Little, Christopher M, Hu, Aixue, Hughes, Chris W., McCarthy, Gerard, Piecuch, Christopher G., Ponte, Rui M. and Thomas, Matthew D. (2019) The Relationship between United States East Coast Sea Level and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: a Review. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124 (1). pp. 6435-6438. ISSN 2169-9291
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Abstract
Scientific and societal interest in the relationship between the Atlantic Meridional Overturning
Circulation (AMOC) and U.S. East Coast sea level has intensified over the past decade, largely due to
(1) projected, and potentially ongoing, enhancement of sea level rise associated with AMOC weakening and
(2) the potential for observations of U.S. East Coast sea level to inform reconstructions of North Atlantic
circulation and climate. These implications have inspired a wealth of model‐ and observation‐based
analyses. Here, we review this research, finding consistent support in numerical models for an antiphase
relationship between AMOC strength and dynamic sea level. However, simulations exhibit substantial
along‐coast and intermodel differences in the amplitude of AMOC‐associated dynamic sea level variability.
Observational analyses focusing on shorter (generally less than decadal) timescales show robust
relationships between some components of the North Atlantic large‐scale circulation and coastal sea level
variability, but the causal relationships between different observational metrics, AMOC, and sea level are
often unclear. We highlight the importance of existing and future research seeking to understand
relationships between AMOC and its component currents, the role of ageostrophic processes near the coast,
and the interplay of local and remote forcing. Such research will help reconcile the results of different
numerical simulations with each other and with observations, inform the physical origins of covariability,
and reveal the sensitivity of scaling relationships to forcing, timescale, and model representation. This
information will, in turn, provide a more complete characterization of uncertainty in relevant relationships,
leading to more robust reconstructions and projections.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | ©2019. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite as: Little, C. M., Hu, A., Hughes, C. W., McCarthy, G. D., Piecuch, C. G., Ponte, R. M., & Thomas, M. D. (2019). The Relationship between U.S. East Coast sea level and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: A review. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124, 6435–6458. https://doi. org/10.1029/2019JC015152 |
Keywords: | Relationship; Between; U.S. East Coast Sea Level; Atlantic Meridional; Overturning; Circulation; Review; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS |
Item ID: | 13985 |
Identification Number: | 10.1029/2019JC015152 |
Depositing User: | Gerard McCarthy |
Date Deposited: | 11 Feb 2021 15:25 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
Publisher: | Wiley Online Library |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/13985 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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