The role of the gulf stream in European climate

Annual Review of Marine Science

Volumn 7, Issue , 2015, Pages 113-137

  Palter, Jaime B ^a  

^a MCGILL UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

atlantic meridional overturning circulation; atlantic multidecadal oscillation; climate change; Climate feedbacks; ocean heat transport; paleoclimate

Indexed keywords

FEEDBACK; HEAT TRANSFER; OCEAN CURRENTS; OCEANOGRAPHY;

ATLANTIC MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATIONS; ATLANTIC MULTIDECADAL OSCILLATIONS; CLIMATE FEEDBACKS; OCEAN HEAT TRANSPORT; PALEOCLIMATES;

CLIMATE CHANGE;

CLIMATE CONDITIONS; CLIMATE FEEDBACK; GYRE; HEAT TRANSFER; OVERTURN; SUBTROPICAL REGION; WIND-DRIVEN CIRCULATION;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; EUROPE; GULF STREAM;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; CLIMATE CHANGE; EUROPE; HEAT; METEOROLOGY; OCEANOGRAPHY; PROCEDURES; SEASON; THEORETICAL MODEL; WATER FLOW;

ATLANTIC OCEAN; CLIMATE CHANGE; EUROPE; HOT TEMPERATURE; METEOROLOGY; MODELS, THEORETICAL; OCEANOGRAPHY; SEASONS; WATER MOVEMENTS;

