A Review of the Role of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in Atlantic Multidecadal Variability and Associated Climate Impacts
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: By synthesizing recent studies employing a wide range of approaches (modern observations, paleo reconstructions, and climate model simulations), this paper provides a comprehensive review of the linkage between multidecadal Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) variability and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) and associated climate impacts. There is strong observational and modeling evidence that multidecadal AMOC variability is a crucial driver of the observed AMV and associated climate impacts and an important source of enhanced decadal predictability and prediction skill. The AMOC‐AMV linkage is consistent with observed key elements of AMV. Furthermore, this synthesis also points to a leading role of the AMOC in a range of AMV‐related climate phenomena having enormous societal and economic implications, for example, Intertropical Convergence Zone shifts; Sahel and Indian monsoons; Atlantic hurricanes; El Niño–Southern Oscillation; Pacific Decadal Variability; North Atlantic Oscillation; climate over Europe, North America, and Asia; Arctic sea ice and surface air temperature; and hemispheric‐scale surface temperature. Paleoclimate evidence indicates that a similar linkage between multidecadal AMOC variability and AMV and many associated climate impacts may also have existed in the preindustrial era, that AMV has enhanced multidecadal power significantly above a red noise background, and that AMV is not primarily driven by external forcing. The role of the AMOC in AMV and associated climate impacts has been underestimated in most state‐of‐the‐art climate models, posing significant challenges but also great opportunities for substantial future improvements in understanding and predicting AMV and associated climate impacts.
Source: Reviews of Geophysics
DOI: 10.1029/2019rg000644
Institutions: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, NSF NCAR Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, University of Washington, Atmospheric and Environmental Research
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,500
Awards: G1703969385, The Management and Operation of the National Center for Atmoshperic Research (NCAR), G2742324050, Collaborative Research EaSM2: Mechanisms, Predictability, Prediction, and Regional and Societal Impacts of Decadal Climate Variability, THE ATLANTIC MULTIDECADAL OSCILLATION: KEY DRIVERS AND CLIMATE IMPACTS, G4159403194, Collaborative Research EaSM2: Mechanisms, Predictability, Prediction, and Regional and Societal Impacts of Decadal Climate Variability, G5114534710, G5434624729, G6547476290, G6958991203, G7867592022, G8148215852, G8585165044
OpenAlex ID: W2943067256