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1. Transient Overturning Compensation between Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Basins

   https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0060.1  

   Sun, Shantong ; Thompson, Andrew F. ; Eisenman, Ian ( August 2020 , Journal of Physical Oceanography)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Climate models consistently project (i) a decline in the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and (ii) a strengthening of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds in response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing. These two processes suggest potentially conflicting tendencies of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC): a weakening AMOC due to changes in the North Atlantic but a strengthening AMOC due to changes in the Southern Ocean. Here we focus on the transient evolution of the global ocean overturning circulation in response to a perturbation to the NADW formation rate. We propose that the adjustment of the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation is a critical component in mediating AMOC changes. Using a hierarchy of ocean and climate models, we show that the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation provides the first response to AMOC changes through wave processes, whereas the Southern Ocean overturning circulation responds on longer (centennial to millennial) time scales that are determined by eddy diffusion processes. Changes in the Indo-Pacific overturning circulation compensate AMOC changes, which allows the Southern Ocean overturning circulation to evolve independently of the AMOC, at least over time scales up to many decades. In a warming climate, the Indo-Pacific develops an overturning circulation anomaly associated with the weakening AMOC that is characterized by a northward transport close to the surface and a southward transport in the deep ocean, which could effectively redistribute heat between the basins. Our results highlight the importance of interbasin exchange in the response of the global ocean overturning circulation to a changing climate. 

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2. The Role of Continental Topography in the Present-Day Ocean’s Mean Climate

   https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0690.1  

   Stouffer, R. J. ; Russell, J. L. ; Beadling, R. L. ; Broccoli, A. J. ; Krasting, J. P. ; Malyshev, S. ; Naiman, Z. ( February 2022 , Journal of Climate)

   Climate models of varying complexity have been used for decades to investigate the impact of mountains on the atmosphere and surface climate. Here, the impact of removing the continental topography on the present-day ocean climate is investigated using three different climate models spanning multiple generations. An idealized study is performed where all present-day land surface topography is removed and the equilibrium change in the oceanic mean state with and without the mountains is studied. When the mountains are removed, changes found in all three models include a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and associated SST cooling in the subpolar North Atlantic. The SSTs also warm in all the models in the western North Pacific Ocean associated with a northward shift of the atmospheric jet and the Kuroshio. In the ocean interior, the magnitude of the temperature and salinity response to removing the mountains is relatively small and the sign and magnitude of the changes generally vary among the models. These different interior ocean responses are likely related to differences in the mean state of the control integrations due to differences in resolution and associated subgrid-scale mixing parameterizations. Compared to the results from 4xCO₂simulations, the interior ocean temperature changes caused by mountain removal are relatively small; however, the oceanic circulation response and Northern Hemisphere near-surface temperature changes are of a similar magnitude to the response to such radiative forcing changes.

    

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3. Oceanic Pathways of an Active Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation (PMOC)

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091935  

   Thomas, M. D. ; Fedorov, A. V. ; Burls, N. J. ; Liu, W. ( May 2021 , Geophysical Research Letters)

   In contrast to the modern‐day climate, North Pacific deep water formation and a Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC) may have been active during past climate conditions, in particular during the Pliocene epoch (some 3–5 million years ago). Here, we use a climate model simulation with a robust PMOC cell to investigate the pathways of the North Pacific deep water from subduction to upwelling, as revealed by Lagrangian particle trajectories. We find that similar to the present‐day Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), most subducted North Pacific deep water upwells in the Southern Ocean. However, roughly 15% upwells in the tropical Indo‐Pacific Oceans instead—a key feature distinguishing the PMOC from the AMOC. The connection to the Indian Ocean is relatively fast, at about 250 years. The connection to the tropical Pacific is slower (∼800 years) as water first travels to the subtropical South Pacific then gradually upwells through the thermocline.

    

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4. Indian Ocean warming as a driver of the North Atlantic warming hole

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18522-5  

   Hu, Shineng ; Fedorov, Alexey V. ( September 2020 , Nature Communications)

   Over the past century, the subpolar North Atlantic experienced slight cooling or suppressed warming, relative to the background positive temperature trends, often dubbed the North Atlantic warming hole (NAWH). The causes of the NAWH remain under debate. Here we conduct coupled ocean-atmosphere simulations to demonstrate that enhanced Indian Ocean warming, another salient feature of global warming, could increase local rainfall and through teleconnections strengthen surface westerly winds south of Greenland, cooling the subpolar North Atlantic. In decades to follow however, this cooling effect would gradually vanish as the Indian Ocean warming acts to strengthen the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). We argue that the historical NAWH can potentially be explained by such atmospheric mechanisms reliant on surface wind changes, while oceanic mechanisms related to AMOC changes become more important on longer timescales. Thus, explaining the North Atlantic temperature trends and particularly the NAWH requires considering both atmospheric and oceanic mechanisms.

    

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5. Ocean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14474-y  

   Holliday, N. Penny ; Bersch, Manfred ; Berx, Barbara ; Chafik, Léon ; Cunningham, Stuart ; Florindo-López, Cristian ; Hátún, Hjálmar ; Johns, William ; Josey, Simon A. ; Larsen, Karin Margretha H. ; et al ( January 2020 , Nature Communications)

   The Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation is important to the climate system because it carries heat and carbon northward, and from the surface to the deep ocean. The high salinity of the subpolar North Atlantic is a prerequisite for overturning circulation, and strong freshening could herald a slowdown. We show that the eastern subpolar North Atlantic underwent extreme freshening during 2012 to 2016, with a magnitude never seen before in 120 years of measurements. The cause was unusual winter wind patterns driving major changes in ocean circulation, including slowing of the North Atlantic Current and diversion of Arctic freshwater from the western boundary into the eastern basins. We find that wind-driven routing of Arctic-origin freshwater intimately links conditions on the North West Atlantic shelf and slope region with the eastern subpolar basins. This reveals the importance of atmospheric forcing of intra-basin circulation in determining the salinity of the subpolar North Atlantic.

    

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