A Simple Model of the Response of the Atlantic to the North Atlantic Oscillation

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 4052-4069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Zhai ◽  
Helen L. Johnson ◽  
David P. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Wind Forcing ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Ekman Pumping ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

Abstract The response of an idealized Atlantic Ocean to wind and thermohaline forcing associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is investigated both analytically and numerically in the framework of a reduced-gravity model. The NAO-related wind forcing is found to drive a time-dependent “leaky” gyre circulation that integrates basinwide stochastic wind Ekman pumping and initiates low-frequency variability along the western boundary. This is subsequently communicated, together with the stochastic variability induced by thermohaline forcing at high latitudes, to the remainder of the Atlantic via boundary and Rossby waves. At low frequencies, the basinwide ocean heat content changes owing to NAO wind forcing and thermohaline forcing are found to oppose each other. The model further suggests that the recently reported opposing changes of the meridional overturning circulation in the Atlantic subtropical and subpolar gyres between 1950–70 and 1980–2000 may be a generic feature caused by interplay between the NAO wind and thermohaline forcing.

scholarly journals Stochastic Forcing of Ocean Variability by the North Atlantic Oscillation

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kettyah C. Chhak ◽  
Andrew M. Moore ◽  
Ralph F. Milliff
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Rossby Wave ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Stochastic Forcing ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

Abstract At middle and high latitudes, the magnitude of stochastic wind stress forcing of the ocean by atmospheric variability on synoptic time scales (i.e., “weather” related variability) is comparable to that of the seasonal cycle. Stochastic forcing may therefore have a significant influence on the ocean circulation, climate, and ocean predictability. Here, the influence of stochastic forcing associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation on the subtropical gyre circulation of the North Atlantic is explored in an eddy-permitting quasigeostrophic framework. For the North Atlantic winds used in this study, the root-mean-square of the annual average Ekman pumping velocity of the seasonal cycle between 35° and 52°N is 1.3 × 10−7 m s−1, while the wintertime standard deviation of the stochastic component of the North Atlantic Oscillation over the same latitude band is 2.2 × 10−7 m s−1. Significant stochastically induced variability in the ocean circulation occurs near the western boundary region and along the western margins of the abyssal plains associated with vortex stretching, energy release from the mean flow, and the generation of topographic Rossby waves. Variability arises from a combination of two effects, depending on the measure of variance used: growth of unstable modes of the underlying circulation and modal interference resulting from their nonnormal nature, which dominates during the first 10 days or so of perturbation growth. Near the surface, most of the variability is associated with large-scale changes in the barotropic circulation, although more than 20% of the energy and enstrophy variability is associated with small-scale baroclinic waves. In the deep ocean, much of the stochastically induced variability is apparently due to topographic Rossby wave activity along the continental rise and ocean ridges. Previous studies have demonstrated that rectification of topographic Rossby wave–induced circulations in the western North Atlantic may contribute to the western boundary current recirculation zones. The authors suggest that a source of topographic Rossby wave energy, significant enough to rectify the mean ocean circulation, may arise from stochastic forcing by large-scale atmospheric forcing, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and other atmospheric teleconnection patterns.

scholarly journals A Decadal-Scale Teleconnection between the North Atlantic Oscillation and Subtropical Eastern Australian Rainfall

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1074-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Sun ◽  
Jianping Li ◽  
Juan Feng ◽  
Fei Xie
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
Linear Model ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
Australian Rainfall

Abstract The time series of twentieth-century subtropical eastern Australian rainfall (SEAR) shows evident fluctuations over decadal to multidecadal time scales. Using observations from the period 1900–2013, it was found that SEAR is connected to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over decadal time scales, with the NAO leading by around 15 yr. The physical mechanism underlying this relationship was investigated. The NAO can have a delayed impact on sea surface temperature (SST) fluctuations in the subpolar Southern Ocean (SO), and these SST changes could in turn contribute to the decadal variability in SEAR through their impacts on the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation. This observed lead of the NAO relative to SO SST and the interhemispheric SST seesaw mechanism are reasonably reproduced in a long-term control simulation of an ocean–atmosphere coupled model. The NAO exerts a delayed effect on the variation of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation that further induces seesaw SST anomalies in the subpolar North Atlantic and SO. With evidence that the NAO precedes SEAR decadal variability via a delayed SO bridge, a linear model for SEAR decadal variability was developed by combination of the NAO and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). The observed SEAR decadal variability is considerably well simulated by the linear model, and the relationship between the simulation and observation is stable. SEAR over the coming decade may increase slightly, because of the recent NAO weakening and the return of negative PDO phase.

scholarly journals Influence of the North Atlantic oscillation on the atmospheric levels of benzo[a]pyrene over Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero ◽  
Nuno Ratola
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

AbstractThe atmospheric concentration of persistent organic pollutants (and of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in particular) is closely related to climate change and climatic fluctuations, which are likely to influence contaminant’s transport pathways and transfer processes. Predicting how climate variability alters PAHs concentrations in the atmosphere still poses an exceptional challenge. In this sense, the main objective of this contribution is to assess the relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the mean concentration of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, the most studied PAH congener) in a domain covering Europe, with an emphasis on the effect of regional-scale processes. A numerical simulation for a present climate period of 30 years was performed using a regional chemistry transport model with a 25 km spatial resolution (horizontal), higher than those commonly applied. The results show an important seasonal behaviour, with a remarkable spatial pattern of difference between the north and the south of the domain. In winter, higher BaP ground levels are found during the NAO+ phase for the Mediterranean basin, while the spatial pattern of this feature (higher BaP levels during NAO+ phases) moves northwards in summer. These results show deviations up to and sometimes over 100% in the BaP mean concentrations, but statistically significant signals (p<0.1) of lower changes (20–40% variations in the signal) are found for the north of the domain in winter and for the south in summer.

Polar motion and the North Atlantic Oscillation

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 927-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonghong Zhou ◽  
Dawei Zheng ◽  
Benjamin Fong Chao
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Polar Motion ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation

scholarly journals Global drivers effect in multi-annual variability of runoff

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Fendeková ◽  
Pavla Pekárová ◽  
Marián Fendek ◽  
Ján Pekár ◽  
Peter Škoda
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Coherence Function ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
Quasi Biennial Oscillation ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
Biennial Oscillation

Abstract Changes in runoff parameters are very important for Slovakia, where stream-flow discharges, being supplied by precipitation and groundwater runoff, are preferentially influenced by climatic conditions. Therefore, teleconnections between runoff parameters, climate parameters and global atmospheric drivers such as North Atlantic Oscillation, Southern Pacific Oscillation, Quasi-biennial oscillation and solar activity were studied in the Nitra River Basin, Slovakia. Research was mostly based on records of 80 years (1931-2010) for discharges and baseflow, and 34 years for groundwater heads. Methods of autocorrelation, spectral analysis, cross-correlation and coherence function were used. Results of auto- correllograms for discharges, groundwater heads and base flow values showed a very distinct 11-year and 21-year periodicity. Spectrogram analysis documented the 11-year, 7.8-year, 3.6-year and 2.4-year periods in the discharge, precipitation and air temperature time series. The same cycles except of 11-years were also identified in the long-term series of the North Atlantic Oscillation and Southern Pacific Oscillation indices. The cycle from approximately 2.3 to 2.4-years is most likely connected with Quasi-biennial oscillation. The close negative correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation winter index and the hydrological surface and groundwater parameters can be used for their prediction within the same year and also for one year in advance.

scholarly journals Seasonal Predictability of the North Atlantic Oscillation and Zonal Mean Fields Associated with Stratospheric Influence in JMA/MRI-CPS2

SOLA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (0) ◽  
pp. 209-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoaki Saito ◽  
Shuhei Maeda ◽  
Tosiyuki Nakaegawa ◽  
Yuhei Takaya ◽  
Yukiko Imada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Seasonal Predictability ◽  
The North ◽  
Mean Fields ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The North Atlantic Oscillation
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