Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation
Possible changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) provide a key source of uncertainty regarding future climate change. Maps of temperature trends over the twentieth century show a conspicuous region of cooling in the northern Atlantic. Here we present multiple lines of evidence...
Published in: | Nature Climate Change |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/ https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/1/robinson10postprint.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2554 |
id |
ftunivcmadrid:oai:www.ucm.es:32657 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivcmadrid:oai:www.ucm.es:32657 2023-05-15T16:27:27+02:00 Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation Rahmstorf, Stefan Box, Jason E. Feulner, Georg Mann, Michael E. Robinson, Alexander James Rutherford, Scott Schaffernicht, Erik J. 2015-05 application/pdf https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/ https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/1/robinson10postprint.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2554 en eng Nature Publishing Group https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/1/robinson10postprint.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Astrofísica Astronomía info:eu-repo/semantics/article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivcmadrid https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2554 2022-05-12T19:59:44Z Possible changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) provide a key source of uncertainty regarding future climate change. Maps of temperature trends over the twentieth century show a conspicuous region of cooling in the northern Atlantic. Here we present multiple lines of evidence suggesting that this cooling may be due to a reduction in the AMOC over the twentieth century and particularly after 1970. Since 1990 the AMOC seems to have partly recovered. This time evolution is consistently suggested by an AMOC index based on sea surface temperatures, by the hemispheric temperature difference, by coral-based proxies and by oceanic measurements. We discuss a possible contribution of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the slowdown. Using a multi-proxy temperature reconstruction for the AMOC index suggests that the AMOC weakness after 1975 is an unprecedented event in the past millennium (p > 0.99). Further melting of Greenland in the coming decades could contribute to further weakening of the AMOC. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM): E-Prints Complutense Greenland Nature Climate Change 5 5 475 480 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM): E-Prints Complutense |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcmadrid |
language |
English |
topic |
Astrofísica Astronomía |
spellingShingle |
Astrofísica Astronomía Rahmstorf, Stefan Box, Jason E. Feulner, Georg Mann, Michael E. Robinson, Alexander James Rutherford, Scott Schaffernicht, Erik J. Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
topic_facet |
Astrofísica Astronomía |
description |
Possible changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) provide a key source of uncertainty regarding future climate change. Maps of temperature trends over the twentieth century show a conspicuous region of cooling in the northern Atlantic. Here we present multiple lines of evidence suggesting that this cooling may be due to a reduction in the AMOC over the twentieth century and particularly after 1970. Since 1990 the AMOC seems to have partly recovered. This time evolution is consistently suggested by an AMOC index based on sea surface temperatures, by the hemispheric temperature difference, by coral-based proxies and by oceanic measurements. We discuss a possible contribution of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the slowdown. Using a multi-proxy temperature reconstruction for the AMOC index suggests that the AMOC weakness after 1975 is an unprecedented event in the past millennium (p > 0.99). Further melting of Greenland in the coming decades could contribute to further weakening of the AMOC. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rahmstorf, Stefan Box, Jason E. Feulner, Georg Mann, Michael E. Robinson, Alexander James Rutherford, Scott Schaffernicht, Erik J. |
author_facet |
Rahmstorf, Stefan Box, Jason E. Feulner, Georg Mann, Michael E. Robinson, Alexander James Rutherford, Scott Schaffernicht, Erik J. |
author_sort |
Rahmstorf, Stefan |
title |
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
title_short |
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
title_full |
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
title_fullStr |
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation |
title_sort |
exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in atlantic ocean overturning circulation |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/ https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/1/robinson10postprint.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2554 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/32657/1/robinson10postprint.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2554 |
container_title |
Nature Climate Change |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
475 |
op_container_end_page |
480 |
_version_ |
1766016633585795072 |