EID: 84948614818     PISSN: 19411405     EISSN: 19410611     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-010814-015656     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. Arguez A, O'Brien JJ, Smith SR. 2009. Air temperature impacts over eastern North America and Europe associated with low-frequency North Atlantic SST variability. Int. J. Climatol. 29:1-10
2. Bacon S. 1997. Circulation and fluxes in the North Atlantic between Greenland and Ireland. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 27:1420-35
3. Barber DC, Dyke A, Hillaire-Marcel C, Jennings AE, Andrews JT, et al. 1999. Forcing of the cold event of 8, 200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Nature 400:344-48
4. Berger WH. 1990. The Younger Dryas cold spell-a quest for causes. Glob. Planet. Change 3:219-37
5. Bjerknes J. 1964. Atlantic air-sea interaction. Adv. Geophys. 10:1-82
6. Booth BBB, Dunstone NJ, Halloran PR, Andrews T, Bellouin N. 2012. Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability. Nature 484:228-32
7. Boyle EA, Keigwin L. 1987. North Atlantic thermohaline circulation during the past 20, 000 years linked to high-latitude surface temperature. Nature 330:35-40
8. Broecker WS. 2006. Was the Younger Dryas triggered by a flood? Science 312:1146-48
9. Broecker WS, Bond G, Klas M, Bonani G, Wolfli W. 1990. A salt oscillator in the glacial Atlantic? 1. The concept. Paleoceanography 5:469-77
10. Bryden HL, Imawaki S. 2001. Ocean heat transport. In Ocean Circulation and Climate: Observing and Modelling the Global Ocean, ed. G Siedler, J Church, J Gould, pp. 455-74. Int. Geophys. Vol. 77. San Diego, CA: Academic
11. Bryden HL, Roemmich DH, Church JA. 1991. Ocean heat-transport across 24°N in the Pacific. Deep-Sea Res. 38:297-324
12. Buckley MW, Ponte RM, Forget G, Heimbach P. 2014. Low-frequency SST and upper-ocean heat content variability in the North Atlantic. J. Clim. 27:4996-5018
13. Clarke GKC, Leverington DW, Teller JT, Dyke AS. 2004. Paleohydraulics of the last outburst flood from glacial Lake Agassiz and the 8200 BP cold event. Quat. Sci. Rev. 23:389-407
14. Clement A, Seager R. 1999. Climate and the tropical oceans. J. Clim. 12:3383-401
15. Dansgaard W, Clausen HB, Gundestrup N, Hammer CU, Johnsen SF, et al. 1982. A new Greenland deep ice core. Science 218:1273-77
16. DelSole T, Tippett MK, Shukla J. 2011. A significant component of unforced multidecadal variability in the recent acceleration of global warming. J. Clim. 24:909-26
17. Delworth TL, Mann ME. 2000. Observed and simulated multidecadal variabilityin the Northern Hemisphere. Clim. Dyn. 16:661-76
18. DiNezio PN, Gramer LJ, Johns WE, Meinen CS, Baringer MO. 2009. Observed interannual variability of the Florida Current: wind forcing and the North Atlantic oscillation. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 39:721-36
19. Dong S, Hautala SL, Kelly KA. 2007. Interannual variations in upper-ocean heat content and heat transport convergence in the western North Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 37:2682-97
20. Dong S, Kelly KA. 2004. Heat budget in the Gulf Stream region: the importance of heat storage and advection. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 34:1214-31
21. Drijfhout S, van Oldenborgh GJ, Cimatoribus A. 2012. Is a decline of AMOC causing the warming hole above the North Atlantic in observed and modeled warming patterns? J. Clim. 25:8373-79
22. Eisenman I, Bitz CM, Tziperman E. 2009. Rain driven by receding ice sheets as a cause of past climate change. Paleoceanography 24:PA4209
23. Fairbanks RG. 1989. A 17, 000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342:637-42
24. Fasullo JT, Trenberth KE. 2008. The annual cycle of the energy budget. Part II: meridional structures and poleward transports. J. Clim. 21:2313-25
25. Folland CK, Parker DE, Kates FE. 1984. Worldwide marine temperature fluctuations 1856-1981. Nature 310:670-73
26. Gámiz-Fortis SR, Esteban-Parra MJ, Pozo-Vázquez D, Castro-Díez Y. 2011. Variability of the monthly European temperature and its association with the Atlantic sea-surface temperature from interannual to multidecadal scales. Int. J. Climatol. 31:2115-40
27. Ganachaud A, Wunsch C. 2000. Improved estimates of global ocean circulation, heat transport and mixing from hydrographic data. Nature 408:453-57
28. Ganachaud A, Wunsch C. 2003. Large-scale ocean heat and freshwater transports during the world ocean circulation experiment. J. Clim. 16:696-705
29. Greenwood DR, Wing SL. 1995. Eocene continental climates and latitudinal temperature gradients. Geology 23:1044-48
30. Gulev SK, Latif M, Keenlyside N, Park W, Koltermann KP. 2013. North Atlantic ocean control on surface heat flux on multidecadal timescales. Nature 499:464-67
31. Häkkinen S, Rhines PB, Worthen DL. 2011. Atmospheric blocking and Atlantic multidecadal ocean variability. Science 334:655-59
32. Hansen B, Østerhus S. 2000. North Atlantic-Nordic Seas exchanges. Prog. Oceanogr. 45:109-208
33. Hansen J, Lebedeff S. 1987. Global trends of measured surface air temperature. J. Geophys. Res. 92:13345-72
34. Hasselmann K. 1976. Stochastic climate models: part I. Theory. Tellus 28:473-85
35. Herweijer C, Seager R, Winton M, Clement A. 2005. Why ocean heat transport warms the global mean climate. Tellus A 57:662-75
36. Holfort J, Siedler G. 2001. The meridional oceanic transports of heat and nutrients in the South Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 31:5-29
