Journal ArticleDOI
On the freshwater forcing and transport of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation
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In this article, it is argued that the freshwater loss to the atmosphere arises mainly in the subtropical South Atlantic and is balanced by northward freshwater transport in the wind-driven sub-tropical gyre, while the thermohaline circulation transports freshwater southward.Abstract:
The 'conveyor belt' circulation of the Atlantic Ocean transports large amounts of heat northward, acting as a heating system for the northern North Atlantic region. It is widely thought that this circulation is driven by atmospheric freshwater export from the Atlantic catchment region, and that it transports freshwater northward to balance the loss to the atmosphere. Using results from a simple conceptual model and a global circulation model, it is argued here that the freshwater loss to the atmosphere arises mainly in the subtropical South Atlantic and is balanced by northward freshwater transport in the wind-driven subtropical gyre, while the thermohaline circulation transports freshwater southward. It is further argued that the direction of freshwater transport is closely linked to the dynamical regime and stability of the 'conveyor belt': if its freshwater transport is indeed southward, then its flow is purely thermally driven and inhibited by the freshwater forcing. In this case the circulation is not far from Stommel's saddle-node bifurcation, and a circulation state without NADW formation would also be stable.read more
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Mechanisms and Impacts of Earth System Tipping Elements
Seaver Wang,A. Foster,Elizabeth A. Lenz,John D. Kessler,Julienne Stroeve,Liana O. Anderson,Merritt R. Turetsky,Richard Betts,Sijia Zou,Wei Li,William R. Boos,Zeke Hausfather +11 more
TL;DR: In this article , the authors review mechanisms, predictions, impacts, and knowledge gaps associated with 10 notable Earth system components proposed to be tipping elements and evaluate which tipping elements are approaching critical thresholds and whether shifts may manifest rapidly or over longer timescales.
The climatic significance of late ordovician–early silurian black shales
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the mechanisms responsible for the burial of organic carbon immediately before, during, and right after the latest Ordovician Hirnantian (445-444Ma) glacial peak.
Trace Metal-Carbon Interactions in Marine Phytoplankton: Implications on the Cellular, Regional, and Global Scale.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated mechanisms and implications of trace metal-phytoplankton interactions at cellular, regional and global scales, and developed a model to explain carbon isotopic fractionation of photosynthesis (p) as a function of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, growth rates, cellular carbon source, and active carbon uptake.
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The coupled system response to 250 years of freshwater forcing: Last Interglacial CMIP6–PMIP4 HadGEM3 simulations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors apply 0.2 ǫ sv of meltwater forcing across the North Atlantic during a 250-year-long simulation and find that the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is reduced by 60% after 150 years of melting water forcing, with an associated decrease of 0.4 ǔ sv in meridional ocean heat transport at all latitudes.
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Thermohaline circulation stability: a box model study - Part I: uncoupled model
Valerio Lucarini,Peter Stone +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a thorough analysis of the stability of the uncoupled Rooth interhemispheric 3-box model of thermohaline circulation (THC) is presented.
References
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Climatological atlas of the world ocean
TL;DR: A project to objectively analyze historical ocean temperature, salinity, oxygen, and percent oxygen saturation data for the world ocean has recently been completed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey.
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Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean
TL;DR: A project to objectively analyze historical ocean temperature, salinity, oxygen, and percent oxygen saturation data for the world ocean has recently been completed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey.
Journal ArticleDOI
Normal Monthly Wind Stress Over the World Ocean with Error Estimates
Sol Hellerman,Mel Rosenstein +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, wind and air-minus-sea temperatures are calculated in a form suitable for determining stress by any bulk aerodynamics model in which the drag coefficient can be represented by six or less coefficients of a second-degree polynomial in wind speed and stability.
Journal ArticleDOI
Interocean Exchange of Thermocline Water
TL;DR: In this paper, it is proposed that this return flow is accomplished primarily within the ocean's warm water thermocline layer, where the main thermoclines of the ocean are linked as they participate in a thermohaline-driven global scale circulation cell associated with NADW formation.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Great Ocean Conveyor
TL;DR: The ocean's conveyor appears to be driven by the salt left behind as the result of water-vapor transport through the atmosphere from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin this paper.
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