Thermohaline oscillations induced by strong steady salinity forcing of ocean general circulation models

Abstract

A series of numerical experiments is conducted with a three-dimensional ocean general circulation model and a two-dimensional counterpart, both designed for efficient integration over diffusive (millennial) time scales. The possibility that oscillations can occur in the ocean deep overturning without external storage or pulse inputs of fresh water is explored. The model ocean is decoupled from the rest of the climate system by using steady mixed boundary conditions: restored surface temperatures and fixed salinity fluxes. -from Authors