A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic

Type Article
Date 2019-02
Language English
Author(s) Lozier M. S.1, Li F.1, Bacon S.2, Bahr F.3, Bower A. S.3, Cunningham S. A.4, de Jong M. F.5, 6, de Steur L.5, 6, Deyoung B.7, Fischer J.8, Gary S. F.4, Greenan B. J. W.9, Holliday N. P.2, Houk A.10, Houpert L.4, Inall M. E.4, 11, Johns W. E.10, Johnson H. L.12, Johnson C.4, Karstensen J.8, Koman G.10, Le Bras I. A.13, Lin X.14, 15, 16, Mackay N.17, Marshall D. P.18, Mercier HerleORCID19, Oltmanns M.8, Pickart R. S.3, Ramsey A. L.3, Rayner D.2, Straneo F.13, Thierry VirginieORCID20, Torres D. J.3, Williams R. G.21, Wilson C.17, Yang J.3, Yashayaev I.9, Zhao J.3
Affiliation(s) 1 : Duke Univ, Div Earth & Ocean Sci, Durham, NC 27708 USA.
2 : Natl Oceanog Ctr, Southampton, Hants, England.
3 : Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA.
4 : Scottish Assoc Marine Sci, Oban, Argyll, Scotland.
5 : Royal Netherlands Inst Sea Res, Texel, Netherlands.
6 : Univ Utrecht, Texel, Netherlands.
7 : Mem Univ, Dept Phys & Phys Oceanog, St John, NF, Canada.
8 : GEOMAR Helmholtz Ctr Ocean Res Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
9 : Bedford Inst Oceanog, Dartmouth, NS, Canada.
10 : Univ Miami, Dept Ocean Sci, Miami, FL USA.
11 : Univ Edinburgh, Sch Geosci, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland.
12 : Univ Oxford, Dept Earth Sci, Oxford, England.
13 : UCSD, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA USA.
14 : Ocean Univ China, Phys Oceanog Lab, Qingdao, Peoples R China.
15 : Ocean Univ China, Inst Adv Ocean Studies, Qingdao, Peoples R China.
16 : Qingdao Natl Lab Marine Sci & Technol, Qingdao, Peoples R China.
17 : Natl Oceanog Ctr, Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
18 : Univ Oxford, Dept Phys, Oxford, England.
19 : CNRS, Lab Oceanog Phys & Spatiale, Plouzane, France.
20 : IFREMER, Lab Oceanog Phys & Spatiale, Plouzane, France.
21 : Univ Liverpool, Dept Earth Ocean & Ecol Sci, Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
Source Science (0036-8075) (Amer Assoc Advancement Science), 2019-02 , Vol. 363 , N. 6426 , P. 516-521
DOI 10.1126/science.aau6592
WOS© Times Cited 322
Abstract

To provide an observational basis for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections of a slowing Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the 21st century, the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) observing system was launched in the summer of 2014. The first 21-month record reveals a highly variable overturning circulation responsible for the majority of the heat and freshwater transport across the OSNAP line. In a departure from the prevailing view that changes in deep water formation in the Labrador Sea dominate MOC variability, these results suggest that the conversion of warm, salty, shallow Atlantic waters into colder, fresher, deep waters that move southward in the Irminger and Iceland basins is largely responsible for overturning and its variability in the subpolar basin.
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Lozier M. S., Li F., Bacon S., Bahr F., Bower A. S., Cunningham S. A., de Jong M. F., de Steur L., Deyoung B., Fischer J., Gary S. F., Greenan B. J. W., Holliday N. P., Houk A., Houpert L., Inall M. E., Johns W. E., Johnson H. L., Johnson C., Karstensen J., Koman G., Le Bras I. A., Lin X., Mackay N., Marshall D. P., Mercier Herle, Oltmanns M., Pickart R. S., Ramsey A. L., Rayner D., Straneo F., Thierry Virginie, Torres D. J., Williams R. G., Wilson C., Yang J., Yashayaev I., Zhao J. (2019). A sea change in our view of overturning in the subpolar North Atlantic. Science, 363(6426), 516-521. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau6592 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00481/59234/