Hand, Ralf (2009) Ozean-Atmosphären-Wechselwirkungen in der Golfstromregion. (Diploma thesis), Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany, 71 pp.

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Abstract

Off the east coast of Northern America, the Gulf Stream produces a strong meridional gradient in the sea surface temperatures. The sharp SST front causes distinct convergences and divergences in the wind field and enhanced upward motion over the warm water masses, combined with strong evaporation and enhanced upward flows of air and latent heat in this region. Recent studies show that these processes influence the whole troposphere (Minobe et al. (2008).) This work investigates the impact of the Gulf Stream on the troposhere. A short introduction to the physical background of western boundary currents and the variability of the gulf stream is given. Furthermore general aspects of midlatitude air-sea interaction are summarized. It is shown that ECHAM is able to reproduce the main atmospheric features of the mean atmospheric circulation in the region in long term mean. Further it was also shown with reanalysis data that the atmospheric variables exhibit a strong seasonality. The ECHAM model reproduces these seasonal differences well. However, a direct link between the temporal seasonal variabilitity of the SST-field and the atmosphere could not be identified. Possible reasons for that might be a lack in the qualitity of the SST data or a bad signal-to-noise ratio.

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