On the suitability of North Brazil Current transport estimates for monitoring basin-scale AMOC changes.

Rühs, Siren , Getzlaff, Klaus , Durgadoo, Jonathan V. , Biastoch, Arne and Böning, Claus W. (2015) On the suitability of North Brazil Current transport estimates for monitoring basin-scale AMOC changes. Open Access Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (19). pp. 8072-8080. DOI 10.1002/2015GL065695.

[thumbnail of Ruehs_et_al.pdf]
Preview
Text
Ruehs_et_al.pdf - Published Version

Download (945kB) | Preview

Supplementary data:

Abstract

The North Brazil Current (NBC) constitutes a bottleneck for the mean northward return flow of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the tropical South Atlantic. Previous studies suggested a link between interannual to multidecadal NBC and AMOC transport variability and proposed to use NBC observations as an index for the AMOC. Here we use a set of hindcast, sensitivity, and perturbation experiments performed within a hierarchy of ocean general circulation models to show that decadal to multidecadal buoyancy-forced changes in the basin-scale AMOC transport indeed manifest themselves in the NBC. The relation is, however, masked by a strong interannual to decadal wind-driven gyre variability of the NBC. While questioning the NBC transport as a direct index for the AMOC, the results support its potential merit for an AMOC monitoring system, provided that the wind-driven circulation variability is properly accounted for.

Document Type: Article
Additional Information: WOS:000363695500027
Keywords: ocean general circulation modeling; Atlantic meridional overturning circulation; tropical Atlantic circulation; wind-driven variability; buoyancy-driven variability
Research affiliation: OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence
OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB1 Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics > FB1-TM Theory and Modeling
OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence > FO-R11
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: AGU (American Geophysical Union), Wiley
Projects: SPACES, Future Ocean
Expeditions/Models/Experiments:
Date Deposited: 23 Nov 2015 12:30
Last Modified: 08 Nov 2023 05:19
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/30324

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item