The AMOC at the Boundary between the Subtropical and Subpolar North Atlantic

Monika Rhein1, Christian Mertens2, Dagmar Kieke1, Achim Roessler2, Tilia Breckenfelder3, Claus W Boning4, Ilaria Stendardo3, Reiner Steinfeldt3 and Maren Walter2, (1)MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, (2)University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, (3)University of Bremen, Institute of Environmental Physics, Bremen, Germany, (4)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Abstract:
It is expected that global warming will cause significant changes in the circulation and the temperature / salinity patterns in the North Atlantic, with consequences for the European climate and sea level. Due to its sensitivity, the subpolar North Atlantic also shows large natural variability forced by atmospheric modes. Studies of the fluctuations now will help to understand the processes involved and the contemporary time series measured today will help to separate variability caused by anthropogenic forcing in the future. Here we will use moored and shipboard observations, Argo profiles, and altimeter data combined with results from a 1/20° ocean model to study the exchange of main AMOC components between the warm and saline subtropical realm, and the cold and fresh subpolar gyre.
Back to: Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Past, Present, and Future I