Arctic/Atlantic Exchanges via the Subpolar Gyre

Helene R. Langehaug Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway

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Iselin Medhaug Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway

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Tor Eldevik Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway

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Odd Helge Otterå Uni Bjerknes Centre, and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway

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Abstract

In the present study the decadal variability in the strength and shape of the subpolar gyre (SPG) in a 600-yr preindustrial simulation using the Bergen Climate Model is investigated. The atmospheric influence on the SPG strength is reflected in the variability of Labrador Sea Water (LSW), which is largely controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation, the first mode of the North Atlantic atmospheric variability. A combination of the amount of LSW, the overflows from the Nordic seas, and the second mode of atmospheric variability, the East Atlantic Pattern, explains 44% of the modeled decadal variability in the SPG strength. A prior increase in these components leads to an intensified SPG in the western subpolar region. Typically, an increase of one standard deviation (std dev) of the total overflow (1 std dev = 0.2 Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) corresponds to an intensification of about one-half std dev of the SPG strength (1 std dev = 2 Sv). A similar response is found for an increase of one std dev in the amount of LSW, and simultaneously the strength of the North Atlantic Current increases by one-half std dev (1 std dev = 0.9 Sv).

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Publication Number A375.

Corresponding author address: H. R. Langehaug, Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Thormøhlensgate 47, N-5006 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: helene.langehaug@nersc.no

Abstract

In the present study the decadal variability in the strength and shape of the subpolar gyre (SPG) in a 600-yr preindustrial simulation using the Bergen Climate Model is investigated. The atmospheric influence on the SPG strength is reflected in the variability of Labrador Sea Water (LSW), which is largely controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation, the first mode of the North Atlantic atmospheric variability. A combination of the amount of LSW, the overflows from the Nordic seas, and the second mode of atmospheric variability, the East Atlantic Pattern, explains 44% of the modeled decadal variability in the SPG strength. A prior increase in these components leads to an intensified SPG in the western subpolar region. Typically, an increase of one standard deviation (std dev) of the total overflow (1 std dev = 0.2 Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) corresponds to an intensification of about one-half std dev of the SPG strength (1 std dev = 2 Sv). A similar response is found for an increase of one std dev in the amount of LSW, and simultaneously the strength of the North Atlantic Current increases by one-half std dev (1 std dev = 0.9 Sv).

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Publication Number A375.

Corresponding author address: H. R. Langehaug, Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Thormøhlensgate 47, N-5006 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: helene.langehaug@nersc.no
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