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The aim of this paper is to identify the physical mechanism of interdecadal variability in simulations of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation with the Modular Ocean Model of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. To that end, a hierarchy of increasingly complex model configurations is used. The variability in the simplest case, that of viscous, purely thermally driven flows in a flat-bottom ocean basin with a box-shaped geometry, is shown to be caused by an internal interdecadal mode. The westward propagation of temperature anomalies and the phase difference between the anomalous zonal and meridional overturning that characterize the interdecadal mode are used as “fingerprints” of the physical mechanism of the variability. In this way, the variability can be followed toward a less viscous regime in which the effects of continental geometry and bottom topography are also included. It is shown that, although quantitative aspects of the variability like period and spatial pattern are changing, the physical mechanism of the interdecadal variability in the more complex simulations can be attributed to the same processes as in the simplest model configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dominates interannual climate variability. Yet, its genesis and maintenance mechanisms are still under intense debate, with no scientific consensus. Some authors argued that the westerly winds originating over the equatorial Indian Ocean are significantly enhanced and extend eastward in the western and central equatorial Pacific during El Niño events, thus advecting the warm pool eastward along the equator and causing SST anomalies. However, this assertion is unlikely to be quantitatively supported by observational data. Here we present detailed observational data and modeling evidence to demonstrate that the westerly winds had little change in intensity in the western equatorial Pacific, with a wider zonal extent only during most El Niño events, and with a slight increase even in the most pronounced 1997 El Niño. Instead, an eastward equatorial current near the equator has been observed and is considered to play a significant role in shifting the eastern edge of the warm pool eastward, elevating SSTs in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific and giving rise to El Niño, with the interactions between the eastward warm pool and the upwelling in the eastern cold tongue ascertaining the amplitudes of SST anomalies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional connectivity is important to the global climate salinity response, particularly because salinity anomalies do not have a damping feedback with atmospheric freshwater fluxes and may therefore be advected over long distances by ocean circulation, resulting in nonlocal influences. Climate model intercomparison experiments such as CMIP5 exhibit large uncertainty in some aspects of the salinity response, hypothesized here to be a result of ocean dynamics. We use two types of Lagrangian particle tracking experiments to investigate pathways of exchange for salinity anomalies. The first uses forward trajectories to estimate average transport time scales between water cycle regimes. The second uses reverse trajectories and a freshwater accumulation method to quantitatively identify remote influences in the salinity response. Additionally, we compare velocity fields with both resolved and parameterized eddies to understand the impact of eddy stirring on intergyre exchange. These experiments show that surface anomalies are readily exchanged within the ocean gyres by the mean circulation, but intergyre exchange is slower and largely eddy driven. These dynamics are used to analyze the North Atlantic salinity response to climate warming and water cycle intensification, where the system is broadly forced with fresh surface anomalies in the subpolar gyre and salty surface anomalies in the subtropical gyres. Under these competing forcings, strong intergyre eddy fluxes carry anomalously salty subtropical water into the subpolar gyre which balances out much of the local freshwater input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional approaches for assessing wave climate variability have been broadly focused on aggregated or statistical parameters such as significant wave height, wave energy flux, or mean wave direction. These studies, although revealing the major general modes of wave climate variability and trends, do not take into consideration the complexity of the wind-wave fields. Because ocean waves are the response to both local and remote winds, analyzing the directional full spectra can shed light on atmospheric circulation not only over the immediate ocean region, but also over a broad basin scale. In this work, the authors use a pattern classification approach to explore wave climate variability in the frequency-direction domain. This approach identifies atmospheric circulation patterns of the sea level pressure from the 31-yr long Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) and wave spectral patterns of two selected buoys in the North Atlantic, finding one-to-one relations between each synoptic pattern (circulation type) and each spectral wave energy distribution (spectral type). Even in the absence of long-wave records, this method allows for the reconstruction of long-term wave spectra to cover variability at several temporal scales: daily, monthly, seasonal, interannual, decadal, long-term trends, and future climate change projections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple coupled atmosphere–ocean models are used to study the potential influence of the tropical Atlantic Ocean decadal oscillation on the equatorial Atlantic atmosphere–ocean dynamics. Perturbing the model tropical Atlantic at the extratropics (25°–30°) with a decadal frequency, interhemispheric SST dipole mode emerges due to the wind–evaporation–SST feedback. Near the equator, a cross-equatorial oceanic gyre develops owing to the dipole-induced wind stress curl. Once formed, this oceanic gyre transports surface water across the equator from the cold to the warm hemisphere in the western boundary region and from the warm to the cold hemisphere in the Sverdrup interior. Interestingly, this occurs during both the positive and negative phases of the dipole oscillation, thus producing a persistent positive zonal SST gradient along the equator. Bjerknes-type feedback later kicks in to further strengthen the equatorial SST anomaly. Eventually, this feature grows to a quasi-stationary stage sustaining the equatorial westerly