Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: . The Gulf Stream transports warm waters into the subpolar eastern North Atlantic, having an impact on Europe's climate. In the next century the Gulf Stream is expected to both reduce its speed and displace northward in response to climate change. This study investigates the changing pattern of the Gulf Stream over the last three decades as observed in the altimetric record (1993–2021) using monthly-averaged altimetry maps together with the outputs from a numerical model. The yearly evolution of the coordinates (destabilization point) where the Gulf Stream begins meandering and converts from a stable to an unstable detached jet is investigated. The location of this destabilization point presents an interannual variability and has varied by more than 1400 km in longitude and 300 km in latitude in the altimetric era. Changes in the Gulf Stream path impact both associated mesoscale Eddy Kinetic Energy and waters transported towards the subpolar North Atlantic. The observed shifts of the path destabilization point seem to be linked to North Atlantic Oscillation variability during winter that may play an important role: it presents a negative shift from positive to negative phase between 1993 and 2011; and an opposite behavior from negative to positive phase from 2011 in agreement with the respectively south-westward and north-eastward observed migration of the destabilization point.
Source: State of the Planet
Authors: Antonio Sánchez-Román, Flora Gues, Romain Bourdalle-Badie, Marie-Isabelle Pujol, Ananda Pascual, Marie Drévillon
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4402987462