Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing
The response of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to wind stress forcing is investigated from an observational standpoint, using four time series of overturning transports below and relative to 1000 m, overlapping by 3.6 yr. These time series are derived from four mooring a...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:407629 2023-07-30T04:05:10+02:00 Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing Elipot, Shane Frajka-williams, Eleanor Hughes, Chris W. Olhede, Sofia Lankhorst, Matthias 2017-03-15 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/1/jcli_d_16_0664_2E1.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/1/jcli_d_16_0664_2E1.pdf Elipot, Shane, Frajka-williams, Eleanor, Hughes, Chris W., Olhede, Sofia and Lankhorst, Matthias (2017) Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing. Journal of Climate, 30 (6), 2029-2054. (doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1>). cc_by_4 Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1 2023-07-09T22:14:06Z The response of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to wind stress forcing is investigated from an observational standpoint, using four time series of overturning transports below and relative to 1000 m, overlapping by 3.6 yr. These time series are derived from four mooring arrays located on the western boundary of the North Atlantic: the RAPID Western Atlantic Variability Experiment (WAVE) array (42.5°N), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Line W array (39°N), RAPID–MOC/MOCHA (26.5°N), and the Meridional Overturning Variability Experiment (MOVE) array (16°N). Using modal decompositions of the analytic cross-correlation between transports and wind stress, the basin-scale wind stress is shown to significantly drive the MOC coherently at four latitudes, on the time scales available for this study. The dominant mode of covariance is interpreted as rapid barotropic oceanic adjustments to wind stress forcing, eventually forming two counterrotating Ekman overturning cells centered on the tropics and subtropical gyre. A second mode of covariance appears related to patterns of wind stress and wind stress curl associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation, spinning anomalous horizontal circulations that likely interact with topography to form overturning cells. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Curl ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) Journal of Climate 30 6 2029 2054 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
The response of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to wind stress forcing is investigated from an observational standpoint, using four time series of overturning transports below and relative to 1000 m, overlapping by 3.6 yr. These time series are derived from four mooring arrays located on the western boundary of the North Atlantic: the RAPID Western Atlantic Variability Experiment (WAVE) array (42.5°N), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Line W array (39°N), RAPID–MOC/MOCHA (26.5°N), and the Meridional Overturning Variability Experiment (MOVE) array (16°N). Using modal decompositions of the analytic cross-correlation between transports and wind stress, the basin-scale wind stress is shown to significantly drive the MOC coherently at four latitudes, on the time scales available for this study. The dominant mode of covariance is interpreted as rapid barotropic oceanic adjustments to wind stress forcing, eventually forming two counterrotating Ekman overturning cells centered on the tropics and subtropical gyre. A second mode of covariance appears related to patterns of wind stress and wind stress curl associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation, spinning anomalous horizontal circulations that likely interact with topography to form overturning cells. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elipot, Shane Frajka-williams, Eleanor Hughes, Chris W. Olhede, Sofia Lankhorst, Matthias |
spellingShingle |
Elipot, Shane Frajka-williams, Eleanor Hughes, Chris W. Olhede, Sofia Lankhorst, Matthias Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
author_facet |
Elipot, Shane Frajka-williams, Eleanor Hughes, Chris W. Olhede, Sofia Lankhorst, Matthias |
author_sort |
Elipot, Shane |
title |
Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
title_short |
Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
title_full |
Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
title_fullStr |
Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing |
title_sort |
observed basin-scale response of the north atlantic meridional overturning circulation to wind stress forcing |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/1/jcli_d_16_0664_2E1.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) |
geographic |
Curl |
geographic_facet |
Curl |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/407629/1/jcli_d_16_0664_2E1.pdf Elipot, Shane, Frajka-williams, Eleanor, Hughes, Chris W., Olhede, Sofia and Lankhorst, Matthias (2017) Observed Basin-Scale Response of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation to Wind Stress Forcing. Journal of Climate, 30 (6), 2029-2054. (doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1>). |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0664.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2029 |
op_container_end_page |
2054 |
_version_ |
1772816938835116032 |