On the Mechanism of Decadal Oscillations in the Ocean-Atmosphere System

The aim of the work is to check the hypothesis that quasiperiodic oscillations of meridional heat transport intensified by a positive feedback existing in the ocean-atmosphere system in subtropical regions is one of the principal factors governing the decadal variability of various hydrophysical fie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical oceanography 2002-02, Vol.12 (1), p.1-9
Main Author: Polonskii, AB
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmosphere
Climate change
Differential equations
Heat transport
Marine
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
Ordinary differential equations
Sea surface temperature
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Summary:The aim of the work is to check the hypothesis that quasiperiodic oscillations of meridional heat transport intensified by a positive feedback existing in the ocean-atmosphere system in subtropical regions is one of the principal factors governing the decadal variability of various hydrophysical fields in the North Atlantic. We use a simple three-box model of the North Atlantic with one lower and two upper boxes and meridional circulation for typical parameters of the ocean-atmosphere system. It is assumed that the decadal anomalies of sea-level pressure are proportional to the anomalies of sea-surface temperature. The deduced system of ordinary differential equations for the temperature of the upper two boxes with quadratic nonlinearity and the behavior of the solution in the vicinity of the stationary point are analyzed by using standard procedures for the investigation of linearized equations for small perturbations. It is shown that, for typical parameters of the ocean-atmosphere system, oscillating solutions for the sea-surface temperature with periods of 10-20 yr can be realized even without taking salinity into account.
ISSN:0928-5105
0928-5105
DOI:10.1023/A:1014669313384