scholarly journals Abrupt Climate Change and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: sensitivity and non-linear response to Arctic/sub-Arctic freshwater pulses. Collaborative research. Final report

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hill
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 378-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Zhang ◽  
Sarah M. Kang ◽  
Isaac M. Held

Abstract A variety of observational and modeling studies show that changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) can induce rapid global-scale climate change. In particular, a substantially weakened AMOC leads to a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. However, the simulated amplitudes of the AMOC-induced tropical climate change differ substantially among different models. In this paper, the sensitivity to cloud feedback of the climate response to a change in the AMOC is studied using a coupled ocean–atmosphere model [the GFDL Coupled Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1)]. Without cloud feedback, the simulated AMOC-induced climate change in this model is weakened substantially. Low-cloud feedback has a strong amplifying impact on the tropical ITCZ shift in this model, whereas the effects of high-cloud feedback are weaker. It is concluded that cloud feedback is an important contributor to the uncertainty in the global response to AMOC changes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 82 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Zickfeld ◽  
Anders Levermann ◽  
M. Granger Morgan ◽  
Till Kuhlbrodt ◽  
Stefan Rahmstorf ◽  
...  

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