OS43D-1315:
OVERTURNING CIRCULATIONS DRIVEN BY DENSE WATER FORMATION IN THE INTERIOR OF AN OCEAN BASIN

Thursday, 18 December 2014
Fabian Schloesser, University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI, United States, Julian P McCreary Jr, Univ of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States, Ryo Furue, IPRC Univ of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States and Lewis M Rothstein, University of Rhode Island- Narragansett Bay, Narragansett, RI, United States
Abstract:
Numerous conceptual and dynamical models relate the large-scale meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to the meridional surface-density difference. In our study, we obtain and analyze two types of analytic solutions to a variable-density 2-layer model, one where the densest water is formed in the interior of an ocean basin, and the other one where it is formed near the northern boundary. We discuss the fundamental changes in strength and structure of the MOC between the different solutions. In the case with interior cooling, we report similarities and differences to a beta-plume circulation.
Back to: The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, Climate Variability, and Change III Posters
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