Interdecadal variability driven by mismatch between surface flux forcing and oceanic freshwater/heat transport

Abstract

The author describes a series of mechanistic experiments showing the generation of interdecadal variability in the Bryan-Cox ocean general circulation model driven by a constant two-dimensional freshwater or heat flux field alone. A set of experiments examines the variability of saline circulation. The internal variability is induced by a mismatch between the freshwater transport implied by the surface freshwater flux forcing and the oceanic freshwater transport. Parallel experiments are carried out to study the internal variability driven by a constant two-dimensional heat flux field alone. Internal oscillations again develop as a result of a mismatch between the atmospheric and oceanic heat transport. In a coupled atmosphere-ocean system the atmospheric freshwater (or heat) transport needs not always match the oceanic freshwater (or heat) transport. -from Author