wind anomalies, thus also causing the depression (uplift) of the equatorial thermocline in the east (west), a condition similar to the Atlantic Niño. The dynamic relationship between the dipole SST oscillation and the equatorial thermocline suggests that a strengthening (weakening) of the dipole mode corresponds to a weakening (strengthening) of the equatorial thermocline slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the “CLIMBER-3α” coupled climate model of intermediate complexity, the effect of a stratification-dependent vertical diffusivity on the sensitivity of the Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation to perturbations in freshwater forcing is investigated. The vertical diffusivity κ is calculated as κ ∼ N-α, where N is the local buoyancy frequency and the parameter α is a measure of the sensitivity of the vertical diffusivity to changes in stratification. Independent of α, the stratification of the deep ocean is weakly increased as a response to an anomalous freshwater flux in the North Atlantic in these experiments. In the region of freshwater forcing and north of it this is caused by the freshwater anomaly itself, but farther south it is associated with anomalously warm surface waters caused by a reduction of the northward oceanic heat transport. Subsequently, and in opposition to results from previous studies, the overturning is reduced by the anomalous freshwater flux, independent of the choice of α. However, the amount of reduction in overturning following a freshwater perturbation is found to depend critically on the choice of the mixing sensitivity α. If α < αcr, the response is similar to the model’s response using constant vertical diffusivity (α = 0). For α > αcr, a sharp increase of the sensitivity is found. The value of αcr is found to be between 0.5 and 1. A general feedback is proposed explaining this threshold behavior: if α is large, both positive and negative perturbations of stratification are amplified by associated changes in diffusivity. In the experiments presented here, this enhances the initial positive stratification anomaly in northern high latitudes, which is created by the anomalous freshwater flux. As a result, convection is strongly reduced, and the overturning is significantly weakened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed spatial distribution of South Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (SPSTMW) and its temporal variation were investigated using the World Ocean Atlas (WOA) 2001 climatology and high-resolution expendable bathythermograph (HRX) line data. In the WOA 2001 climatology, SPSTMW can be classified into western and eastern parts. A detailed examination of spatial distributions using HRX-PX06 line data revealed that the eastern part can be further divided into two types by the Tasman Front (TF) extension. Consequently, SPSTMW can be classified into three types, referred to in the present study as the West, North, and South types. The West type, situated in the recirculation region of the East Australia Current (EAC), has a core layer temperature (CLT) of about 19.1°C; the North type, in the region north of the TF extension, has a CLT of about 17.6°C; and the South type, in the region south of the TF extension, has a CLT of about 16.0°C. The long-term (>6 yr) variations in the inventories of the three types were dissimilar to each other. The short-term (<6 yr) and long-term variations in the mean CLT of the North and South types were greater than that of the West type. Winter cooling in the previous year may have influenced the short-term variation in the South-type CLT. Moreover, the strength of the EAC may have influenced long-term variation in the West-type inventory and thickness and in the North-type thickness and CLT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bifurcation behavior of a conceptual heat–salt oscillator model is analyzed by means of numerical continuation methods. A global (homoclinic) bifurcation acts as an organizing center for the dynamics of the simplified convective model. It originates from a codimension-2 bifurcation in an extended parameter space. Comparison with earlier work by Cessi shows that the intriguing stochastic thermohaline excitability can be understood from the bifurcation structure of the model. It is argued that global bifurcations may play a crucial role in determining long-term variability of the thermohaline circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the Southern Ocean in global climate is examined using three simulations with a coupled model employing geometries different only at the location of Drake Passage (DP). The results of three main experiments are examined: 1) a simulation with DP closed, 2) an experiment with DP at a shallow (690 m) depth, and 3) a realistic DP experiment. The climate with DP closed is characterized by warmer Southern Hemisphere surface air temperature (SAT), little Antarctic ice, and no North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) overturn. On opening the DP to a shallow depth of 690 m there is an increase in Antarctic sea ice and a cooling of the Southern Hemisphere but still no North Atlantic overturn. On fully opening the DP, the climate is mostly similar in the Southern Hemisphere to DP at 690 m, but the model now simulates NADW formation and a warming in the Northern Hemisphere. This suggests the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation depends not only on the existence of a DP throughflow, but also on the depth of the sills in the Southern Ocean. The closed DP experiment exhibits a large amount of deep-water formation [57 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s-1)] in the Southern Hemisphere; this reduces to 39 Sv for the shallow DP case and 14 Sv when DP is at 2316 m, its modern-day depth. NADW formation is shut down in both DP closed and shallow experiments, which accounts for the warming in the Northern Hemisphere observed when the DP is opened. SAT differences between the DP open and closed climate are seasonal. The largest SAT changes occur during winter in areas of large sea ice change. However, summer conditions are still significantly warmer when DP is closed (regionally up to 4°C). Summer SAT is the most important factor determining whether an Antarctic ice sheet can build up. Therefore our study does not exclude the possibility that changes in ocean gateways may have contributed to the glaciation of Antarctica. Overall, these experimental results support paleoclimatic evidence of rapid cooling of the Southern Ocean region soon after the isolation of Antarctica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]