Changes in extreme regional sea surface height due to  an abrupt weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Brunnabend, Sandra-Esther; Dijkstra, Henk A.; Kliphuis, Michael; Werkhoven, Ben van; Bal, Henri E.; Seinstra, F.J.; Maassen, Jason; Meersbergen, Maarten van

doi:10.5194/os-10-881-2014

Cited by 16 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…The freshwater input (G S = 0.5 Sv) has a strong impact on the three-dimensional ocean circulation (Brunnabend et al, 2014). The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic current shift to the east (Fig.…”

Section: Response To Freshwater Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric response of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation to freshwater anomalies in a strongly-eddying global ocean model

Brunnabend

Dijkstra

2017

Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography

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The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) responds sensitively to density changes in regions of deepwater formation. In this paper, we investigate the nonlinear response of the AMOC to large amplitude freshwater changes around Greenland using a strongly-eddying global ocean model. Due to a 0.5 Sv freshwater input, the maximum AMOC at 35 • N decreases by about 50% over a 45 year period. The AMOC does not recover over a period of 50 years when the freshwater input is ceased at year 45. However, when reversing the sign of the freshwater input at year 45, the AMOC needs only about 10 years to fully recover. The mechanism that causes this asymmetric response in the AMOC is clarified using water mass transformation theory.

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Section: Response To Freshwater Anomaliesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric response of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation to freshwater anomalies in a strongly-eddying global ocean model

Brunnabend

Dijkstra

2017

Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography

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“…This current is climatically important (Jackson et al, 2015) with model simulations predicting a decrease in AMOC in response to increasing greenhouse gases (Solomon et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2015). Models also suggest the potential for significant mean sea level (MSL) changes across the western North Atlantic in response to AMOC dynamics (Brunnabend et al, 2014). In terms of mass transport Thomas et al (2012) found that a weakening AMOC would be manifested as a reduction in southward deep water transport balanced by a decline in the northward upper ocean western boundary current.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerated sea level rise and Florida Current transport

Park

Sweet

2015

Ocean Sci.

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Abstract. The Florida Current is the headwater of the GulfStream and is a component of the North Atlantic western boundary current from which a geostrophic balance between sea surface height and mass transport directly influence coastal sea levels along the Florida Straits. A linear regression of daily Florida Current transport estimates does not find a significant change in transport over the last decade; however, a nonlinear trend extracted from empirical mode decomposition (EMD) suggests a 3 Sv decline in mean transport. This decline is consistent with observed tide gauge records in Florida Bay and the straits exhibiting an acceleration of mean sea level (MSL) rise over the decade. It is not known whether this recent change represents natural variability or the onset of the anticipated secular decline in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC); nonetheless, such changes have direct impacts on the sensitive ecological systems of the Everglades as well as the climate of western Europe and eastern North America.

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“…[], and Brunnabend et al . []. Modeled sea level change that is induced by the land ice mass loss can be separated into its mass and steric contribution.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The amount of the additional freshwater inflow around Greenland influenced the amplitude of the signal. However, it had only a small influence on the structure of the pattern, which may change when the additional mass loss would become high enough to alter the ocean circulation pattern [ Brunnabend et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional sea level change in response to ice mass loss in Greenland, the West Antarctic and Alaska

et al. 2015

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Besides the warming of the ocean, sea level is mainly rising due to land ice mass loss of the major ice sheets in Greenland, the West Antarctic, and the Alaskan Glaciers. However, it is not clear yet how these land ice mass losses influence regional sea level. Here, we use the global Finite Element Sea‐ice Ocean Model (FESOM) to simulate sea surface height (SSH) changes caused by these ice mass losses and combine it with the passive ocean response to varying surface loading using the sea level equation. We prescribe rates of fresh water inflow, not only around Greenland, but also around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the mountain glaciers in Alaska with approximately present‐day amplitudes of 200, 100, and 50 Gt/yr, respectively. Perturbations in sea level and in freshwater distribution with respect to a reference simulation are computed for each source separately and in their combination. The ocean mass change shows an almost globally uniform behavior. In the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, mass is redistributed toward coastal regions. Steric sea level change varies locally in the order of several centimeters on advective timescales of decades. Steric effects to local sea level differ significantly in different coastal locations, e.g., at North American coastal regions the steric effects may have the same order of magnitude as the mass driven effect, whereas at the European coast, steric effects remain small during the simulation period.

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Changes in extreme regional sea surface height due to an abrupt weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Cited by 16 publications

References 44 publications

Asymmetric response of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation to freshwater anomalies in a strongly-eddying global ocean model

Asymmetric response of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation to freshwater anomalies in a strongly-eddying global ocean model

Accelerated sea level rise and Florida Current transport

Regional sea level change in response to ice mass loss in Greenland, the West Antarctic and Alaska

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