PO41A:
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Past, Present, and Future I


Session ID#: 11461

Session Description:
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) comprises warm upper waters flowing northward, becoming colder and denser until they form deep water in the Nordic and Labrador Seas that then returns southward through the North and South Atlantic. The AMOC transports a substantial amount of heat from the tropics and Southern Hemisphere toward the North Atlantic, where the heat is then transferred to the atmosphere. Consequently, changes in the AMOC could have a profound impact on many aspects of the global climate system. Climate models in unforced control integrations, simulate a rich spectrum of internal AMOC variability on seasonal, through decadal and multidecadal, to multicentennial timescales. The AMOC is also thought to be externally driven, e.g. by solar variability and changing volcanic activity. Anthropogenic climate change may also impact the AMOC, and most climate models project a significant slowing by the end of the century.

We invite contributions on the AMOC of the past millennium, studies that describe the present state of the AMOC including its dynamics, mechanisms of property transport, short-term temporal and spatial variability, and work addressing the future evolution of the AMOC. Observational (proxy and instrumental) as well as modelling studies are welcome.

Primary Chair:  Mojib Latif, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Chairs:  Monika Rhein, MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, Stuart A Cunningham, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, United Kingdom and Gokhan Danabasoglu, NCAR, Boulder, CO, United States
Moderators:  Monika Rhein, Univ Bremen, FB1, Bremen, Germany; MARUM, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, Mojib Latif, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, Gokhan Danabasoglu, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States and Stuart A Cunningham, The Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, United Kingdom
Student Paper Review Liaisons:  Mojib Latif, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany and Monika Rhein, University of Bremen, Institute of Environmental Physics, Bremen, Germany
Index Terms:

1616 Climate variability [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4255 Numerical modeling [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4262 Ocean observing systems [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4513 Decadal ocean variability [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • PC - Past, Present and Future Climate

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

PO41A-01
No Evidence for Ocean Circulation Driving the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (86887)
Mark A Cane, Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, United States
PO41A-02
The AMOC at the Boundary between the Subtropical and Subpolar North Atlantic (87454)
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
PO41A-03
Diagnosing overturning and water mass transformation in the Labrador Sea from Argo and PALACE floats (91327)
James Holte, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States and Fiammetta Straneo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
PO41A-04
Dynamical Attribution of Recent Variability in Atlantic Overturning (87843)
Helen Johnson1, Helen R Pillar2, David Philip Marshall1 and Patrick Heimbach3, (1)University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, (2)Niels Bohr Institute - University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, (3)University of Texas at Austin, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Austin, TX, United States
PO41A-05
Interannual variability of meridional ocean heat transport at 26.5°N and impacts on North Atlantic heat content (91784)
William E Johns1, Jian Zhao2, Gerard D McCarthy3, David Smeed4, Christopher S Meinen5, Molly O'Neil Baringer6, Eleanor Frajka-Williams7, Darren Rayner3, Elaine McDonagh8 and Brian King8, (1)Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United States, (2)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (3)National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom, (4)National Oceanography Center, Soton, Southampton, United Kingdom, (5)Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Physical Oceanography Division, Miami, FL, United States, (6)Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, FL, United States, (7)University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom, (8)National Oceanography Centre Southampton, United Kingdom
PO41A-06
Advective and Mixing Time Scales for Transport of Denmark Strait Overflow Water from the Labrador Sea to the Western Subtropical Atlantic Ocean Determined from 129I, CFC and Hydrographic Time Series Observations (92396)
William M Smethie Jr1, John Smith2, Ruth G Curry3, Igor Yashayaev2 and Kumiko Azetsu-Scott4, (1)Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY, United States, (2)Bedford Institute of Oceanography, NS, Canada, (3)WHOI, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (4)Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
PO41A-07
North Atlantic Deep Western Boundary Current Dynamics as Simulated by the VIKING20 Model Compared with Labrador Sea Observations (90944)
Patricia Vera Klara Handmann1, Jürgen Fischer2, Martin Visbeck3, Lavinia Patara1 and Arne Biastoch4, (1)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (2)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (3)University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany, (4)GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, FB1 Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics, Kiel, Germany
PO41A-08
16 Years of Deep Western Boundary Current measurements in the MOVE array (93634)
Jannes Koelling1, Uwe Send2 and Matthias J Lankhorst1, (1)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States, (2)University of California, San Diego
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation