Is the wind stress forcing essential for the meridional overturning circulation?

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Timmermann, A., Goosse, Hugues
• Other Authors: UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Oceanography; General circulation; Nu m er i c a l m od el in g; 1443; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/129619; https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL018777

[ 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