A predictability study of simulated North Atlantic multidecadal variability |
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| Authors: | S M Griffies K Bryan |
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| Institution: | (1) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Route 1, Forrestal Campus, Princeton NJ 08542, USA, US;(2) Princeton University, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Sayre Hall, Forrestal Campus, Princeton NJ 08544-0710, USA, US |
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| Abstract: | The North Atlantic is one of the few places on the globe where the atmosphere is linked to the deep ocean through air–sea
interaction. While the internal variability of the atmosphere by itself is only predictable over a period of one to two weeks,
climate variations are potentially predictable for much longer periods of months or even years because of coupling with the
ocean. This work presents details from the first study to quantify the predictability for simulated multidecadal climate variability
over the North Atlantic. The model used for this purpose is the GFDL coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model used extensively
for studies of global warming and natural climate variability. This model contains fluctuations of the North Atlantic and
high-latitude oceanic circulation with variability concentrated in the 40–60 year range. Oceanic predictability is quantified
through analysis of the time-dependent behavior of large-scale empirical orthogonal function (EOF) patterns for the meridional
stream function, dynamic topography, 170 m temperature, surface temperature and surface salinity. The results indicate that
predictability in the North Atlantic depends on three main physical mechanisms. The first involves the oceanic deep convection
in the subpolar region which acts to integrate atmospheric fluctuations, thus providing for a red noise oceanic response as
elaborated by Hasselmann. The second involves the large-scale dynamics of the thermohaline circulation, which can cause the
oceanic variations to have an oscillatory character on the multidecadal time scale. The third involves nonlocal effects on
the North Atlantic arising from periodic anomalous fresh water transport advecting southward from the polar regions in the
East Greenland Current. When the multidecadal oscillatory variations of the thermohaline circulation are active, the first
and second EOF patterns for the North Atlantic dynamic topography have predictability time scales on the order of 10–20 y,
whereas EOF-1 of SST has predictability time scales of 5–7 y. When the thermohaline variability has weak multidecadal power,
the Hasselmann mechanism is dominant and the predictability is reduced by at least a factor of two. When the third mechanism
is in an extreme phase, the North Atlantic dynamic topography patterns realize a 10–20 year predictability time scale. Additional
analysis of SST in the Greenland Sea, in a region associated with the southward propagating fresh water anomalies, indicates
the potential for decadal scale predictability for this high latitude region as well. The model calculations also allow insight
into regional variations of predictability, which might be useful information for the design of a monitoring system for the
North Atlantic. Predictability appears to break down most rapidly in regions of active convection in the high-latitude regions
of the North Atlantic.
Received: 28 October 1996 / Accepted: 21 March 1997 |
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