an ocean-only general circulation model coupled to an atmospheric boundary layer model. A series of idealized experiments was performed to investigate the interannual to multi-decadal frequency response of the ocean to a winter wind anomaly pattern. Overall, the strength of the SST response increased slightly with longer forcing periods. In the subpolar gyre, however, the model showed a broad response maximum in the decadal band (12-16 years).