37. Huybers P, Wunsch C. 2010. Paleophysical oceanography with an emphasis on transport rates. Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2:1-34
38. Junge MM, Stephenson DB. 2003. Mediated and direct effects of the North Atlantic Ocean on winter temperatures in northwest Europe. Int. J. Climatol. 23:245-61
39. Kaneps AG. 1979. Gulf stream: velocity fluctuations during the late Cenozoic. Science 204:297-301
40. Kaspi Y, Schneider T. 2011. Winter cold of eastern continental boundaries induced by warm ocean waters. Nature 471:621-24
41. Kelly KA, Small RJ, Samelson RM, Qiu B, Joyce TM, et al. 2010. Western boundary currents and frontal air-sea interaction: Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Extension. J. Clim. 23:5644-67
42. Klein B, Molinari RL, Muller TJ, Siedler G. 1995. A transatlantic section at 14.5N: meridional volume and heat fluxes. J. Mar. Res. 53:929-57
43. Klein SA, Hartmann DL. 1993. The seasonal cycle of low stratiform clouds. J. Clim. 6:1587-1606
44. Knight JR. 2005. A signature of persistent natural thermohaline circulation cycles in observed climate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32:L20708
45. Kravtsov S, Spannagle C. 2008. Multidecadal climate variabilityinobserved and modeled surface temperatures. J. Clim. 21:1104-21
46. Kushnir Y. 1994. Interdecadal variations in North Atlantic sea surface temperature and associated atmospheric conditions. J. Clim. 7:141-57
47. Kwon Y-O, Alexander MA, Bond NA, Frankignoul C, Nakamura H, et al. 2010. Role of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio-Oyashio systems in large-scale atmosphere-ocean interaction: a review. J. Clim. 23:3249-81
48. Larsen JC, Sanford TB. 1985. Florida Current volume transports from voltage measurements. Science 227:302-4
49. Latif M, Roeckner E, Botzet M, Esch M, Haak H, et al. 2004. Reconstructing, monitoring, and predicting multidecadal-scale changes in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation with sea surface temperature. J. Clim. 17:1605-14
50. Lavin A, Bryden HL, Parrilla G. 1998. Meridional transport and heat flux variations in the subtropical North Atlantic. Glob. Atmos. Ocean Syst. 6:269-93
51. Levermann A, Bamber JL, Drijfhout S, Ganopolski A, Haeberli W, et al. 2011. Potential climatic transitions with profound impact on Europe. Clim. Change 110:845-78
52. Lozier MS, Roussenov V, Reed MSC, Williams RG. 2010. Opposing decadal changes for the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Nat. Geosci. 3:728-34
53. Lynch-Stieglitz J, Schmidt MW, Henry LG, Curry WB, Skinner LC, et al. 2014. Muted change in Atlantic overturning circulation over some glacial-aged Heinrich events. Nat. Geosci. 7:144-50
54. Macdonald AM. 1998. The global ocean circulation: a hydrographic estimate and regional analysis. Prog. Oceanogr. 41:281-382
55. Mann ME, Steinman BA, Miller SK. 2014. On forced temperature changes, internal variability, and the AMO. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41:3211-19
56. Marshall J, Andersson A, Bates N, Dewar W, Doney S, et al. 2009. The Climode field campaign: observing the cycle of convection and restratification over the Gulf Stream. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 90:1337-50
57. Masson-Delmotte V, Schulz M, Abe-Ouchi A, Beer J, Ganopolski A, et al. 2013. Information from paleoclimate archives. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. TF Stocker, D Qin, G-K Plattner, M Tignor, SK Allen, et al., pp. 383-464. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
58. McManus JF, Francois R, Gherardi J-M, Keigwin LD, Brown-Leger S. 2004. Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic Meridional Circulation linked to deglacial climate changes. Nature 428:834-37
59. Natl. Oceanogr. Cent., Univ. Miami, Atl. Oceanogr. Meteorol. Lab. 2013. RAPID-MOC. Updated Aug. 13, 2013, accessed April 13, 2014. http://www.rapid.ac.uk/rapidmoc
60. Pinet PR, Popenoe P, Nelligan DF. 1981. Gulf Stream: reconstruction of Cenozoic flow patterns over the Blake Plateau. Geology 9:266-70
61. Rach O, Brauer A, Wilkes H, Sachse D. 2014. Delayed hydrological response to Greenland cooling at the onset of the Younger Dryas in western Europe. Nat. Geosci. 7:109-12
62. Rahmstorf S. 1996. On the freshwater forcing and transport of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Clim. Dyn. 12:799-811
63. Rahmstorf S. 2002. Ocean circulation and climate during the past 120, 000 years. Nature 419:207-14
64. Rayner D, Hirschi JJ-M, Kanzow T, Johns WE, Wright PG, et al. 2011. Monitoring the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Deep Sea Res. II 58:1744-53
65. Rhines PB, Hakkinen S, Josey SA. 2008. Is oceanic heat transport significant in the climate system? In Arctic-Subarctic Ocean Fluxes, ed. RR Dickson, J Meincke, PB Rhines, pp. 87-109. Dordrecht, Neth.: SpringerVerlag
66. Rose BEJ, Ferreira D. 2012. Ocean heat transport and water vapor greenhouse in a warm equable climate: a new look at the low gradient paradox. J. Clim. 26:2117-36
67. Rossby T, Flagg CN, Donohue K, Sanchez-Franks A, Lillibridge J. 2014. On the long-term stability of Gulf Stream transport based on 20 years of direct measurements. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41:114-20
68. Rugenstein MAA, Winton M, Stouffer RJ, Griffies SM, Hallberg R. 2012. Northern high-latitude heat budget decomposition and transient warming. J. Clim. 26:609-21
