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The impact of resolution on the adjustment and decadal variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in a coupled climate model

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Abstract

Variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) exert an important influence on climate, particularly on decadal time scales. Simulation of the MOC in coupled climate models is compromised, to a degree that is unknown, by their lack of fidelity in resolving some of the key processes involved. There is an overarching need to increase the resolution and fidelity of climate models, but also to assess how increases in resolution influence the simulation of key phenomena such as the MOC. In this study we investigate the impact of significantly increasing the (ocean and atmosphere) resolution of a coupled climate model on the simulation of MOC variability by comparing high and low resolution versions of the same model. In both versions, decadal variability of the MOC is closely linked to density anomalies that propagate from the Labrador Sea southward along the deep western boundary. We demonstrate that the MOC adjustment proceeds more rapidly in the higher resolution model due the increased speed of western boundary waves. However, the response of the Atlantic sea surface temperatures to MOC variations is relatively robust—in pattern if not in magnitude—across the two resolutions. The MOC also excites a coupled ocean-atmosphere response in the tropical Atlantic in both model versions. In the higher resolution model, but not the lower resolution model, there is evidence of a significant response in the extratropical atmosphere over the North Atlantic 6 years after a maximum in the MOC. In both models there is evidence of a weak negative feedback on deep density anomalies in the Labrador Sea, and hence on the MOC (with a time scale of approximately ten years). Our results highlight the need for further work to understand the decadal variability of the MOC and its simulation in climate models.

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Notes

  1. And hence group speed, since Kelvin waves are non-dispersive.

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Acknowledgments

The Authors would like to thank Len Shaffrey and the HiGEM project for use of the HiGEM and HadGEM data in this study and two anonymous Reviewers for their valuable comments which notably improved the manuscript. This work was funded by the UK National Environment Research Council (NERC) Grant no. NE/F018533/1 and by the NERC NCAS-Climate programme.

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  1. NCAS-Climate, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 243, Reading, RG6 6BB, UK

    Daniel L. R. Hodson & Rowan T. Sutton

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Correspondence to Daniel L. R. Hodson.

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Hodson, D.L.R., Sutton, R.T. The impact of resolution on the adjustment and decadal variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in a coupled climate model. Clim Dyn 39, 3057–3073 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1309-0

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