The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019
Abstract Sea surface temperature (SST) observations in the North Atlantic since 1870 reveal a region of enhanced warming off the northeastern coast of North America, and a region of cooling to the south of Greenland. It has been hypothesized that these adjacent SST trends are a result of long‐term c...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090677 |
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| author | Kristopher B. Karnauskas Lei Zhang Dillon J. Amaya |
| author_facet | Kristopher B. Karnauskas Lei Zhang Dillon J. Amaya |
| author_sort | Kristopher B. Karnauskas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Sea surface temperature (SST) observations in the North Atlantic since 1870 reveal a region of enhanced warming off the northeastern coast of North America, and a region of cooling to the south of Greenland. It has been hypothesized that these adjacent SST trends are a result of long‐term changes in the buoyancy‐driven ocean circulation—a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The impacts of these historical SST trends on the atmosphere are estimated using idealized atmospheric general circulation model experiments in which the global atmosphere is exposed to modern climatological forcing minus the aforementioned regional SST trends. The local response includes a negative North Atlantic Oscillation tendency and southward shift of the wind forcing for the subtropical gyre. Due to planetary wave propagation, the regional SST trends also induce a northward shift of the intertropical convergence zone over the Indian Ocean. Implications for climate feedbacks and projections are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-26c477e32c6041f589ccfbbbd719db28 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-26c477e32c6041f589ccfbbbd719db282025-08-20T01:55:33ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072021-01-01482n/an/a10.1029/2020GL090677The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019Kristopher B. Karnauskas0Lei Zhang1Dillon J. Amaya2Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Boulder CO USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Boulder CO USACooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder CO USAAbstract Sea surface temperature (SST) observations in the North Atlantic since 1870 reveal a region of enhanced warming off the northeastern coast of North America, and a region of cooling to the south of Greenland. It has been hypothesized that these adjacent SST trends are a result of long‐term changes in the buoyancy‐driven ocean circulation—a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The impacts of these historical SST trends on the atmosphere are estimated using idealized atmospheric general circulation model experiments in which the global atmosphere is exposed to modern climatological forcing minus the aforementioned regional SST trends. The local response includes a negative North Atlantic Oscillation tendency and southward shift of the wind forcing for the subtropical gyre. Due to planetary wave propagation, the regional SST trends also induce a northward shift of the intertropical convergence zone over the Indian Ocean. Implications for climate feedbacks and projections are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090677AMOCatmospheric modelingclimate changecold BlobNAOSST trends |
| spellingShingle | Kristopher B. Karnauskas Lei Zhang Dillon J. Amaya The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 Geophysical Research Letters AMOC atmospheric modeling climate change cold Blob NAO SST trends |
| title | The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 |
| title_full | The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 |
| title_fullStr | The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 |
| title_short | The Atmospheric Response to North Atlantic SST Trends, 1870–2019 |
| title_sort | atmospheric response to north atlantic sst trends 1870 2019 |
| topic | AMOC atmospheric modeling climate change cold Blob NAO SST trends |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090677 |
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