Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation

Feili Li; M. Susan Lozier; Sheldon Bacon; Stuart Cunningham; M. Femke de Jong; Brad deYoung; Neil Fraser; Nora Fried; Guoqi Han; N. Penny Holliday; James Holte; Loïc Houpert; Mark Inall; William Johns; Samuel Jones; Clare Louise Johnson; Johannes Karstensen; Isabela A. Le Bras; Pascale Lherminier; X Lin; Herlé Mercier; Marilena Oltmanns; Astrid Pacini; Tillys Petit; Robert S. Pickart; Darren Rayner; Fiammetta Straneo; Virginie Thierry; Martin Visbeck; Igor Yashayaev; Chun Zhou; Amy S. Bower

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2

Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation

Feili Li, M. Susan Lozier, Sheldon Bacon, Stuart Cunningham, M. Femke de Jong, Brad deYoung, Neil Fraser, Nora Fried, Guoqi Han, N. Penny Holliday, James Holte, Loïc Houpert, Mark Inall, William Johns, Samuel Jones, Clare Louise Johnson, Johannes Karstensen, Isabela A. Le Bras, Pascale Lherminier, X LinHerlé Mercier, Marilena Oltmanns, Astrid Pacini, Tillys Petit, Robert S. Pickart, Darren Rayner, Fiammetta Straneo, Virginie Thierry, Martin Visbeck, Igor Yashayaev, Chun Zhou, Amy S. Bower

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Abstract

Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation have potential to drive societally-important climate impacts, which have been traditionally linked to the strength of deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic. Yet there is neither clear observational evidence nor agreement among models about how changes in deep water formation influence overturning. Here we use data from a trans-basin mooring array (OSNAP—Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) to show that winter convection during 2014-2018 in the interior basin had minimal impact on density changes in the deep western boundary currents in the subpolar basins. Contrary to previous modeling studies, we find no discernable relationship between western boundary changes and subpolar overturning variability over the observational time scales. Our results require a reconsideration of the notion of deep western boundary changes representing overturning characteristics, with implications for constraining the source of overturning variability within and downstream of the subpolar region.

Original language	English
Article number	3002 (2021)
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2
Publication status	Published - 24 May 2021

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Li, F., Lozier, M. S., Bacon, S., Cunningham, S., de Jong, M. F., deYoung, B., Fraser, N., Fried, N., Han, G., Holliday, N. P., Holte, J., Houpert, L., Inall, M., Johns, W., Jones, S., Johnson, C. L., Karstensen, J., Le Bras, I. A., Lherminier, P., ... Bower, A. S. (2021). Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation. Nature Communications, 12, Article 3002 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2

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title = "Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation",

abstract = "Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation have potential to drive societally-important climate impacts, which have been traditionally linked to the strength of deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic. Yet there is neither clear observational evidence nor agreement among models about how changes in deep water formation influence overturning. Here we use data from a trans-basin mooring array (OSNAP—Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) to show that winter convection during 2014-2018 in the interior basin had minimal impact on density changes in the deep western boundary currents in the subpolar basins. Contrary to previous modeling studies, we find no discernable relationship between western boundary changes and subpolar overturning variability over the observational time scales. Our results require a reconsideration of the notion of deep western boundary changes representing overturning characteristics, with implications for constraining the source of overturning variability within and downstream of the subpolar region.",

author = "Feili Li and Lozier, {M. Susan} and Sheldon Bacon and Stuart Cunningham and {de Jong}, {M. Femke} and Brad deYoung and Neil Fraser and Nora Fried and Guoqi Han and Holliday, {N. Penny} and James Holte and Lo{\"i}c Houpert and Mark Inall and William Johns and Samuel Jones and Johnson, {Clare Louise} and Johannes Karstensen and {Le Bras}, {Isabela A.} and Pascale Lherminier and X Lin and Herl{\'e} Mercier and Marilena Oltmanns and Astrid Pacini and Tillys Petit and Pickart, {Robert S.} and Darren Rayner and Fiammetta Straneo and Virginie Thierry and Martin Visbeck and Igor Yashayaev and Chun Zhou and Bower, {Amy S.}",

note = " The Author(s) 2021 Correction published 2.2.22: The original version of this Article contained an error in the caption of Figure 2, in which the total Ekman transport was incorrectly listed as −0.7 ± 0.01 Sv. The correct value is −1.5 ± 0.02 Sv. The corrected article also has an updated data product link in Reference 56. These have been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2",