69. Saha S, Moorthi S, Pan H-L, Wu X, Wang J, et al. 2010. The NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 91:1015-57
70. Sato OT, Rossby T. 2000. Seasonal and low-frequency variability of the meridional heat flux at 36°N in the North Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30:606-21
71. Saunders PM, King BA. 1995. Oceanic fluxes on the WOCE A11 section. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 25:1942-58
72. Schlesinger ME, Ramankutty N. 1994. An oscillation in the global climate system of period 65-70 years. Nature 367:723-26
73. Schmitz WJ, McCartney MS. 1993. On the North Atlantic circulation. Rev. Geophys. 31:29-49
74. Seager R. 2006. The source of Europe's mild climate. Am. Sci. 94:334-41
75. Seager R, Battisti DS, Yin J, Gordon N, Naik N, et al. 2002. Is the Gulf Stream responsible for Europe's mild winters? Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 128:2563-86
76. Shakun JD, Carlson AE. 2010. A global perspective on Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene climate change. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29:1801-16
77. Smethie WM, Fine RA. 2001. Rates of North Atlantic deep water formation calculated from chlorofluoro-carbon inventories. Deep-Sea Res. I 48:189-215
78. Speer KG, Holfort J, Reynard T, Siedler G. 1996. South Atlantic heat transport at 11°S. In The South Atlantic: Present and Past Circulation, ed. G Wefer, WH Berger, G Siedler, DJ Webb, pp. 105-20. Berlin: SpringerVerlag
79. Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Alexander LV, Allen SK, et al. 2013. Technical summary. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. TF Stocker, D Qin, GK Plattner, M Tignor, SK Allen, et al., pp. 33-115. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
80. Stommel H. 1958. The Gulf Stream: A Physical and Dynamical Description. Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
81. Stommel H. 1961. Thermohaline convection with two stable regimes of flow. Tellus 13:224-30
82. Stouffer RJ, Yin J, Gregory JM, Dixon KW, Spelman MJ, et al. 2006. Investigating the cause of the response of the thermohaline circulation to past and future climate changes. J. Clim. 19:1365-87
83. Sutton RT, Dong B. 2012. Atlantic Ocean influence on a shift in European climate in the 1990s. Nat. Geosci. 5:788-92
84. Sutton RT, Hodson DLR. 2005. Atlantic Ocean forcing of North American and European summer climate. Science 309:115-18
85. Talley LD. 2003. Shallow, intermediate, and deep overturning components of the global heat budget. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 33:530-60
86. Terray L. 2012. Evidence for multiple drivers of North Atlantic multi-decadal climate variability. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39:L19712
87. Thomas ER, Wolff EW, Mulvaney R, Steffensen JP, Johnsen SJ, et al. 2007. The 8.2 ka event from Greenland ice cores. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26:70-81
88. Ting M, Kushnir Y, Li C. 2014. North Atlantic multidecadal SST oscillation: external forcing versus internal variability. J. Mar. Syst. 133:27-38
89. Ting M, Kushnir Y, Seager R, Li C. 2009. Forced and internal twentieth-century SST trends in the North Atlantic. J. Clim. 22:1469-81
90. Trenberth KE, Caron JM. 2001. Estimates of meridional atmosphere and ocean heat transports. J. Clim. 14:3433-43
91. Trenberth KE, Fasullo JT. 2008. An observational estimate of inferred ocean energy divergence. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 38:984-99
92. van der Swaluw E, Drijfhout SS, Hazeleger W. 2007. Bjerknes compensation at high northern latitudes: the ocean forcing the atmosphere. J. Clim. 20:6023-32
93. Vellinga M, Wood RA. 2007. Impacts of thermohaline circulation shutdown in the twenty-first century. Clim. Change 91:43-63
94. Williams RG, Roussenov V, Smith D, Lozier MS. 2014. Decadal evolution of ocean thermal anomalies in the North Atlantic: the effects of Ekman, overturning, and horizontal transport. J. Clim. 27:698-719
95. Winton M. 2003. On the climatic impact of ocean circulation. J. Clim. 16:2875-89
96. Winton M, Griffies SM, Samuels BL, Sarmiento JL, Frölicher TL. 2013. Connecting changing ocean circulation with changing climate. J. Clim. 26:2268-78
97. Winton M, Takahashi K, Held IM. 2009. Importance of ocean heat uptake efficacy to transient climate change. J. Clim. 23:2333-44
98. Woollings T, Gregory JM, Pinto JG, Reyers M, Brayshaw DJ. 2012. Response of the North Atlantic storm track to climate change shaped by ocean-atmosphere coupling. Nat. Geosci. 5:313-17
99. Worthington LV. 1976. On the North Atlantic Circulation. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
100. Wunsch C. 2006. Abrupt climate change: an alternative view. Quat. Res. 65:191-203
101. Yulaeva E, Schneider N, Pierce DW, Barnett TP. 2001. Modeling of North Pacific climate variability forced by oceanic heat flux anomalies. J. Clim. 14:4027-46
102. Zelinka MD, Hartmann DL. 2012. Climate feedbacks and their implications for poleward energy flux changes in a warming climate. J. Clim. 25:608-24
103. Zhang R. 2008. Coherent surface-subsurface fingerprint of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35:L20705
104. Zhang R, Delworth TL, Sutton R, Hodson DLR, Dixon KW, et al. 2013. Have aerosols caused the observed Atlantic multidecadal variability? J. Atmos. Sci. 70:1135-44