EGU21-1267
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1267
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Observed Transport Variability of the Atlantic Subtropical Cells and Their Connection to Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Variability

Franz Philip Tuchen1, Joke F. Lübbecke1,2, Peter Brandt1,2, and Yao Fu3
Franz Philip Tuchen et al.
  • 1GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
  • 2Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
  • 3State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

The shallow meridional overturning cells of the Atlantic Ocean, the subtropical cells (STCs), consist of poleward Ekman transport at the surface, subduction in the subtropics, equatorward flow at thermocline level and upwelling along the equator and at the eastern boundary. In this study, we provide the first observational estimate of transport variability associated with the horizontal branches of the Atlantic STCs in both hemispheres based on Argo float data and supplemented by reanalysis products.

Thermocline layer transport convergence and surface layer transport divergence between 10°N and 10°S are dominated by seasonal variability. Meridional thermocline layer transport anomalies at the western boundary and in the interior basin are anti-correlated and partially compensate each other at all resolved time scales. It is suggested that the seesaw-like relation is forced by the large-scale off-equatorial wind stress changes through low-baroclinic-mode Rossby wave adjustment. We further show that anomalies of the thermocline layer interior transport convergence modulate sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the upwelling regions along the equator and at the eastern boundary at time scales longer than 5 years. Phases of weaker (stronger) interior transport are associated with phases of higher (lower) equatorial SST. At these time scales, STC transport variability is forced by off-equatorial wind stress changes, especially by those in the southern hemisphere. At shorter time scales, equatorial SST anomalies are, instead, mainly forced by local changes of zonal wind stress.

How to cite: Tuchen, F. P., Lübbecke, J. F., Brandt, P., and Fu, Y.: Observed Transport Variability of the Atlantic Subtropical Cells and Their Connection to Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Variability, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-1267, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1267, 2021.