Stability of the thermohaline circulation examined with a one-dimensional fluid loop

Abstract

The Stommel box model elegantly demonstrates that the oceanic response to mixed boundary conditions, combining a temperature relaxation with a fixed salt flux forcing, is non-linear owing to the so-called salt advection feedback. This non-linearity produces a parameter range of bi-stability associated with hysteresis effects characterised by a fast thermally driven mode and a slow salinity-driven mode. Here, we investigate whether a similar dynamical behaviour can be found in the thermohaline loop model, a one-dimensional analogue of the box model. A semi-analytical method to compute possible steady states of the loop model is presented, followed by a linear stability analysis carried out for a large range of loop configurations. While the salt advection feedback is found as in the box model, a major difference is obtained for the fast mode: an oscillatory instability is observed near the turning point of the fast mode branch, such that the range of bi-stability is systematically reduced, or even removed, in some cases. The oscillatory instability originates from a salinity anomaly that grows exponentially as it turns around the loop, a situation that may occur only when the salinity torque is directed against the loop flow. Factors such as mixing intensity, the relative strength of thermal and haline forcings, the non-linearity of the equation of state or the loop geometry can strongly affect the stability properties of the loop.