Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 41, Issue 17, Pages 6252-6258Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060891
Keywords
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation; ice sheet retreat; ice sheet orography; sea ice transport
Categories
Funding
- NSF [ARC-1107795]
- NSFC [41130105]
- MOST [2012CB955200]
- DOE
- Helmholtz Graduate School for Polar and Marine Research (POLMAR)
- Helmholtz funding through the Polar Regions and Coasts in the changing Earth System (PACES) programme of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP) [1107795] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The transient response of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to a deglacial ice sheet retreat is studied using the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3), with a focus on orographic effects rather than meltwater discharge. It is found that the AMOC weakens significantly (41%) in response to the deglacial ice sheet retreat. The AMOC weakening follows the decrease of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheet volume linearly, with no evidence of abrupt thresholds. A wind-driven mechanism is proposed to explain the weakening of the AMOC: lowering the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets induces a northward shift of the westerlies, which causes a rapid eastward sea ice transport and expanded sea ice cover over the subpolar North Atlantic; this expanded sea ice insulates the ocean from heat loss and leads to suppressed deep convection and a weakened AMOC. A sea ice-ocean positive feedback could be further established between the AMOC decrease and sea ice expansion.
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