Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

A twentieth-century reanalysis forced ocean model to reconstruct the North Atlantic climate variation during the 1920s

Journal Article · · Climate Dynamics
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
The observed North Atlantic multi-decadal variability for the period 1872–2009 is reconstructed with the Max Planck Institute ocean model, which is forced with an ensemble of the atmospheric twentieth century reanalysis. Special emphasis is put on the early part of the experiments, which includes a prominent climate variation during the 1920s. The experiments are in agreement with selected hydrographic records, indicating a transition from cold and fresh North Atlantic water properties, prior to the 1920 climate variation, towards warm and saline waters afterwards. Examining the variation reveals that sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies prior to the 1900s resemble a negative phase of North Atlantic Oscillation and associated weak winds result in a weak North Atlantic Current (NAC) and sub-polar gyre (SPG). This leads to a reduced transport of warm and saline waters into the higher latitudes. Simultaneously, Arctic freshwater release results in the accumulation of cold and fresh water properties, which cover the upper layers in the Labrador Sea and subsequently suppress convection. From the 1910s, the Arctic freshwater export is reduced, and, NAC and SPG are strengthened as a result of an increased SLP gradient over the North Atlantic. Concurrently, Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) increase. The intensified NAC, SPG, and AMOC redistribute sub-tropical water into the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas, thereby increasing observed and modelled temperature and salinity during the 1920s.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States); UT-Battelle LLC/ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN (Unted States)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE Office of Science; USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1565281
Journal Information:
Climate Dynamics, Journal Name: Climate Dynamics Journal Issue: 7-8 Vol. 44; ISSN 0930-7575
Publisher:
Springer-Verlag
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (54)

The 1918/19 El Niño journal February 2010
The role of Atlantic-Arctic exchange in North Atlantic multidecadal climate variability: MULTIDECADAL ATLANTIC-ARCTIC EXCHANGE journal August 2011
North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre Surface Variability (1895–2009) journal September 2010
Atlantic Ocean influence on a shift in European climate in the 1990s journal October 2012
Observed and modelled stability of overflow across the Greenland–Scotland ridge journal September 2008
The regime shift of the 1920s and 1930s in the North Atlantic journal February 2006
The International Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) Initiative journal November 2011
A New Globally Complete Monthly Historical Gridded Mean Sea Level Pressure Dataset (HadSLP2): 1850–2004 journal November 2006
Multiyear Prediction of Monthly Mean Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N journal January 2012
Lamb weather types derived from reanalysis products journal April 2012
Arctic climate change: observed and modelled temperature and sea-ice variability journal August 2004
Prospects for Improving Subseasonal Predictions journal November 2011
Mechanism of Interannual to Decadal Variability of the North Atlantic Circulation journal May 2001
Rapid freshening of the deep North Atlantic Ocean over the past four decades journal April 2002
Recent changes of the thermohaline circulation in the subpolar North Atlantic journal May 2007
Long-term coordinated changes in the convective activity of the North Atlantic journal January 1996
A Comparison of Variational and Ensemble-Based Data Assimilation Systems for Reanalysis of Sparse Observations journal June 2009
Seasonal Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N journal November 2010
Variability and Trends of Air Temperature and Pressure in the Maritime Arctic, 1875–2000 journal June 2003
Early twentieth-century warming journal November 2009
Arctic Ocean Freshwater Changes over the Past 100 Years and Their Causes journal January 2008
Reanalysis suggests long-term upward trends in European storminess since 1871: UPWARD TRENDS IN EUROPEAN STORMINESS journal July 2011
Arctic–North Atlantic Interactions and Multidecadal Variability of the Meridional Overturning Circulation journal October 2005
Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century journal January 2003
A multi-decadal meridional displacement of the Subpolar Front in the Newfoundland Basin journal January 2012
Trends and low frequency variability of extra-tropical cyclone activity in the ensemble of twentieth century reanalysis journal July 2012
Ocean Circulation and Tropical Variability in the Coupled Model ECHAM5/MPI-OM journal August 2006
Feasibility of a 100-Year Reanalysis Using Only Surface Pressure Data journal February 2006
Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments (COREs) journal January 2009
Simulation of the Atlantic Circulation with a Coupled Sea Ice-Mixed Layer-Isopycnal General Circulation Model. Part I: Model Description journal May 1993
The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system journal April 2011
Formation and propagation of great salinity anomalies journal January 2003
Simulating the Terms in the Arctic Hydrological Budget book January 2008
Extreme winds at northern mid-latitudes since 1871 [Extreme winds at northern mid-latitudes since 1871] journal February 2012
Fram Strait Ice Export during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Reconstructed from a Multiyear Sea Ice Index from Southwestern Greenland journal August 2003
Late Holocene (0–2.4kaBP) surface water temperature and salinity variability, Feni Drift, NE Atlantic Ocean journal September 2009
Observed and simulated multidecadal variability in the Northern Hemisphere journal September 2000
Surface salinity of the North Atlantic: Can we reconstruct its fluctuations over the last one hundred years? journal January 1994
What caused the significant increase in Atlantic Ocean heat content since the mid-20th century?: 20TH CENTURY WARMING OF ATLANTIC OCEAN journal September 2011
The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project
  • Compo, G. P.; Whitaker, J. S.; Sardeshmukh, P. D.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 137, Issue 654 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.776
journal January 2011
Historical changes in El Niño and La Niña characteristics in an ocean reanalysis: CHANGES IN ENSO CHARACTERISTICS journal November 2012
A multi-data set comparison of the vertical structure of temperature variability and change over the Arctic during the past 100 years journal January 2012
Ozone highs and associated flow features in the first half of the twentieth century in different data sets [Ozone highs and associated flow features in the first half of the twentieth century in different data sets] journal February 2012
North Atlantic Interdecadal Variability: Oceanic Response to the North Atlantic Oscillation (1865–1997) journal March 2001
The Early Twentieth-Century Warming in the Arctic—A Possible Mechanism journal October 2004
The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project journal March 1996
Multidecadal Variability of North Atlantic Temperature and Salinity during the Twentieth Century journal November 2005
Atmospheric Blocking and Atlantic Multidecadal Ocean Variability journal November 2011
North Atlantic warming: patterns of long-term trend and multidecadal variability journal January 2009
Ensemble Data Assimilation without Perturbed Observations journal July 2002
Causes of the Rapid Warming of the North Atlantic Ocean in the Mid-1990s journal June 2012
On the use of a time sequence of surface pressures in four-dimensional data assimilation journal June 1980
Inconsistencies between Long-Term Trends in Storminess Derived from the 20CR Reanalysis and Observations journal February 2013
Removing ENSO-Related Variations from the Climate Record journal April 2010

Similar Records

The Mechanisms of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Slowdown Induced by Arctic Sea Ice Decline
Journal Article · Mon Jan 21 19:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Climate · OSTI ID:1491612
Mechanisms Governing the Development of the North Atlantic Warming Hole in the CESM-LE Future Climate Simulations
Journal Article · Tue Jul 31 20:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Climate · OSTI ID:1457832

Related Subjects

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences