Influence of the North Atlantic SST Variability on the Atmospheric Circulation during the Twentieth Century

Journal Article · Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Climate

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-14-00424.1· OSTI ID:1565387

Gastineau, Guillaume ^[1]; Frankignoul, Claude ^[1]

---

1. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Annecy-le-Vieux (France); Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France)

The ocean–atmosphere coupling in the North Atlantic is investigated during the twentieth century using maximum covariance analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) and 500-hPa geopotential height analyses and performing regressions on dynamical diagnostics such as Eady growth rate, wave activity flux, and velocity potential. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) generates the so-called SST anomaly tripole. A rather similar SST anomaly tripole, with the subpolar anomaly displaced to the east and a more contracted subtropical anomaly, which is referred to as the North Atlantic horseshoe pattern, in turn influences the atmosphere. In the fall and early winter, the response is NAO like and primarily results from subpolar forcing centered over the Labrador Sea and off Newfoundland. In summer, the largest atmospheric response to SST resembles the east Atlantic pattern and results from a combination of subpolar and tropical forcing. To emphasize the interannual to multidecadal variability, the same analysis is repeated after low-pass filtering. The SST influence is dominated by the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO), which also has a horseshoe shape, but with larger amplitude in the subpolar basin. A warm AMO phase leads to an atmospheric warming limited to the lower troposphere in summer, while it leads to a negative phase of the NAO in winter. The winter influence of the AMO is suggested to be primarily forced by the Atlantic SSTs in the northern subtropics. Such influence of the AMO is found in winter instead of early winter because the winter SST anomalies have a larger persistence, presumably because of SST reemergence.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• OSTI ID: 1565387
• Journal Information: Journal of Climate, Journal Name: Journal of Climate Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 28; ISSN 0894-8755
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences