Atmospheric Blocking and Atlantic Multidecadal Ocean Variability

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2011-11, Vol.334 (6056), p.655-659
• Main Authors: Häkkinen, Sirpa, Rhines, Peter B., Worthen, Denise L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmospheric circulation; Atmospherics; Climate; Climate change; Climate models; Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; Curl; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Gyres; Meteorology; Meteorology And Climatology; Ocean circulation; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Oceans; Physics of the oceans; Sea-air exchange processes; Storms; Subtropics; Time series; Winds and their effects
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1205683

Atmospheric blocking over the northern North Atlantic, which involves isolation of large regions of air from the westerly circulation for 5 days or more, influences fundamentally the ocean circulation and upper ocean properties by affecting wind patterns. Winters with clusters of more frequent blocking between Greenland and western Europe correspond to a warmer, more saline subpolar ocean. The correspondence between blocked westerly winds and warm ocean holds in recent decadal episodes (especially 1996 to 2010). It also describes much longer time scale Atlantic multidecadal ocean variability (AMV), including the extreme pre-greenhouse-gas northern warming of the 1930s to 1960s. The space-time structure of the wind forcing associated with a blocked regime leads to weaker ocean gyres and weaker heat exchange, both of which contribute to the warm phase of AMV.