A simple box-model is used to investigate the effect of intermediate level heat/freshwater fluxes on the variability of the oceanic meridional overturning circulation. The model includes a simple representation of the spreading of the Mediterranean Outflow Water in the North Atlantic. We identify an internal advective feedback affecting the amplitude of the thermohaline oscillations. When a salinity gradient is maintained in the ocean interior the oscillations are amplified. Instead, if the intermediate level fluxes are spread in the ocean deep layers, the model variability is reduced. We suggest that this mechanism may be relevant for climate variability on interdecadal timescales.
North Atlantic MOC variability and the Mediterranean outflow: a box-model study / Calmanti, S; Artale, V; Sutera, Alfonso. - In: TELLUS. SERIES A, DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY. - ISSN 0280-6495. - STAMPA. - 58:(2006), pp. 416-423. [10.1111/j.1600-0870.2006.00176.x]
North Atlantic MOC variability and the Mediterranean outflow: a box-model study
SUTERA, Alfonso
2006
Abstract
A simple box-model is used to investigate the effect of intermediate level heat/freshwater fluxes on the variability of the oceanic meridional overturning circulation. The model includes a simple representation of the spreading of the Mediterranean Outflow Water in the North Atlantic. We identify an internal advective feedback affecting the amplitude of the thermohaline oscillations. When a salinity gradient is maintained in the ocean interior the oscillations are amplified. Instead, if the intermediate level fluxes are spread in the ocean deep layers, the model variability is reduced. We suggest that this mechanism may be relevant for climate variability on interdecadal timescales.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.