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. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (19). pp. 8072-8080. DOI 10.1002/2015GL065695.

Preview

Text Ruehs_et_al.pdf - Published Version Download (945kB) | Preview

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.

Actions (login required)

View Item