Sensitivity of a global ice-ocean model to the Bering Strait throughflow

• Published in: Climate Dynamics
• Main Authors: Goosse, Hugues, Campin, JM., Fichefet, Thierry, Deleersnijder, Eric, 3rd International Conference on Modelling of Global Climate Change and Variability
• Other Authors: UCL - SC/PHYS - Département de physique, UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Verlag 1997
• Subjects: Bering Strait; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/62727; https://doi.org/10.1007/s003820050170

To understand the influence of the Bering Strait on the World Ocean's circulation, a model sensitivity analysis is conducted. The numerical experiments are carried out with a global, coupled ice-ocean model. The water transport through the Bering Strait is parametrized according to the geostrophic control theory. The model is driven by surface fluxes derived from bulk formulae assuming a prescribed atmospheric seasonal cycle. In addition, a weak restoring to observed surface salinities is applied to compensate for the global imbalance of the imposed surface freshwater fluxes. The freshwater flux from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic associated with the Bering Strait throughflow seems to be an important element in the freshwater budget of the Greenland and Norwegian seas and of the Atlantic. This flux induces a freshening of the North Atlantic surface waters, which reduces the convective activity and leads to a noticeable (6%) weakening of the thermohaline conveyor belt. It is argued that the contrasting results obtained by Reason and Power are due to the type of surface boundary conditions they used.