A modelling study of the Bjerknes compensation in the meridional heat transport in a freshening ocean

Haijun Yang; Yuxing Wang; Zhengyu Liu

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v65i0.18480

A modelling study of the Bjerknes compensation in the meridional heat transport in a freshening ocean

Tellus

Volume 65 (2013): Issue 1

By: Haijun Yang, Yuxing Wang and Zhengyu Liu

Open Access

|Dec 2013

Abstract

The compensation between the meridional heat transports in the atmosphere and ocean is studied through a coupled model’s water-hosing experiments. It is found that the atmospheric heat transport (AHT) change compensates the oceanic heat transport (OHT) change very well in the extratropics, while the former over-compensates the latter in the tropics. Similar to previous studies, the fresh water input in the high latitude Atlantic weakens the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and thus the northward Atlantic OHT significantly, leading to a warming (cooling) in sea surface temperature in the Southern (Northern) Hemisphere and in turn a southward shift of atmospheric convection. This results in an enhanced Hadley Cell (HC) and stronger northward AHT, compensating the reduced Atlantic OHT. Meanwhile, the wind-driven Subtropical Cell in the Indo-Pacific oceans is enhanced in response to the HC change, increasing the northward OHT in the Indo-Pacific, which partly offsets the reduced OHT in the Atlantic. The response in the Indo-Pacific is responsible for the overcompensation of the AHT to the global OHT. The Held’s mechanism works very well in the tropical Indo-Pacific in our experiments. This is substantially different from previous studies.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v65i0.18480 | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

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Language: English

Page range: 18480 - 18480

Submitted on: Apr 4, 2012

Accepted on: Apr 4, 2013

Published on: Dec 1, 2013

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

meridional heat transport,

overturning circulation,

Hadley Cell,

compensation

© 2013 Haijun Yang, Yuxing Wang, Zhengyu Liu, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 65 (2013): Issue 1