The ocean's saltiness and its overturning
Here we explore the relationship between the mean salinity S of the ocean and the strength of its Atlantic and Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulations (AMOC and PMOC). We compare simulations performed with a realistically configured coarse-grained ocean model, spanning a range of mean salinities...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118181 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| Summary: | Here we explore the relationship between the mean salinity S of the ocean and the strength of its Atlantic and Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulations (AMOC and PMOC). We compare simulations performed with a realistically configured coarse-grained ocean model, spanning a range of mean salinities. We find that the AMOC strength increases approximately linearly with S. In contrast, the PMOC strength declines approximately linearly with S until it reaches a small background value similar to the present-day ocean. Well-established scaling laws for the overturning circulation explain both of these dependencies on S. |
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