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Title: How is meridional coherence maintained in the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation?
Award ID(s):
1756223 1756143
NSF-PAR ID:
10086287
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Geophysical Research Letters
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
ISSN:
0094-8276
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  1. Abstract

    The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) variability is suggested to be incoherent between the subpolar and subtropical gyres in the Atlantic on interannual and even decadal time scales, questioning the representativeness of AMOC variability at a single latitude in modern observation and paleoreconstruction. Paleoreconstructions of the Florida Current transport suggest that Florida Current variability is associated with the AMOC on the millennial time scale, but the Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) mooring array suggests a weak correlation between the Florida Current and the AMOC. In this study, we investigate the meridional coherence of AMOC variability and the relationship between the Florida Current variability and the AMOC variability on different time scales in a transient 20,000‐year simulation. We find that with the increase of time scales, the meridional coherence of the AMOC increases. On decadal and longer time scales, the coherent subtropical and subpolar AMOC is caused by the coherent buoyancy forcing in the subpolar gyre. Also, the Florida Current transport is highly correlated with AMOC variability on decadal and longer time scales, suggesting that observations of the Florida Current can be used to indicate AMOC variability on long time scales.

     
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  2. The RAPID-MOCHA-WBTS (RAPID-Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heatflux Array-Western Boundary Time Series) program has produced a continuous heat transport time series of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) at 26N that started in April 2004. This release of the heat transport time series covers the period from April 2004 to December 2020.The 26N AMOC time series is derived from measurements of temperature, salinity, pressure and water velocity from an array of moored instruments that extend from the east coast of the Bahamas to the continental shelf off Africa east of the Canary Islands. The AMOC heat transport calculation also uses estimates of the heat transport in the Florida Strait derived from sub-sea cable measurements calibrated by regular hydrographic cruises. The component of the AMOC associated with the wind driven Ekman layer is derived from ERA5 reanalysis. This release of the data includes a document with a brief description of the heat transport calculation of the AMOC time series and references to more detailed description in published papers. The 26N AMOC heat transport time series and the data from the moored array are curated by the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science at the University of Miami. The RAPID-MOCHA-WBTS program is a joint effort between the NSF (Principal Investigators Bill Johns and Shane Elipot, Uni. Miami) in the USA, NERC in the UK (PI Ben Moat, David Smeed, and Brian King, NOC) and NOAA (PIs Denis Volkov and Ryan Smith). 
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    This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Atlantic overturning: new observations and challenges’.

     
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