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On the interannual variability of surface salinity in the Atlantic

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Abstract

The mechanisms controlling the interannual variability of sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Atlantic are investigated using a simulation with the ECHAM4/OPA8 coupled model and, for comparison, the NCEP reanalysis and an observed SSS climatology. Anomalous Ekman advection is found to be as important as the freshwater flux in generating SSS anomalies, in contrast to sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies which are primarily caused by surface heat flux fluctuations. Since the surface heat flux feedback does not damp the SSS anomalies but generally damps existing SST anomalies, SSS anomalies have a larger characteristic time scale. As a result, they are more influenced by the mean currents and the geostrophic variability, which dominate the SSS changes at low frequency over much of the basin. The link between SSS anomalies and the dominant patterns of atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic sector is also discussed. It is shown that the North Atlantic Oscillation generates SSS anomalies much more by Ekman advection than by freshwater exchanges. At least in the coupled model, there is little one-to-one correspondence between the main atmospheric and SSS anomaly patterns, unlike what is found for SST anomalies.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Eric Guyliardi and Gurvan Madec for providing the SINTEX run, Gilles Reverdin for useful comments and for making available his SSS climatology and Elodie ❚stenare for her help. The NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data were provided through the NOAA Climate Diagnostics Center (http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ ). This research was supported in part by a grant from the PNEDC and by the SINTEX and PREDICATE projects of the European Community. Juliette Mignot was supported by a scholarship from the DGA-CNRS.

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  1. Laboratoire d'Océanographie Dynamique et de Climatologie, Unité mixte de recherche CNRS-IRD-UPMC, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    J. Mignot & C. Frankignoul

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  1. J. Mignot
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  2. C. Frankignoul
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Correspondence to C. Frankignoul.

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Mignot, J., Frankignoul, C. On the interannual variability of surface salinity in the Atlantic. Climate Dynamics 20, 555–565 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-002-0294-0

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