Abstract
This chapter discusses the stability of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation with special emphasis on the critical thresholds and state transitions found in model experiments. The thermohaline ocean circulation is a major heat transport mechanism which causes the relatively mild climate in the North Atlantic region (including Europe) in the modern times. The formation of North Atlantic Deep Water and the associated large-scale meridional transports in the Atlantic are maintained by a positive salinity feedback (first identified by Stommel in 1961). A second positive feedback is responsible for the tendency of deep convection to reoccur in the same regions. These two feedbacks are the main reason for the non-linear behaviour of the thermohaline ocean circulation found in models; their characteristic processes, time and length scales are discussed. Simulations of plausible circulation changes during the last glacial maximum and due to future greenhouse warming are presented.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Broecker, W.S., 1991: The great ocean conveyor. Oceanogr., 4(2), 79–89.
Bryan, F., 1986: High-latitude salinity and interhemispheric thermohaline circulation. Nature, 323, 301–304.
Dansgaard, W., S.S. Johnsen, H.B. Clausen, N.S. Dahl-Jensen, N.S. Gundestrup, C.U. Hammer, C.S. Hvidberg, J.P. Steffensen, A.E. Sveinbjörnsdottir, J. Jouzel, and G. Bond, 1993: Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record. Nature, 364, 218–220.
Duplessy, J.-C., and E. Maier-Reimer, 1993: Global ocean circulation changes. In Global changes in the perspective of the past, edited by J.A. Eddy and H. Oeschger, John Wiley, Chichester, pp. 199–207.
Ganopolski, A., C. Kubatzki, M. Claussen, V. Brovkin, and V. Petoukhov, 1998a: The role of vegetation-atmosphere-ocean interaction for the climate system during the mid-Holocene. Science, 280, 1916-1919.
Ganopolski, A., V. Petoukhov, S. Rahmstorf, V. Brovkin, M. Claussen, and C. Kubatzki, 1998b: CLIMBER-2: A climate system model of intermediate complexity. Part II: Model sensitivity. Clim. Dyn., submitted.
Ganopolski, A., S. Rahmstorf, V. Petoukhov, and M. Claussen, 1998c: Simulation of modern and glacial climates with a coupled global model of intermediate complexity. Nature, 391, 350–356
Houghton, J.T., L.G. Meira Filho, B.A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, 1995: Climate Change 1995. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 572 pp.
Joussaume, S., and K.E. Taylor, 1995: Status of the paleoclimate modeling intercomparison project. In Proceedings of the first international AMIP scientific conference, WCRP Report, pp. 425–430.
Lehman, S.J., and L.D. Keigwin, 1992: Sudden changes in North Atlantic circulation during the last deglaciation. Nature, 356, 757–762.
Lenderink, G., and R.J. Haarsma, 1994: Variability and multiple equilibria of the thermohaline circulation, associated with deep water formation. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 24, 1480–1493.
Manabe, S., and R.J. Stouffer, 1988: Two stable equilibria of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J. Clim., 1, 841–866.
Manabe, S., and R.J. Stouffer, 1993: Century-scale effects of increased atmospheric CO2 on the ocean-atmosphere system. Nature, 364, 215–218.
Manabe, S., and R.J. Stouffer, 1994: Multiple-century response of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. J. Clim., 7, 5–23.
Petoukhov, V., A. Ganopolski, V. Brovkin, M. Claussen, A. Eliseev, C. Kubatzki, and S. Rahmstorf, 1998: CLIMBER-2: A climate system model of intermediate complexity. Part I: Model description and performance for present climate. Clim. Dyn., in press, 1999.
Rahmstorf, S., 1994: Rapid climate transitions in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. Nature, 372, 82–85.
Rahmstorf, S., 1995a: Bifurcations of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to changes in the hydrological cycle. Nature, 378, 145–149.
Rahmstorf, S., 1995b: Multiple convection patterns and thermohaline flow in an idealised OGCM. J. Clim., 8, 3028–3039.
Rahmstorf, S., 1996: On the freshwater forcing and transport of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Clim. Dyn., 12, 799–811.
Rahmstorf, S., 1997: Risk of sea-change in the Atlantic. Nature, 388, 825–826.
Rahmstorf, S., 1999: Decadal variability of the thermohaline circulation. In Beyond El Niño: decadal and interdecadal climate variability, edited by A. Navarra, Springer, Berlin.
Rahmstorf, S., and A. Ganopolski, 1999: Long-term global warming scenarios computed with an efficient coupled climate model. Clim. Change, 43, 353–367.
Rahmstorf, S., J. Marotzke, and J. Willebrand, 1996: Stability of the thermohaline circulation. In The warm water sphere of the North Atlantic ocean, edited by W. Krauss, Borntraeger, Stuttgart, pp. 129–158.
Roemmich, D.H., and C. Wunsch, 1985: Two transatlantic sections: Meridional circulation and heat flux in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Res., 32, 619–664.
Stocker, T., and A. Schmittner, 1997: Influence of CO2 emission rates on the stability of the thermohaline circulation. Nature, 388, 862–865.
Stocker, T.F., and D.G. Wright, 1991a: Rapid transitions of the ocean’s deep circulation induced by changes in surface water fluxes. Nature, 351, 729–732.
Stocker, T.F., and D.G. Wright, 1991b: A zonally averaged ocean model for the thermohaline circulation. Part II: Interocean circulation in the Pacific Atlantic basin system. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 21, 1725–1739.
Stommel, H., 1961: Thermohaline convection with two stable regimes of flow. Tellus, 13, 224–230.
Weaver, A.J., and T.M.C. Hughes, 1992: Stability and variability of the thermohaline circulation and its link to climate. In Trends in physical oceanography, Council of Scientific Research Integration, Trivandrum, India, pp. 15–70.
Weijer, W., P.J. van Leeuwen, H. Dijkstra, and W.P.M. de Ruijter, 1999: Impact of interbasin exchange on the Atlantic overturning circulation. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 29, 2266–2284.
Welander, P., 1982: A simple heat-salt oscillator. Dyn. Atmos. Oceans, 6, 233–242.
Wood, R.A., A.B. Keen, J.F.B. Mitchell, and J.M. Gregory, 1999: Changing spatial structure of the thermohaline circulation in response to atmospheric CO2 forcing in a climate model. Nature, 399, 572–575.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rahmstorf, S. (1999). Rapid Transitions of the Thermohaline Ocean Circulation. In: Abrantes, F., Mix, A.C. (eds) Reconstructing Ocean History. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4197-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4197-4_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6883-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4197-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive