An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the northward flow of surface water to subpolar latitudes where deepwater is formed, balanced by southward abyssal flow and upwelling in the vicinity of the Southern Ocean. It is generally accepted that AMOC flow oscillates with a period of 6...
Published in: | PLoS ONE |
---|---|
Main Author: | |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4062526 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24940739 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4062526 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4062526 2023-05-15T17:33:20+02:00 An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Kurtz, Bruce E. 2014-06-18 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4062526 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24940739 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24940739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 Kurtz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 2014-06-29T00:43:54Z The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the northward flow of surface water to subpolar latitudes where deepwater is formed, balanced by southward abyssal flow and upwelling in the vicinity of the Southern Ocean. It is generally accepted that AMOC flow oscillates with a period of 60–80 years, creating a regular variation in North Atlantic sea surface temperature known as the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). This article attempts to answer two questions: how is the AMOC driven and why does it oscillate? Using methods commonly employed by chemical engineers for analyzing processes involving flowing liquids, apparently not previously applied to trying to understand the AMOC, an equation is developed for AMOC flow as a function of the meridional density gradient or the corresponding temperature gradient. The equation is based on the similarity between the AMOC and an industrial thermosyphon loop cooler, which circulates a heat transfer liquid without using a mechanical pump. Extending this equation with an analogy between the flow of heat and electricity explains why the AMOC flow oscillates and what determines its period. Calculated values for AMOC flow and AMO oscillation period are in good agreement with measured values. Text North Atlantic Southern Ocean PubMed Central (PMC) Southern Ocean PLoS ONE 9 6 e100306 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Article |
spellingShingle |
Research Article Kurtz, Bruce E. An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the northward flow of surface water to subpolar latitudes where deepwater is formed, balanced by southward abyssal flow and upwelling in the vicinity of the Southern Ocean. It is generally accepted that AMOC flow oscillates with a period of 60–80 years, creating a regular variation in North Atlantic sea surface temperature known as the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). This article attempts to answer two questions: how is the AMOC driven and why does it oscillate? Using methods commonly employed by chemical engineers for analyzing processes involving flowing liquids, apparently not previously applied to trying to understand the AMOC, an equation is developed for AMOC flow as a function of the meridional density gradient or the corresponding temperature gradient. The equation is based on the similarity between the AMOC and an industrial thermosyphon loop cooler, which circulates a heat transfer liquid without using a mechanical pump. Extending this equation with an analogy between the flow of heat and electricity explains why the AMOC flow oscillates and what determines its period. Calculated values for AMOC flow and AMO oscillation period are in good agreement with measured values. |
format |
Text |
author |
Kurtz, Bruce E. |
author_facet |
Kurtz, Bruce E. |
author_sort |
Kurtz, Bruce E. |
title |
An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_short |
An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full |
An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_fullStr |
An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
An Electrical Analogy Relating the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_sort |
electrical analogy relating the atlantic multidecadal oscillation to the atlantic meridional overturning circulation |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4062526 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24940739 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24940739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 |
op_rights |
Kurtz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100306 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e100306 |
_version_ |
1766131805001351168 |