U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

An Investigation of the Ocean’s Role in Atlantic Multidecadal Variability

File Language:


Details

  • Journal Title:
    Journal of Climate
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
  • Description:
    A mechanistic understanding of the Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) is highly desirable since it will considerably aid regional and global climate predictions. Although ocean dynamics have long been invoked to explain the AMV, recent studies have cast doubt on its influence. Here we evaluate the necessity of ocean dynamics for the AMV using an observationally based idealized model that isolates the contribution of atmospheric forcing to the AMV. By demonstrating that this model underestimates the magnitude of the observed sea surface temperature variability in the extratropical North Atlantic, we infer that ocean dynamics contribute significantly to the AMV in this region. This inference holds when we add anthropogenic aerosol forcing and the effects of mixed layer depth variability to the idealized model. Thus, our study suggests that ocean heat transport convergence is needed to explain sea surface temperature variability in the extratropical North Atlantic. Sustained ocean observing systems in the this region will help untangle the physical mechanisms involved.
  • Keywords:
  • Source:
    Journal of Climate, 33(8), 3019-3035
  • DOI:
  • ISSN:
    0894-8755 ; 1520-0442
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Publisher:
    American Meteorological Society
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Funding:
    Grant no. NA16OAR4310167
  • Rights Information:
    Other
  • Compliance:
    Library
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:bbc3f9a77d45eaf7f41cb36a4290e96c2606a1eb5975c339363b2bfffa814275
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.12 MB ]
PREVIOUS
File Language:
ON THIS PAGE
Details
The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP