Is the wind stress forcing essential for the meridional overturning circulation?
[ 1 ] We use a global couple d atm osphere-ocean sea-ice model of interm ediate complexity to demonstrate that wind- forcing i s a crucial element to sustain meridional overturning flow i n t he Atlantic. Neglecting wind-stress in our multi- century-lon g simulations leads to a complete shutdown of...
| Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2004
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/129619 https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018777 |
| Summary: | [ 1 ] We use a global couple d atm osphere-ocean sea-ice model of interm ediate complexity to demonstrate that wind- forcing i s a crucial element to sustain meridional overturning flow i n t he Atlantic. Neglecting wind-stress in our multi- century-lon g simulations leads to a complete shutdown of the conveyor belt ci r culation. This r esult may have tremendous impacts f or an assessment of the sensitivity of 2-d clima t e models which typicall y do not capture wind-driven gyres. It is argued that wind effects may be a key element in determining the f ate and length of a collapsed THC state. Possible paleo implications will be discussed |
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