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Li, F, Lozier, MS, Bacon, S, Cunningham, S, de Jong, MF, deYoung, B, Fraser, N, Fried, N, Han, G, Holliday, NP, Holte, J, Houpert, L, Inall, M, Johns, W, Jones, S , Johnson, CL, Karstensen, J, Le Bras, IA, Lherminier, P, Lin, X, Mercier, H, Oltmanns, M, Pacini, A, Petit, T, Pickart, RS, Rayner, D, Straneo, F, Thierry, V, Visbeck, M, Yashayaev, I, Zhou, C & Bower, AS 2021, 'Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation', Nature Communications, vol. 12, 3002 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2

TY - JOUR

T1 - Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation

AU - Li, Feili

AU - Lozier, M. Susan

AU - Bacon, Sheldon

AU - Cunningham, Stuart

AU - de Jong, M. Femke

AU - deYoung, Brad

AU - Fraser, Neil

AU - Fried, Nora

AU - Han, Guoqi

AU - Holliday, N. Penny

AU - Holte, James

AU - Houpert, Loïc

AU - Inall, Mark

AU - Johns, William

AU - Jones, Samuel

AU - Johnson, Clare Louise

AU - Karstensen, Johannes

AU - Le Bras, Isabela A.

AU - Lherminier, Pascale

AU - Lin, X

AU - Mercier, Herlé

AU - Oltmanns, Marilena

AU - Pacini, Astrid

AU - Petit, Tillys

AU - Pickart, Robert S.

AU - Rayner, Darren

AU - Straneo, Fiammetta

AU - Thierry, Virginie

AU - Visbeck, Martin

AU - Yashayaev, Igor

AU - Zhou, Chun

AU - Bower, Amy S.

N1 - The Author(s) 2021 Correction published 2.2.22: The original version of this Article contained an error in the caption of Figure 2, in which the total Ekman transport was incorrectly listed as −0.7 ± 0.01 Sv. The correct value is −1.5 ± 0.02 Sv. The corrected article also has an updated data product link in Reference 56. These have been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

PY - 2021/5/24

Y1 - 2021/5/24

N2 - Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation have potential to drive societally-important climate impacts, which have been traditionally linked to the strength of deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic. Yet there is neither clear observational evidence nor agreement among models about how changes in deep water formation influence overturning. Here we use data from a trans-basin mooring array (OSNAP—Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) to show that winter convection during 2014-2018 in the interior basin had minimal impact on density changes in the deep western boundary currents in the subpolar basins. Contrary to previous modeling studies, we find no discernable relationship between western boundary changes and subpolar overturning variability over the observational time scales. Our results require a reconsideration of the notion of deep western boundary changes representing overturning characteristics, with implications for constraining the source of overturning variability within and downstream of the subpolar region.

AB - Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation have potential to drive societally-important climate impacts, which have been traditionally linked to the strength of deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic. Yet there is neither clear observational evidence nor agreement among models about how changes in deep water formation influence overturning. Here we use data from a trans-basin mooring array (OSNAP—Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program) to show that winter convection during 2014-2018 in the interior basin had minimal impact on density changes in the deep western boundary currents in the subpolar basins. Contrary to previous modeling studies, we find no discernable relationship between western boundary changes and subpolar overturning variability over the observational time scales. Our results require a reconsideration of the notion of deep western boundary changes representing overturning characteristics, with implications for constraining the source of overturning variability within and downstream of the subpolar region.

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-23350-2

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 3002 (2021)

ER -

Subpolar North Atlantic western boundary density anomalies and the Meridional Overturning Circulation

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