Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010georl..3714602l&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 37, Issue 14, CiteID L14602
Physics
3
Oceanography: Physical: General Circulation (1218, 1222), Oceanography: Physical: Western Boundary Currents, Paleoceanography: Global Climate Models (1626, 3337), Paleoceanography: Thermohaline
Scientific paper
Simulations with changed Southern Ocean wind-stress, oceanic vertical mixing, surface freshwater forcing and global warming confirm the basic equations of Gnanadesikan's (1999) theory for the Atlantic: one vertical scale, the pycnocline depth D, contributes inversely proportional to low-latitudinal upwelling and linearly to Southern Ocean eddy transport. The maximum Atlantic overturning is confirmed to be quadratic in D but is also shown to be linear in a meridional density difference Δρ. Our simulations strongly suggest that the theory needs to be complemented by a dynamical equation for Δρ since changes in both D and Δρ are significant and mutually independent. While, under global warming D varies strongly and Δρ is practically constant, the situation is reversed for altered surface freshwater fluxes. Similarly, variations in the meridional length scale of Southern Ocean outcropping require a dynamical equation in order to capture the fundamental behavior of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.
Fürst Johannes Jakob
Levermann Anders
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