Multidecadal variability of the overturning circulation in presence of eddy turbulence
| Type | Article | ||||||||
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| Date | 2015-01 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Huck Thierry3, Arzel Olivier1, Sevellec Florian2 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Bretagne Occidentale, IFREMER, IRD, Lab Phys Oceans,CNRS,UMR 6523, F-29238 Brest 3, France. 2 : Univ Southampton, Natl Oceanog Ctr Southampton, Southampton, Hants, England. 3 : CNRS, France |
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| Source | Journal Of Physical Oceanography (0022-3670) (Amer Meteorological Soc), 2015-01 , Vol. 45 , N. 1 , P. 157-173 | ||||||||
| DOI | 10.1175/JPO-D-14-0114.1 | ||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 20 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | Circulation/ Dynamics, Meridional overturning circulation, Rossby waves, Turbulence, Variability, Multidecadal variability | ||||||||
| Abstract | At low-resolution, idealized ocean circulation models forced by prescribed differential surface heat fluxes show spontaneous multidecadal variability depending critically on eddy diffusivity coefficients. The existence of this critical threshold in the range of observational estimates legitimates some doubt on the relevance of such intrinsic oscillations in the real ocean. Through a series of numerical simulations with increasing resolution up to eddy-resolving ones (10 km) and various diapycnal diffusivities, this multidecadal variability proves a generic ubiquitous feature, at least in model versions with a flat bottom. The mean circulation largely changes in the process of refining the horizontal grid (along with the associated implicit viscosity and diffusivity), and the spatial structure of the variability is largely modified, but there is no clear influence of the resolution on the main oscillation period. The interdecadal variability appears even more robust to low vertical diffusivity and overturning when mesoscale eddies are resolved. The mechanism previously proposed for these oscillations, involving westward-propagating baroclinically unstable Rossby waves in the subpolar region and its feedback on the mean circulation, appears unaffected by mesoscale turbulence and is simply displaced following the polar front. | ||||||||
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